I had a similar experience the first time I got harassed for allegedly being a communist, because someone in a position of limited power wanted to make trouble for me…

I’d heard of Marx, but never been interested in reading his work, but I had no idea who Lenin was, when I was brought down to the front office of my school, to be asked some questions by some guys from the district. They asked whether I was a communist, I told them I had no idea what a commie was, besides that we beat them in the Cold War. They asked if I’d read Lenin, and I told them I’d never heard of him. They asked if I could point them to any of my classmates to ask the same questions to, I told them that there are no commies in this tiny little Catholic school and they’re wasting their time questioning us.

I didn’t actually read any theory right after that, that took a lot more time and a few more nasty incidents, but I did find out who Lenin was and learn a lot more about communism than I’d known before that incident, so.