I find that going into reading with a goal helps me concentrate on it and annotate more effectively, so here’s how it’s supposed to work.

The socialist project is an iterative one. We plan, we fail, we adjust. We do this over and over and over. Over time, we should become better at what we do. As we adjust, we learn about the world like someone learning the shape of a room in the dark by clinging to the walls. However, those adjustments can be very inefficient. When we hit a barrier, do we move to one side and continue in the same direction, or do we turn around and backtrack? These moments of failure, even small failure, are also moments of vulnerability. This is why it’s important that we record the history of our efforts and attempt to maintain a working model to explain those efforts over time. This is what theory is. We are lost. Theory is a compass.

A compass does not get you unlost on its own. A compass does you no good if you have no gas in your tank (sorry train gang, no analogy for you). But if you are able to move and have to desire to find your way home, a compass is a very handy thing to have.