What books?

[High School Marxist]

What are some really good, informative books about any of the tendencies? Specifically Democratic Socialism, Maoism, MLism, Left Communism, and Trotskyism? Or any good ones about the USSR written from an objective, non bourgeoisie pov? And finally, what's the 'best' anti-communism/critique of communism book? I need to get some reading done, and I like to read from multiple perspectives.

[Brosa Luxemburg]

Proletarian Dictatorship and Class Party by Amadeo Bordiga
The System of Communist Representation by Amadeo Bordiga
Force, Violence, and Dictatorship in the Class Struggle by Amadeo Bordiga
The Democratic Principle by Amadeo Bordiga
The Fundamentals of Revolutionary Communism (in 3 parts) by Amadeo Bordiga
Centralised Party, Yes-Centralism over the party, No! by Onorato Damen
Obituary of Amadeo Bordiga by Onorato Damen

...are good writings about Bordigism.

Bordigism is a current of left communist thought. For more on a general idea of left communist thought look at

Open Letter to Comrade Lenin by Herman Gorter
Communism and it's Tactics by Sylvia Pankhurst
...and anything by the ICC and ICT pretty much.

Most of these can be looked up at the Marxist Internet Archive.

[Drosophila]

And finally, what's the 'best' anti-communism/critique of communism book?

There are none that I know of. The only ones I've seen whine about how evil the USSR was and whatnot. That isn't a critique of communism.

[Flying Purple People Eater]

There are none that I know of. The only ones I've seen whine about how evil the USSR was and whatnot. That isn't a critique of communism.

Wasn't there a liberal politician who debated Marx a couple of times?

[Drosophila]

Wasn't there a liberal politician who debated Marx a couple of times?

At least one I think (in Wage Labour and Capital if I'm not mistaken). There were probably quite a few others. However, I don't think one from the time would be substantial, as Marxism grew tremendously since then.

[TheGodlessUtopian]

For Maoism see: Maoism or Trotskyism? (http://www.mediafire.com/view/?g6nsqj65xpzdx5y)

Also see some informative blogs...

http://kasamaproject.org/polemics/

http://moufawad-paul.blogspot.com.br/

http://www.signalfire.org/

http://www.bannedthought.net/

http://www.marxists.org/archive/index.htm#maoism

[ind_com]

What are some really good, informative books about any of the tendencies? Specifically Democratic Socialism, Maoism, MLism, Left Communism, and Trotskyism? Or any good ones about the USSR written from an objective, non bourgeoisie pov? And finally, what's the 'best' anti-communism/critique of communism book? I need to get some reading done, and I like to read from multiple perspectives.

There is an MLM study-guide here:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/marxism-leninism-maoism-t175401/index.html

Well-formatted documents by the CPI(Maoist) can be found here:

http://www.signalfire.org/?page_id=21823

A summary of Maoism by the CPI(Maoist):

http://www.bannedthought.net/India/CPI-Maoist-Docs/Founding/MLM-pamphlet.pdf

[Ostrinski]

Marxist-Leninists, Trotskyists, and (most) Left Communists draw some kind of influence from State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin. It partly outlines the role of the party in the socialist revolution, goes into detail about what a worker's state should look like, and hypothesized on the occasion of the transition into a communist society of free producers.

Also important for Trotskyism is The Revolution Betrayed by Leon Trotsky, outlining what would become the orthodox/traditional Trotskyist analysis of the political culture, class nature, and economic productivity of the Soviet Union. Also important by Trotsky is Permanent Revolution and Results and Prospects, which go into detail about his personal theory on the potential strategies of working class socialist movements and parties in countries and regions where the size of the national proletariat was small and capitalist development minimal.

Beyond Trotsky, The Struggle for a Proletarian Party by James Cannon is an important work that set the standard for how Trotskyist parties would operate. Tony Cliff's State Capitalism In Russia represented an important break with Trotskyist orthodoxy on the class nature of the Soviet Union, opposing Trotsky's view that it was a worker's state that had been usurped by a disconnected, rigid, and unaccountable bureaucracy into a degenerated worker's state but a worker's state nonetheless. Instead Cliff posited that the Communist states in fact retained the capitalist mode of production with the bureaucracy adopting the traditional functions of the capitalist class in a capitalist society. Cliff's analysis is upheld by certain Trotskyist organizations today such as the International Socialist Organization in the United States and the Socialist Worker's Party in Britain.

[Os Cangaceiros]

Read Gilles Dauve. That guy was smart.

[The Idler]

Russia 1917-1967 A Socialist Analysis - World Socialist Movement (http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/pamphlets/russia-1917-1967-socialist-analysis)