Hi I am a fresh party member and unfortunately I have found myself completely alone in my area. There used to be a communist party where I am situated but it was shut down by reactionaries. My leaders have recommended that I go to protests and start my own SDS chapter at my college. There is a problem, in order to start my own SDS chapter I need people. So far my recruiting has consisted of providing material support to a person, and then If they are sympathetic I direct them to Marxism. The next step should be to attend protests and find sympathetic people. While practice is the sole criterion of truth, which is in fact what my superior told me, I would like to arm myself with theory in the meantime. Are there any recommendations on any good books, any advice on how to win over people? For context my speaking style is substance over style, I am an educator. I am said to have the “voice of a professor” by people who know me.
Attach yourself to the hip with the peoples’ movements. That can mean anything from immigrants rights, tenant and workers unions, community defense, mutual aid societies to student organizing and LGBTQ+ advocacy.
The point is to use your knowledge of Marxism to advance the struggle to levels impossible under liberalism, and then you win over people to Marxism through your practice.
You’re never going to win over people to Marxism by mere persuasion alone. You need to show them in real-life the scientific nature of Marxism.
Edit: For your specific case, you need to focus your efforts on a campaign. Use your knowledge of the local area to see what issue students care the most about and then organize around that issue. If people care about said issue and your outreach is good, people from the community will come forward and join you.
Edit2: When choosing an issue, the more existential it is to a particular constituency, the better. That’s how you get hard-working activists.