Fundamental Books, Texts

[Sosa]

Ok comrades, I have a good amount of money to spend on my radical education. I need some books that are "must have's" for revolutionaries, those that are the building blocks to more advanced theoretical works. Preferably those books for ANY radical leftists but especially those for Anarchists, Libertarian Socialists/Communists/Marxists.

These are the books I already own:

Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx
Anarchism: In Theory and Practice - Daniel Guerin
Pedagogy of the Oppressed - Paulo Freire
Che Guevara - Jon Lee Anderson

I've read more than this but these are the only ones I actually own.

[Prometeo liberado]

I read it on a thread and bought it, Dance of the Dialectics. A very readable book.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn is a must have for any revolutionary.

[Prometeo liberado]

A Peoples History of the United States by Howard Zinn is a must have for any revolutionary.

Can't believe I forgot that book. A must read.

[Lanky Wanker]

This is probably a bit obvious, but what about Das Kapital? The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin is decent anarcho-communist literature.

[Luc]

Sorry if you have read these already :lol:

If you want to know about Platformism I say this (http://www.struggle.ws/pdfs/leaflets/platform/platformA4.pdf) is eassential

The Civil War in France (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm) - deals with the Paris Commune
The State and Revolution (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm) - Lenin explaining Marx's theory of the state withering away

...thats all I'm confident in mentioning :unsure:

[Ostrinski]

Marx- Essential Writings of Karl Marx (Red and Black), Das Kapital, Grundrisse, The Geramn Ideology,
Lenin- Essential Works of Lenin (Dover)
Kropotkin- Mutual Aid, The Conquest of Bread
Luxemburg- Rosa Luxemburg Speaks (Pathfinder), The Accumulation of Capital
Trotsky- History of the Russian Revolution, The Revolution Betrayed
Gramsci- Prison Notebooks

American Labor History- The Fall of the House of Labor by David Montgomery
Russian Revolution- The Bolshevik Revolution by Edward Carr

[Sosa]

This is probably a bit obvious, but what about Das Kapital? The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin is decent anarcho-communist literature.

Don't worry if it's obvious. I forgot all about Kapital (borrowed it a few times and never finished it)

[Ostrinski]

Also the Marxist Internet Archive is indispensable

http://marxists.org/archive/index.htm

[TheGodlessUtopian]

Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky is a good look into the propaganda proccess.

[Ostrinski]

Manufacturing Consent was good, but don't look much further into Chomsky imo.

[Omsk]

Unless you want to read some nice and interesting conversations with nationalists.

[Grenzer]

I don't really see the point in Chomsky's Manufacturing Consent. It just points out what should be painfully obvious to anyone considering anti-capitalism to begin with: The entire edifice of bourgeois parliamentary republicanism is a load of bullshit. Seems like the target demographic is liberals.

Stay away from Proudhon. He's crap.

[Ostrinski]

Guy Debord- Society of the Spectacle

[Brosa Luxemburg]

Blackshirts and Reds by Michael Parenti (highly reccomend this, about communism and it's impact on the world)

Killing Hope by William Blum (an excellent history of American imperialism since the second world war)

The Vietnam Wars by Marilyn Young (about the Vietnam war)

Cuba by Richard Gott (about Cuba)

Socialism Today and Tommorow by Michael Albert and Robin Hahnel (I think this is absolutely excellent, about what socialism should look like and the experiences in Russia, China, and Cuba and the good and bad of those societies. Book is a little dated, being from the 1980's)

[Ostrinski]

Stay away from Proudhon. He's crap.I dunno, of course he's not relevant now, but if one wants to trace back the lineage of leftist thought then Proudhon is essential.

[Sosa]

Manufacturing Consent by Noam Chomsky is a good look into the propaganda proccess.

I forgot I have that one. Haven't gotten around to reading it yet though

[Caj]

I might add some more later:

Essential Writings of Marx (Red and Black Publishing)
Essential Writings of Engels (Red and Black Publishing)
Marx-Engels Reader -- If you don't mind reading abridged writings.
Lenin Anthology -- See above.
Rosa Luxemburg Speaks
Bakunin on Anarchism -- Again. Some abridged writings.
A People's History of the World
A People's History of the United States

EDIT: No Gods, No Masters -- pretty good collection of anarchist works by various authors

[Sosa]

Manufacturing Consent was good, but don't look much further into Chomsky imo.

why not? I don't have many of his books but I have Hopes and Prospects, The Essential Chomsky, Rethinking Camelot and Manufacturing Consent

I know that his book on Anarchism isn't great (in fact I've heard it's not worth reading) but he provides very good foreign policy analysis.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

Forgot Fire and the Word: A History of the Zapatista Movement by Gloria Ramirez. If you already know about the Zapatistas in Chiapas, then skip this. It's kind of an introduction into their history, beliefs, etc. Still good though.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

why not? I don't have many of his books but I have Hopes and Prospects, The Essential Chomsky, Rethinking Camelot and Manufacturing Consent

I know that his book on Anarchism isn't great (in fact I've heard it's not worth reading) but he provides very good foreign policy analysis.

Agreed

[Dr Doom]

Guy Debord- Society of the Spectacle

society of the spectacle is one of the last books i would recommend to anyone, let alone to people who are only beginning to learn about marxism.

[Ostrinski]

why not? I don't have many of his books but I have Hopes and Prospects, The Essential Chomsky, Rethinking Camelot and Manufacturing Consent

I know that his book on Anarchism isn't great (in fact I've heard it's not worth reading) but he provides very good foreign policy analysis.His foreign policy analysis is thorough to be sure but it reeks of moralism in that he tries to characterize everything as part of a good guy bad guy paradigm and I just don't think it's a very healthy way to look at imperialism.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

society of the spectacle is one of the last books i would recommend to anyone, let alone to people who are only beginning to learn about marxism.

It is quite advanced stuff, makes capital look not like such a headache.

[Ostrinski]

society of the spectacle is one of the last books i would recommend to anyone, let alone to people who are only beginning to learn about marxism.Perhaps, but the OP didn't necessarily specify difficulty level, and s/he does already have 500+ posts so I wasn't sure. Every radical should check out Society of the Spectacle though.

[Dr Doom]

Perhaps, but the OP didn't necessarily specify difficulty level, and s/he does already have 500+ posts so I wasn't sure. Every radical should check out Society of the Spectacle though.

i dont see why. i mean i think there's a few interesting points hidden among the shit. for the most part i found it pretty pretentious and purposefully obscure though. not worth the time imo.

[Sosa]

I've read excerpts from Society of the Spectacle...but only because it was part of required reading we had for an Art History class. What I read didn't seem that difficult, but it was quite advanced, so I had to read it a few times but nonetheless, I was able to understand most (if not all) of what I read.

[Ocean Seal]

Basic Texts on Socialism
Socialism Utopian and Scientific Engels
Kapital M&E
Reform or Revolution Luxemburg
Wage Labor and Capital M&E
The State and Revolution Lenin
Left Communism an Infantile Disorder Lenin
The Democratic Principle Bordiga

Where it all Went Wrong
A Revolution Betrayed Trotsky
Restoration of Capitalism in the Soviet Union Bland
Euro-Communism is Anti-Communism Hoxha