Most of what matters is having the values of wanting people to live without being turned into tools or commodities by other people. After that, recognizing that most of "civilized" history consists of the ways in which people engaged in that very subordination, and then assembled narratives to justify it, will inform you very far.
With countless variables influencing human affairs, no one can predict exactly how things will turn out; it's enough to put yourself on the side of the classes that wish to shake off and put an end to exploitation, and recognize the wide range of experimentation that has gone on and also the range that has yet to be done.
