Iwant to learn - i need a book

[Americana]

i want to know of the perfect book to read if i want to learn about socialism and its views. i want it to be big. no a 60 page pamphlet

[komsomol]

Three volumes of Capital, bloody hell I need a credit card so I can buy them. Reading of a computer monitor sucks.

[Tzeentch]

Tha capital is a good choice and i suggest the Communist manifest to.

[bluerev002]

yah but your not gonna learn anything with just one book! you need more! I NEED MORE!

take into mind that the book your reading is the book (most likely) from the authors point of view. so you must look at the other authore points of views. teh more books the better!!! i have 2 books on che and i need more! hee hee hee

[Anonymous]

I am right now reading a 500 pages book about Che! it cost me few cause i bought it in a book fair!!

[Supermodel]

Please do not start with Das Kapital, it is such a hard read you will be put off quickly.

I found that rather then reading texts about theory, reading the biographies of the famous Marxists/communists is a more humanistic way of getting into the subject. There are good books on Amazon or library on Marx' and Lenin's biographies, but so long as I'm her I'll put in a plug for Che's biography by Jon Lee Anderson.

Remember, politics is a science, so don't expect to read one book and have the answer. Marxism/socialism/communism change with the times.

I also like the publications of www.pathfinderpress.com.

Good luck.

[PunkRawker677]

I agree with SM, Das Kapital WILL turn you off. It is a VERY hard read. I took economics I and II and i still had to read everything two or three times to completly comprehend it.

SM jumped ahead of me by referring you to PathFinders. There are also "Militant" and "PathFinder Press" locations all over the u.s. and they usually hold lectures on friday nights. It would be great if you could get to one of those as well

[Nateddi]

Americana,

I would recommend "America Besieged" by Michael Parenti (http://michaelparenti.org/AmericaBesieged.html)

It is altogether rather small, a little over 200 pages.

Parenti is the most active Marxist writer in the United States today. The book is easy to read and in my opinion serves as the Manifesto of the current progressive, socialist, and communist left.

I would read it as a good introduction before you move on to other books.

best regards

(Edited by Nateddi at 8:33 pm on Aug. 13, 2002)

[komsomol]

It is probably better to read Capital in small doses, so you take it all in. To understand it, there is a lot of unneccessary detail.