To: Lois Holzman
Lois, thanks so much for replying. I am sharing this
exchange with a small group of people who are
participating in an Email discussion group about "the
dialectical method" [the words themselves are also the
subject of discussion] which arose from my Hegel site:-
http://werple.net.au/~andy .
You can see the discussion at:-
http://werple.net.au/~andy/txt/ .
This site arose as a solution to an earlier problem. I
had formed the view that unless there was a real turn to
a study of Hegel by Marxists, then Marxism itself would
wither away. And I included myself in that. I succeeded
in getting a study group of 3 going in Melbourne, but
after the first reading of the Shorter Logic one young
comrade moved to Thailand. So, making use of HyperText I
could firstly extend the study for her to continue and
also, find a way of engaging others from the internet.
This would open the opportunity for me to learn from
others, teh opportunity for which is limited in
Melbourne, and also further the original task of
stimulating an interest in Hegel.
But this was not the work I was raising with you. ...
In relation to the young group of activists here, the
approach was to initiate a series of study groups around
subjects where one or more of the youngsters were already
reasonably well-versed and interested. By engaging with
an older Marxist it would be possible to lift the level
of thinking in a specific area of research to dialectical
materialist critique. This would then give Marxist
concepts some substance and open the possibility of
"spreading" them to politics, etc. This has made a slow
beginning, and it was after then that I read "Thought and
Language". The section of T&L on "Learning Scientific
Concepts" confirmed this approach to some extent. 
After reading "Lev Vygotsky - Revolutionary Scientist" I
thought some more about it, and came up with this
thought: they are almost ALL very good, enthusiatic and
active organisers; like many activists they never get
around to reading or studying, just busy, busy, busy. But
if we make *organisation* the centre of the theoretical
study, and deliberately introduce concepts of dialectical
materialism into the discussion, describing what we are
already doing in terms of concepts of cognition, and then
tackling the organisational challenges the youngsters are
facing - and challenging for us oldies as well! 'cos
these youngsters are VERY exacting when it comes to
*organisational* practices, especially the remnants of
teh old sectarian practices. 
Anyway, that's where I'm up to today. But also, the point
you make about "working it out for yourself" being a load
of bunk! I had been taken in on that one!  Thanks!
Andy