Red Ant is trying to build a large educational program. At the moment, this program includes two compulsory educational courses for our members: our short ‘Introduction to Red Ant’ series and our longer ‘Fundamentals of Marxism’ series. In the near future, we plan to run internal and external educational courses on Marx’s Capital, a more comprehensive introduction to communism, an overview of the Marxist theory of imperialism, and more. This document covers why we have internal member education and how we approach it.

Why do we have member education?

• Raising consciousness: We want as many people as possible across Australia to learn about socialism, capitalism, the current concrete conjuncture, how to organise—ultimately, to learn all the knowledge required to overthrow capitalism and build a socialist state. In other words, we want to raise socialist consciousness. But this isn’t just about raising the socialist consciousness of non-members. Our internal education is part of ensuring that every member of Red Ant is engaged in developing their understanding of socialist concepts and the concrete situation we are faced with. We are all part of a life-long journey to raise our own socialist consciousness.
  
• The unity of theory and practice: In order to act, we need to understand the situation we’re acting in. For example, if we are trying to organise against capitalism in Australia, we need to have a clear idea of what Australian capitalism is, who are our allies and our enemies, and what is strategically possible. To figure out how we should organise (whether that’s in community spaces, trade unions, or electoral politics) we also need to develop a concrete understanding of our social conditions. That requires members to know how to analyse their concrete situations, to understand what concepts to use, to learn what others have done in similar situations—this is work which can be supported through member education.
  
• Keeping us on the ‘same page’: We all come from different backgrounds, have been exposed to different ideas, and have different relationships to learning. Through member education, we can help even out the varying levels of access we’ve had to socialist ideas or learning, to ensure that everyone feels confident advocating for socialist ideas or participating in party activities.
  
• Developing a ‘shared understanding’ or ‘vocabulary’: If we are exposed to the same ideas through member education, we can speak to each other with a shared understanding of concepts like class, capitalism, and even communism. We can push forward our collective understanding of Marxist concepts or concrete historical situations with the vocabulary we develop through member education.
  
• Cadre development: We want to build a party of people who are well-versed in Marxism, who feel confident advocating for Marxist politics in the workplace or in organising spaces, who are able to analyse their concrete situation, or who can even put out Marxist research. In other words, we want to develop a ‘cadre party’. Member education is part of helping everyone develop their capacities as a cadre.

What are the principles of our member education?

• The party is responsible. A lot of members haven’t been exposed to many Marxist ideas, or haven’t had the opportunity to systematise or synthesise their own views. This can often make them feel unconfident or excluded from participating in party activities. It should become the responsibility of the party to help them develop their socialist consciousness, whether through formal or informal education, including resource sharing.
  
• Everyone is involved. Our internal education is not only for the people who are already confident or ‘smart’, or who already feel capable of reading and writing Marxist theory. It is for everyone, because we want everyone to be able to learn and develop their thinking and organising skills.
  
• Make it accessible. Because education is for everyone, we should ensure that everyone is able to access it. The education committee must develop ways to ensure that everyone can access the courses, regardless of their level of formal education, learning disabilities, or anything else that makes it more difficult for them to engage with the educational materials.
  
• Everyone has different skills. While member education is for everyone, it doesn’t mean everyone has to be the next leading Marxist scholar. While we expect everyone to learn and be committed to learning, we know that many members will find their home in other areas of socialist work, whether that be organising in their union, helping new members find their way, or other valuable party activities.
  
• Both theory and practice. Our educational program is incomplete without actual practical work. While member education is non-negotiable, we are not only building a Marxist school. In fact, our Marxist school should help and support the other parts of organising work: for example, it can aid comrades in organising spaces, by giving them the tools to analyse their concrete political situations.
  
• Education isn’t just formal. Our education program doesn’t include just the formal education series. It also encompasses discussions we have in meetings, resource sharing on Discord, and all the different ways that we help each other learn and think differently. Education should be viewed as an ongoing and broader part of our entire organisational culture, and not just as a one-off engagement in formal education or as the responsibility of a single working group in Red Ant.

How should every member approach their education?

• Try your best, pay attention to the text. Many members worry that they’re not ‘smart enough’ or ‘don’t know enough’ to be able to engage properly with the educational materials. It doesn’t matter how ‘smart’ you think you already are. We simply ask that you pay as much attention as you can to the text in front of you. If you pay attention, we’re certain you will gain valuable knowledge.
  
• Have humility. On the other hand, some members already have a lot of exposure to Marxist ideas. This doesn’t mean you won’t learn something from the texts in the educational programs. If you think you ‘know a lot’, we still ask that you have humility when it comes to developing your own knowledge, and that you engage in good faith with the materials and discussions.
  
• Always bring others along. The point of knowledge is not to feel superior or inferior to other people. The point of Marxist knowledge is to bring other people along. This might mean encouraging others in a class to engage in the discussion, asking them what they think, pointing them to further resources. Everyone in the party is responsible for developing a culture that asks everyone to think and to learn.
  
• Learning is a skill to develop. Everyone can learn, it is merely a skill we all have to individually develop. The more you practice reading, writing, or thinking, the better you will be at it. Everyone should always try to practice their learning skills, rather than thinking they’ll always be stuck at their current capacity. After some time working through the educational materials, you will surprise yourself with what you can do.
  
• There are other strategic outcomes. At the moment, we don’t have the luxury of spending all our time reading or researching. We do need to organise, to actually build our socialist movement and achieve our goal of overthrowing capitalism. Education is essential, but we’re not just a reading group.
  
• Everyone is responsible. If there are things that need to be improved in our educational program, then point them out. Or better yet, help implement the vision that you have. A socialist party isn’t a help desk, we are all responsible for making things happen.

What are the parts of our education?

• Theoretical education. A part of our education should help comrades sharpen their understanding of Marxist concepts. This is why our ‘Fundamentals of Marxism’ series goes through concepts like labour, relations of production, base/superstructure, etc.
  
• Concrete or historical education. A part of our education should help comrades better understand socialist experiments, the history of Australia, the history of capitalism and imperialism, and other kinds of concrete or historical knowledge.
  
• Practical organising skills. A part of our education should help comrades practically organise. For example, in Class 3 of our ‘Introduction to Socialism’ series, comrades are introduced to constructive criticism to help them speak to others in a productive way. Further, we plan to run education on first aid training, self-defence and other practical skills after branch meetings.
• Application of knowledge. A part of our education program should encourage comrades to apply the knowledge they’ve learned. For example, in our 2026 June conference, comrades are engaged in concrete research of the conjuncture which requires application of the concepts of historical materialism.

This is a manifesto for our educational program. We are only at the start of developing a diverse range of educational courses that can work towards achieving our vision. We are always open to feedback from all comrades and look forward to working towards our goals collectively.