Any book advice?

[safeduck]

Hi, I'm getting more and more into Communism now, I've just finished reading the communist manifesto. Can anyone name any good books to read, specifically ones which explain and go in depth with the aims of Communism.

[Rooster]

Marx's Wage Labour and Capital (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm) is a classic introduction to his economic thoughts. Also the abridged version of The German Ideology is also a good place to start. Normally it's called the student edition, I think. Anyway, in conjunction with the manifesto, this should set you in good steed.

[The Jay]

http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?do=discuss&group=&discussionid=5683 Join in.

[Rooster]

Just remembered: for a good overall view of Marx, his ideas and his philosophy, then you should definately read Ernst Fischer's Marx in his own Words. It goes through selections of Marx's works and writings from his early stuff and up to his death and tries to show the development. Anyway, it's a good read and you should be able to find it for really cheap.

And you could also try the short work The Two Souls of Socialism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/draper/1966/twosouls/index.htm) by Hal Draper. This book goes into revolution from below and revolution from above.

All the works I've mentioned are fairly easy to read (apart from some sections of The German Ideology, maybe).

[PC LOAD LETTER]

Most of what has been mentioned and will probably be mentioned can be found for free at http://www.marxists.org

I'll add Peter Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread ... although it's not on that web site, you can still find it for free: http://libcom.org/library/the-conquest-of-bread-peter-kropotkin

[Mr. Natural]

safeduck, In thinking of the most comprehensive, readable work for you, I came up with Joel Kovel's Enemy of Nature (2002). Kovel, a Marxist, is now in his 70s and was recently fired from his professorship at Bard College for publishing an anti-Zionist book, Overcoming Zionism (Kovel is Jewish).

Kovel is now the recognized head of American ecosocialism and the editor of the journal, Capitalism, Nature, Socialism.

The Enemy of Nature delivers a ringing, conclusive indictment of capitalism as an unreformable system opposed to all forms of life, and Kovel then suggests an "ecosystemic" (communal) revolutionary organizing process in response.

See also the "Ecosocialist Manifesto," co-authored with Michael Lowy, which is on the Web.

I'm not an ecosocialist, by the way. For one matter, ecosocialists (and most Western Marxists) harbor a dogmatic opposition to the idea of a "natural" dialectic. They are wrong; Marx and Engels are right.

Don't neglect the RevLeft archives, either. I'll be spending many a rainy day there this winter. My red-green best.

[socialistjustin]

I would agree with Rooster and say read wage labor and capital. Any of those short writings are better than starting off with capital because that book can be a tough read.


If you do read capital then maybe getting a companion to it would be good. David Harvey and Ben Fine have decent books about capital.

[PC LOAD LETTER]

Also, the Civil War in France by Marx.

[Hivemind]

http://www.scribd.com/collections/3315350/Communism-Anarchism-etc

Thank me later ;)

[Sam Varriano]

State and Revolution by VI Lenin was pretty interesting, imo.

[ZeroNowhere]

State and Revolution by VI Lenin was pretty interesting, imo.
I was hoping that you would suggest 'The Green Book'. God, you're no fun.

[The Idler]

Anti-Bolshevik Communism by Paul Mattick Jnr (http://www.amazon.co.uk/Anti-Bolshevik-Communism-Paul-Mattick-Jr/dp/0850362237/)

[thefinalmarch]

What would the posters ITT have to say about marxists.org's Short list for beginners (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/sw/index.htm)?

1845: Theses on Feuerbach (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/theses.htm)
1846: [A Critique of] the German Ideology (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/index.htm)
1847: Principles of Communism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm)
1848: The Communist Manifesto (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm)
1849: Wage-Labor and Capital (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm)
1859: Preface to Contribution to critique of political economy (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface-abs.htm)
1867: Capital, Chapter One (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm)
1871: The Civil War in France (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm)
1875: Critique of the Gotha Program (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm)
1880: Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/index.htm)
1886: Ludwig Feuerbach (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1886/ludwig-feuerbach/index.htm)