Books!

[KC]

Hey everyone first post!
I've been following this forum for a little bit, and finally decided to register.

I've been a huge fan of Che for a while now, and I've read up on him quite a bit. Che, along with my curiosity, is what influenced me to start researching Communism. So far I've only read up on it on the internet, but about a week ago I picked up the Communist Manifesto and I'm almost done with that. Are there any other books that anyone could tell me about that would give me a better idea of what Communism really is?

[NovelGentry]

Read the communist manifesto 5 more times first -- seriously.

[workersunity]

ya i agree, but to have some variety, read


Lenin- The State and Revolution

Lenin-Imperialism:highest stage of capitalism

Marx-german Ideology
Marx- the eighteenth brumaire of louis bonaparte
marx-Anti-Duhring (i think thats what it is)
Eugene Debs reader-Socialism, and the class struggle
Capital of course, although be prepared, its an analysis of capitalism

and for an alternative view of socialism

michael albert- Marxism and Socialist theory, and parecon
some say hes anti-marxist, but i think hes just reinforcing force, hes arguing against marx in that too much centralization is bad, but i think marx didnt even want to much.

thats all i got for now

[NovelGentry]

Lenin-Imperialism:highest stage of capitalism


GABBA [email protected]^[email protected]$#^~^~!

Despite the above remark, these are all grand suggestions, but I would recommend reading them in chronological order, it'll give you a better sense of who built what off who's ideas and where some people may have thought they grasped a bit more than they did.

EDIT: also, in addition to the German Ideology, read Critique of the Gotha Programme by Marx.

Lastly:

http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Aegean/6579/index.htm

[The Garbage Disposal Unit]

a. I know a fellow nammed Lazar. He's on the strike committee at McGill. Even more so than reading yesterdays' texts, I recomend following and analyzing ongoing events, and considering them in the context of yr own lived experienced. For example, start following the student strikes in Quebec. ;)

b. Read the "Society Of The Spectacle", as well as more or less anything else by Guy Debord. Dig this site (http://www.bopsecrets.org).

[workersunity]

obviously lenin built off of marx, but its still a really good book

[NovelGentry]

To be completely honest, to this day I've still not read any extensive amount of Lenin's work, portions here or there, never anything in full, and if it was nothing longer than a few pages. The problem I find with reading the bits I do of Lenin are the following:

1) He seems to be a propagandist above all, holding the bend to reactionaries above actually preparing people for revolution and long term socialism.

2) When he settles out of propaganda to ideology, There is a feeling of distorted Marxism. Intentional or not. This is why I made the original statement in response to Imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism. It's a point I've talked about with Zingu and one which was freshly made on this board in the theory section under a thread named "global capitalism."

3) He's an extremely bland writer.

[Roses in the Hospital]

3) He's an extremely bland writer.

I agree. I've tried to read State and Revolution a few times now but never managed to get more than a quarter of the way through it. I just don't find Lenin as much of an inspiring writer as Marx, or even Trotsky...

[BOZG]

I found quite State And Revolution quite enjoyable to read in all honesty.

On Lenin being a propagandist, this is an evitability of all Marxist literature because its very essense is polemical and dialectical. A hung chunk of any literature is composed of dissecting other ideologies and positions rather than a consistant "study guide" for the working class.

[workersunity]

your all crazy, bozg your right, its really a good book, and bland writing, we must not be reading the same book, its anything but bland, its my second favority political, number 2 only to the CM

[Morpheus]

What Uncle Sam Really Wants by Noam Chomsky
Hegemony or Survival by Noam Chomsky
The Cuban Revolution by Sam Dolgoff
The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin
Anarcho-Syndicalism by Rudolf Rocker
Cuban Anarchism by Frank Fernandez
My Disillusionment in Russia by Emma Goldman

[workersunity]

anarchism shmanarcism

[RedLenin]

Non-sence embrace anarchism!

Check out "What is Communist Anarchism"- Alexander Berkman

Along with everything Morpheus listed.

[KC]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions! Most of these books sound very interesting, should help a lot. I'm not into anarchism though.

[workersunity]

ill check that out, gotta see all sides of a story i always say ;)