10 Marxist books to read

[spiltteeth]

I'm kinda new here but I feel like I don't really understand all the differences between a Trotskyist vs Lenninist vs Maoist vs etc
If you could recomend just 10 books on marxism that would bring me up to speed, when the revolution hits I'll totally have your back.
Thanks!

[Die Neue Zeit]

The Economic Doctrines of Karl Marx; The Class Struggle (Erfurt Program); The Social Revolution; and The Road to Power; all by Karl Kautsky

[Lolshevik]

Well, if you haven't already read the Communist Manifesto, it's a damn good introduction to the fundamentals of Marxism; you know, historical materialism, the basics of what the party is, etc. It was my first real exposure to communism as well as many other people here also.

Thing is though, while reading the classics is very important, it's not the end-all of Marxist education. You'll also want to keep up with what the socialist groups today are saying, how they interpret their own ideologies etc. And of course, never forget that truism of Lenin's, that an ounce of practice is worth a ton of theory.

But if you want some recommendations anyway, for Trotskyism, be aware that Trotskyists like myself do not see Trotskyism as being opposed to Leninism. We see Trotsky as being another link in the line of socialist theoreticians starting from Marx, Engels, and Lenin. I suppose one of the main works of Trotskyism would be "The Revolution Betrayed", which is basically about Trotsky's opposition to the Stalinist bureaucratic counter-revolution in the USSR as well as an argument for the renewal of Marxism-Leninism and workers' democracy in the USSR.

You can find all the texts I mentioned online for free at marxists.org

[OriginalGumby]

Incidentally the ISO ran a series of articles on ten socialist classics. The last one has not been posted online yet but these articles are a great place to start to understand the politics and would likely fuel your interest in reading the books. In our branch we are going to do study groups on these books over the summer. Peace
http://socialistworker.org/series/ten-socialist-classics

[Q]

In another forum I made some basic recommendations, I'll just copy-paste those:

From the Marx & Engels Archive (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/date/index.htm):
Wage Labour & Capital (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm)
The Communist Manifesto (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm)
Critique of the Gotha Program (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm)
Anti-Dühring (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/index.htm)
Socialism: Utopian and scientific (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/index.htm)
Origin of the family, private property and the state (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/index.htm)

From the Lenin Archive (http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/index.htm):
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism (http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/imp-hsc/index.htm)
The Tasks of the Proletariat in the Present Revolution [a.k.a. The April Theses] (http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/apr/04.htm)
The State and Revolution (http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm)
"Left-Wing" Childishness and the Petty-Bourgeois Mentality (http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1918/may/09.htm)
Left-Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder (http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1920/lwc/index.htm)
"Last Testament" Letters to the Congress (http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1922/dec/testamnt/index.htm)

From the Trotsky Archive (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/index.htm)
Results and Prospects (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/tpr/rp-index.htm)
The Year 1905 (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1907/1905/index.htm)
War and the International (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1914/war/index.htm)
The Lessons of October (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/lessons/index.htm)
First Five Years of the Communist International - Volume 1 (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/ffyci-1/index.htm)
First Five Years of the Communist International - Volume 2 (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1924/ffyci-2/index.htm)
Platform of the Opposition (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1927/opposition/index.htm)
The Third International After Lenin (A Draft Criticism of the Communist International) (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1928/3rd/index.htm)
The History of the Russian Revolution (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1930/hrr/index.htm)
The Permanent Revolution (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1931/tpr/index.htm)
What Next? Vital Questions for the German Proletariat (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1932-ger/index.htm)
In Defense of October (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1932/11/oct.htm)
It Is Necessary to Build Communist Parties and an International Anew (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/germany/1933/330715.htm)
The Revolution Betrayed (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1936/revbet/index.htm)
The Transitional Program for Socialist Revolution (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1938/tp/index.htm)

From the Luxemburg Archive (http://marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/index.htm):
Reform or Revolution (http://marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/reform-revolution/index.htm)

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Except, avoid Anti-Duhring like the plague.

[scarletghoul]

I reccommend Quotations from Chairman Mao (red book)
http://marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/index.htm
It covers many topics from democracy to class struggle to guerilla warfare to dialectics and is a good introduction to the Maoist point of view on these. Also very readable.

[Trystan]

Paris manuscripts and the Communist Manifesto. They're not too difficult, so good places to start. I wouldn't worry about Trotskyism and Stalinism if you haven't read Marx and Engels yet.

[scarletghoul]

It's also worth reading about the history and what happened rather than just the theory on its own, as it gives you a better understanding. After all, the practice is the where the theory comes to life. Good things to read about are Paris commune, Russian Revolutions, Chinese Revolution, Cultural Revolution, Spanish Revolution, and also the contemporary socialist movements

[Cooler Reds Will Prevail]

I reccommend Quotations from Chairman Mao (red book)
http://marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/index.htm
It covers many topics from democracy to class struggle to guerilla warfare to dialectics and is a good introduction to the Maoist point of view on these. Also very readable.

Quotations from Chairman Mao is a very easy introduction to Maoism, but it is very scattered since it is just a series of quotations from his works. What I would recommend is reading through the red book and, if any quotes stick out, read the entire essay that it comes from. Mao isn't incredibly difficult to read, at least compared to Marx.

I'd also recommend "Soledad Brother" by George Jackson... He was a Black Panther/Marxist and it's a collection of his prison letters, but a lot of it goes into his revolutionary ideas which are incredibly well put together considering he was in jail from age 18-30 and then was killed by prison guards.

Personally, I found it much easier to work from contemporary writers/theorists back toward the classics... Some of the early stuff is really dry and hard to read, whereas I've found more recent works (1960s-Present) to be much more accessible to the average reader. To this day, I have a difficult time reading Marx & Engels.

[The Ungovernable Farce]

The Two Souls of Socialism by Hal Draper (http://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1966/twosouls/index.htm) is short, easy to read, and describes a lot of the currents of "socialist" thought well. That should cover the basics of trot vs leninist vs maoist. It does also completely slander and misrepresent anarchism, so I'd recommend reading something like the ABC of Anarchism or What Is Communist Anarchism? by Alexander Berkman (also quite short and very readable) to cover up the gaps.

[OriginalGumby]

Here is the list of ten Socialist Classics that the ISO introduced in its paper awhile back and the link to the list of articles.
http://socialistworker.org/series/ten-socialist-classics



Karl Marx and Frederick Engels, The Communist Manifesto (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=1602)
Frederick Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=995)
Frederick Engels, The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=959)
Karl Marx, The Civil War in France (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=901)
Rosa Luxemburg, The Mass Strike (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=1584)
Rosa Luxemburg, Reform or Revolution (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=1584)
Vladimir Lenin, State and Revolution (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=982)
Vladimir Lenin, What Is to Be Done (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=1014)
Vladimir Lenin, Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=930)
All three works by Vladimir Lenin can be found in Essential Works of Lenin: "What Is to Be Done?" and Other Writings (http://www.haymarketbooks.org/product_info.php?products_id=907)
Leon Trotsky, Permanent Revolution (http://www.amazon.com/gp/redirect.html?ie=UTF8&location=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FPermanent-Revolution-Results-Prospects%2Fdp%2F0902869922%3Fie%3DUTF8%26s%3Dbook s%26qid%3D1205868762%26sr%3D1-1&tag=socialistwork-20&linkCode=ur2&camp=1789&creative=9325)

[Manifesto]

For an Anarchist book http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/mlc/.

[spiltteeth]

Thanks for the suggestions all!