I see this claim against Marxist-Leninists frequently, but never anything backing it up. First of all, Marxists don’t read theorists like evangelicals read the Bible. We see theory as a guide to adapt to our own conditions, not gospel to worship. Lenin saying Russia needs a newspaper for agitating among the masses does not mean we need literal physical newspapers today (sorry Trots).

I think the broader phenomena is that the Marx non-Marxists know is not the same as the Marxism actually studied and practiced. There is a “liberal Marx,” one that people maybe associate with revolutionary socialism, but not one people care to understand the anti-imperialist and anti-colonial aspects of Marxism that were expanded by Lenin.