Hello Comrades

[Comrade_Max]

Hello Comrades!

My name is Max. I am a Sophomore in high school in Kansas and happen to be a Communist. I have recently started reading Das Kapital and What is to be Done?, as well as beginning the Manifesto for the third time. I look forward to learning and discussing.

[Q]

Welcome :)

Das Kapital is the real heavy stuff though and I wouldn't recommend thatto the average new one. What is to be done? has a huge set of confusions and distortions around it that portray it as some kind of foundation of Bolshevism while the text is in fact not that relevant, I would recommend to avoid it altogether. If you still want to read it I recommend the new translation by Lars T. Lih and his historical research in his book Lenin Rediscovered: "What is to be done?" in context (http://books.google.nl/books?id=8AVUvEUsdCgC&dq=%22what+is+to+be+done%3F%22+in+context+lih&printsec=frontcover&source=bn&hl=nl&ei=uziLS7qNHZzB-Qa-__HjDQ&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=4&ved=0CBsQ6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=&f=false).

[red cat]

Welcome to Revleft. :)

[which doctor]

Good luck, being a marxist in kansas can't be all that easy.

And contrary to Q, I think What is to be Done is one of Lenin's better works. Of course it shouldn't be read as the foundation for a new party today, as some do, but it does have some relevant material in it, particularly his notes on the role of the intellectual in developing a revolutionary consciousness.

[Comrade_Max]

Thanks for the welcome. It's been my personl goal to finish Volume 1 of Das Kapital before Easter (mostly difficult because I have to read it online or print it off). Any recommendations as to what else I should read?

[Q]

And contrary to Q, I think What is to be Done is one of Lenin's better works. Of course it shouldn't be read as the foundation for a new party today, as some do, but it does have some relevant material in it, particularly his notes on the role of the intellectual in developing a revolutionary consciousness.

It has some relevance, but in a very specific sense that should be seen in a very specific context. It was written in 1902 and totally out of date less than a year later and was no longer referenced to at all by Lenin after 1907. Only after he died the newly installed bureaucracy had an interest in dusting it off again and create the myth that it was the "foundation of Bolshevism". Of course you can read it, but for it to understand you have to study the context as well. For (a lot) more historical context I refer again to Lih's work on the matter.


Thanks for the welcome. It's been my personl goal to finish Volume 1 of Das Kapital before Easter (mostly difficult because I have to read it online or print it off). Any recommendations as to what else I should read?

Most libraries have Das Kapital, you might to check that out instead of printing the whole thing. As for other books, it depends on what you want to learn about. There have been many libraries written on Marxist subjects.

[Crux]

Thanks for the welcome. It's been my personl goal to finish Volume 1 of Das Kapital before Easter (mostly difficult because I have to read it online or print it off). Any recommendations as to what else I should read?
Most definitely State and Revolution by Lenin. For me at least it was very much an eye-opener.

[bailey_187]

Thanks for the welcome. It's been my personl goal to finish Volume 1 of Das Kapital before Easter (mostly difficult because I have to read it online or print it off). Any recommendations as to what else I should read?

I would recommend "State and Revolution" by Lenin or Lenin's "A Brief Biographical Sketch With an Exposition of Marxism" http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/granat/ch02.htm

You could also refer to the Marxist-Leninist Study Guide that is online for books you should read:
http://marxistleninist.wordpress.com/study-guide/
It has recommendations of classics for various topics e.g. Philosophy, Economics, the Party