where to start?

[marxstudent]

hey, i'm what you would all consider a newb. it started when everyone around me was saying how horrible mao was. from there, i looked into him and i've been more and more interested in marxism. please help me out. what and who should i start learning about? any recommended books? stuff like that would be real helpful. thanks.

[Ian]

Erm, well a nice place to start is the Marxists Internet Archive (click me) (http://www.marxists.org). From there you could read about something that interests you (check out the subject archive[click me] (http://marxists.anu.edu.au/subject/index.htm) ), or you could go to the students section (click me) (http://marxists.anu.edu.au/subject/students/index.htm)

There's a lot of things you could do... maybe someone will give you the address of an old thread to look at.

[apathy maybe]

Read the old threads, there are plenty of them. Floating around theory is a thread on what communism is, and one on what socialism is.

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

You deffinitely ought to read the Communist Manifesto found in the Marxist internet archive above. Use the encyclopedia of marxism in the Marxist internet archive to help you out with particular terms or to give you a brief description to socialist ideas, people, events, factions, etc.

Also stick around, read the debates, voice your opinions, lots can be learned from just being an active che-lives member.

Glad to have you.
See you around.

[marxstudent]

thanks for all the help. i'll check into that. i'm going to be posting here and a lot of my stuff probably isn't going to be all too great so don't flame on me either please! :o

alright well see you guys around then.

[Dr. Rosenpenis]

Don't be a fraid to state your sincere opinions here. As long as they're not chauvinistic, racist, etc, you'll be fine.

[Sensitive]

Courses of Marxism (http://www.oneparty.co.uk/html/courses.html) - read this, it is a great intro.

[RyeN]

You probably have your home work set out for you already but Das Kapital or Capitol is a good read too.

[marxstudent]

thanks for all the help. ryen, is das kapital and capitol the same thing or different? i went to borders asking for das kapital and i only found capitol.

[Ian]

Exactly the same book, asking for Capital will get you volume 1, you need to ask specifically for volume 2 and 3 if you want them... they are really rare though.

[Ian]

I don't really recommend Capital for a newbie, very few communist have actually got through it, the fact is it's economics at its dryest, you need a lot of stamina to make it through it.

[crazy comie]

read the oxford abridgment of capital it has his theaorys of surpluce value in and a few other things i think it is quit good though.

[Saint-Just]

I certainly would not advise reading capital at the moment. If you are interested in Mao read Quotations from the Chairman Mao Zedong: http://www.marxists.org.uk/reference/archi...-book/index.htm (http://www.marxists.org.uk/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/index.htm)

It is fairly short and enjoyable to read whilst informing the reader very well.

[Non-Sectarian Bastard!]

I am now reading Das Kapital, it's hard lecture.

So I would recommend The manifest to read. It's small and contains a good and simple explanation about communism.

[crazy comie]

True but as i said there are some good abridgments.