Where to begin?

[ResearchStudent]

Hi everyone, some of you may have spoken to me already, I've been reading your threads for around a week now and i'm becoming increasingly interested but have no real prior knowledge. Sooooo my question to you is..... where to begin? Can you recommend the best readings for a novice left winger?

[ind_com]

Hi everyone, some of you may have spoken to me already, I've been reading your threads for around a week now and i'm becoming increasingly interested but have no real prior knowledge. Sooooo my question to you is..... where to begin? Can you recommend the best readings for a novice left winger?

The following works should be good for a beginner. All of them are not necessarily major works, but they are informative if you're just beginning.

The Principles of Communism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm) - Frederick Engels

Wage Labour and Capital (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm) - Karl Marx

The Military Programme of the Proletarian Revolution (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1916/miliprog/index.htm) - V.I.Lenin

Guerrilla Warfare (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1906/gw/index.htm#i) - V.I.Lenin

On Practice (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_16.htm) - Mao Zedong

On Guerrilla Warfare (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/1937/guerrilla-warfare/index.htm) - Mao Zedong

Report on an Investigation of the Peasant Movement In Hunan (http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-1/mswv1_2.htm) - Mao Zedong

[#FF0000]

Hey! Glad to see you're sticking around!

I'm going to go ahead and co-sign on The Principles of Communism by Engels (a very simple intro, and probably what you should look at first) and Wage Labour and Capital by Marx.

Marxists.org has a good selection of Marx's works for beginners (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/sw/index.htm). I'd also add to that list Marx's Value, Price and Profit (http://libcom.org/library/value-price-and-profit-karl-marx), which is basically a condensed version of his monster of a project, Das Kapital (Volume 1, at least).

(I'd also recommend giving David Harvey's lectures on Capital a watch as well (http://davidharvey.org/reading-capital/))

Personally I never sat down and read a lot of these books cover to cover and learned a lot piecemeal -- taking a little from original texts, from conversations with veterans in leftist thought, and from various publications. One publication was libcom.org, which I highly recommend. Aside from the news they report, they've got a great history and library section, dealing mainly with libertarian socialist/anarchist thought (and if you're interested in the Anarchist pov, I'd also recommend the Anarchist FAQ) (http://www.infoshop.org/AnAnarchistFAQ)

The stickies in the Learning forum here on revleft are hella useful too (I like the Study Guide one in particular). And seriously don't hesitate to post threads and ask questions -- no one's going to pounce at you if you're legitimately interested in learning!

[Einkarl]

Engles' FAQ. Really easy to understand

You can find it in the learning section

[TheRedAnarchist23]

Some of you like to forget anarchism is also left-wing...

I know The Anarchist FAQ is good: http://www.infoshop.org/AnAnarchistFAQ

[Tim Cornelis]

As mentioned, An Anarchist FAQ.

ABC of Communism is also nice: http://www.marxists.org/archive/bukharin/works/1920/abc/index.htm

[ВАЛТЕР]

"Principles of Communism" and "Wage Labour and Capital" are probably your best bets. "The Communist Manifesto" is a fine starting point as well of course.

Also, sorry for not responding to your PM, I figured you were some spambot or something.

[Manic Impressive]

Socialism: Scientific and Utopian
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/ch01.htm

Estranged Labour (AKA theory of alienation)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htm

Series of videos giving you a crash course in Marxian economics
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL3F695D99C91FC6F7

[ResearchStudent]

Thank you all for you your direction, I'm looking forward to getting stuck in!