Other great socialist writers?

[Comrade-AJK]

Hi all. This is my first post.

I was wondering, besides the obvious greats (Marx, Engels, Lenin, and in my case Trotsky) who else's writings would be considered essential for a person learning Socialism? Who, besides the four I mentioned, is your personal favourite?

[Geiseric]

Trotsky should imo be read as much as Lenin, they're just as important as the other. Who else though? Whatever you're interested in, it exists on marxists.org, I've read the Robespierre and Jean Paul Marat sections a few times. James P. Cannon was one of the premier communist union organizers in the US, as well as Ferrell Dobbs, so I'd read both of them for perspectives on the question of organizing in the United States. Both of those guys organized and led General Strikes, as well as founded the CP-USA.

http://marxists.org/history/etol/writers/dobbs/1940/06/fbi-unions.htm

[Niccolo]

Stalin, Gramsci and Althusser are my favourite Marxist writers other than Marx, Engels and Lenin, although reading them is not essential for a basic understanding at all. I would recommend any of Gramsci's work as his insight is excellent.

If you were looking for modern writers I'd recommend Eagleton or Harvey.

[Comrade-AJK]

What is your take on Rosa Luxemburg, Daniel De Leon, and Ché Geuvara?

[Bala Perdida]

Mikhail Bakunin, he's an anarchist, but important to the socialist international nonetheless.

[Brutus]

I'm a fan of Kautsky, Bebel, Bordiga and Plekhanov. Plekhanov and Kautsky were both major influences for Lenin, but both ended up disappointing him

[Sinister Intents]

I enjoy reading the writings of Kropotkin, Proudhon, and Pannekoek. All of their writings have been influential in my political development.

[The Jay]

I recommend sticking to Marx before wading through anyone else unless you want to read some Bakunin along side him since they were contemporaries. Essentially, understand Marx before reading anyone else or you will get seriously confused or lead round in circles.

[Brutus]

I would also consider Berkman's "ABCs of anarchist-communism", which is easy, short and available online.

[Sea]

For someone who's just learning, stick to Marx, Engels, and when context requires, the authors that Marx and Engels were debating against. Maybe some Lenin in small doses, since he had a fairly clear writing style and mostly built directly on Marx, but I wouldn't recommend reading Lenin unless you're familiar with what Marx and Engels had to say about the same topic, which sometimes means you'll have to read several volumes of Marx and Engels before you can really understand one single book of Lenin's. 'Marxism and the National Question' is fairly short and, even though it's written by Stalin, it was written fairly early in Stalin's career and, if it makes you feel any better, Lenin himself was fond of it. I don't recommend getting anywhere near the rest of Stalin's works of anywhere near Trotsky's works until you have a good grasp of the basics. However, there have been plenty of authors who have written introductory works that would be fine for anyone to read. Bordiga did this, Bukharin did this, of course Marx and Engels did this with their Communist Manifesto, and countless others did as well.

[The Idler]

William Morris (http://www.revleft.com/vb/group.php?groupid=1138)

[TomChile]

Zizek (hard to read), Hobsbawm, Gabriel Salazar (one of the best latin american historians), Eduardo Galeano.

[ColossalButtwipe]

Kropotkin, Berkman, Rocker, Bookchin

[tuwix]

Hi all. This is my first post.

I was wondering, besides the obvious greats (Marx, Engels, Lenin, and in my case Trotsky) who else's writings would be considered essential for a person learning Socialism? Who, besides the four I mentioned, is your personal favourite?

Undoubtedly Proudhon and especially his greatest critics of (private) property of all times in the "What is property?" book.

[Tolstoy]

While far from theory, Richard Wright was an excellent writer with unique perspectives on being a black man in America and he was an active member of the Communist Party for many years, before quitting and discovering Existentialism

[Brosa Luxemburg]

The Reproduction of Daily Life by Fredy Perlman
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/perlman-fredy/1969/misc/reproduction-daily-life.htm

Introduction to Marxist Economics by Ernest Mandel (I have a few problems with some of the stuff he says, like claiming the Soviet Union, etc. are "deformed workers states", saying in his section on neo-capitalism we should fight for a strong public sector alongside the private, etc. but it's still fantastic)
http://www.marxists.org/archive/mandel/1967/intromet/

Money and Money Reforms by Christ Jeslet (not well known, but fantastic)
http://www.akpress.org/moneyandmoneyreforms.html

[Brosa Luxemburg]

I also recommend Bordiga (as anyone who has been around here for a while should know by now)

[Ocean Seal]

It depends on what you are interested in. I seriously advise Trotsky on everything besides a revolution betrayed, and I generally advise reading statistical studies on socialist development, Luxembourg on anti-revisionism, and anarchist texts on how to organize.

I think that the oldschool anarchists have a lot of value in what they say simply because they attempted so many different tactics and there is a lot to think about in terms of how to organize.

[Yuppie Grinder]

Luxemburg is essential.
If you're interested in the anti-Stalinist left I'd recommend reading Gorter, Bordiga, Cammatte, and Duave.