A leading Russian Communist said to me a year ago: "The mind of our people is changing so fast under the conditions of socialism that it is becoming increasingly difficult for us to speak to the rest of the world. We find it harder to understand them, and they us".

Seeing this on the first page struck me as opening with how different people are in a socialist society compared to a capital society; it made me think about how reading socialist theory, books and people's experiences of socialism does really change you even while living in a capitalist society. That when educating yourself from a radical perspective its difficult to the point of frustration when you are surrounded with media proclaiming capitalism as the only system despite it collapsing around us; and socialism as failed yet the material conditions are constantly proving that socialism is the only system that succeeds.

I think Strong opening on this quote sets up the book to make sure that we are both aware of what socialism is capable of but also that most of the world is still living in capitalist society and to not disconnect from that, especially when living in capitalist countries.

Still got the rest of the first chapter to read, this is just my analysis from the introduction.