What should I be reading?

[Technique3055]

I just started studying communism. I'm pretty fascinated and I want to learn more. So far I've only read a couple books about/by Che and The Communist Manifesto. I've been really interested in the Cuban Revolution, but I'm not sure what else there is with that to cover.

Also I don't think I can read the major books. I'm honestly not old enough to fully understand them, so I wouldn't want to read them, not understand them, and misinterpret everything in them.

Thanks.

[More Fire for the People]

For general study of socialism I would read,
Biographies of Ernesto 'Che' Guevara (http://marxists.org/archive/guevara/biography.htm)
Man and Socialism in Cuba - By Che (http://marxists.org/archive/guevara/1965/03/man-socialism.htm)
On The Growth and Imperialism - By Che (http://marxists.org/archive/guevara/1961/08/08.htm)
Farewell letter from Che to Fidel Castro - By Che (http://marxists.org/archive/guevara/1965/04/01.htm)

Revolutionary Unionism - By Eugene Debs (http://marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1905/revunion.htm)
Outlook for Socialism in the United States - By Eugene Debs (http://marxists.org/archive/debs/works/1900/outlook.htm)
The German Ideology - By Karl Marx (http://marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/index.htm)
The State and Revolution (http://marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm)
If America Should Go Communist - By Leon Trotsky (http://marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1935/1935-ame.htm)

[Rage]

Andersons Biography on Ernesto is Amazing. It is a must Read!

/,,/
Rock on!

[Bolshevist]

http://www.marx2mao.com/RG.html

There is a very good reading list. It covers everything you need to know about the proletariat and the peasantry's revolutionary strategies :)

[workersunity]

ya i would read state and revolution by lenin, and then read some stuff by luxembourg, reform or revolution possibly, although its quite boring, then id read some deleon, like reform or revolution and industrial unionism www.deleonism.org

[Karl Marx's Camel]

Welcome, Technique3055. :)


I would recommend reading The State and Revolution, by Lenin (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm). To me it was an easy read, compared to other writers, such as Marx, and other works, such as Das Kapital (a pain in the ass, in my opinion, heh).


I would also like to recommend Wage Labour and Capital (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm).

[SpeCtrE]

Just read anything that you come across. It helps you draw a quick picture. Then you start getting more specific.

[Abstrakt]

Originally posted by [email protected] 9 2005, 09:14 PM
Andersons Biography on Ernesto is Amazing. It is a must Read!

/,,/
Rock on!
No doubt man. I am half way through it right now. I didn't expect Anderson to go so in depth about Fidel and the Movement like he did. Also, about the Peron's.

I don't know though, since he is a beginner, that novel might be a little challenging. But eh, I'm just a novis also. Like dude above me said, read whatever you come across.

I also think that checking out the boards is a great read.

[Severian]

On the Cuban Revolution:
History: Cuba for Beginners is a good easy overview...
Conflicting Missions by Piero Gliejeses is the definitive overview of Cuban foreign policy/ aid to revolutions worldwide, including Che's missions
Policy: the Second Declaration of Havana
speeches by Fidel Castro, there's a number of collections out there

Marx: Wage Labor and Capital, as mentioned by NWOG, short and relatively easy on economics
Civil War in France, about the Paris Commune, the first workers' government.

Engels: Socialism:Utopian and Scientific - overview of Marxism as opposed to idealist concepts of socialism
Revolution and Counter-Revolution in Germany - experience of the 1848 revolution, which Marx and Engels participated in

Lenin: State and Revolution, as mentioned by others
Imperialism - not easy but not long either, and very important
Ultra-left Communism: can save ya a lot of mistakes and trouble

[Guerrilla22]

The Politics of chickens Coming Home to Roost by Ward churchill, the greatest proffesor ever.

[OleMarxco]

Call me an idiot or something, but I think you should read Chuck Palachniuak's "Fight Club". He's not either a (as far as I know) socialist and/or communistic/leftist author, but, he depicts modern (capitalistic) society (as a very heartless process of machinery to create profit, if you ask me) in the west pretty well, and I can whole-heartedly recommend it as a way to understand why we need a change - if you can't see it with your own eyes already! :)

[Abstrakt]

Oh! Does anyone know of novels on the French Resistance?

[resisting arrest with violence]

Yeah State and Revolution is awesome--- that book is the product of Lenin 's thousands of hours spent reading, a lifetime of reading. Man, I read the Federalist Papers by Amerika's Founding fathers and they suck big time compared to Lenin's masterpiece and also his other masterpiece Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism.

[SonofRage]

Read Workers' Councils by Anton Pannekoek


word

[Djehuti]

Originally posted by [email protected] 7 2005, 07:04 PM
I just started studying communism. I'm pretty fascinated and I want to learn more. So far I've only read a couple books about/by Che and The Communist Manifesto. I've been really interested in the Cuban Revolution, but I'm not sure what else there is with that to cover.

Also I don't think I can read the major books. I'm honestly not old enough to fully understand them, so I wouldn't want to read them, not understand them, and misinterpret everything in them.

Thanks.
First of all, watch trough this:
http://www.prole.info/introduction/intro_0.html
It is easy, yet great. It gives a very good introduction to communism.

[Soviet sally]

.....the beano

[JazzRemington]

THere's also wikipedia.org's articles on communism and Marxism.

[The Feral Underclass]

Originally posted by [email protected] 7 2005, 07:04 PM
Also I don't think I can read the major books. I'm honestly not old enough to fully understand them, so I wouldn't want to read them, not understand them, and misinterpret everything in them.

Thanks.
Everyone seems to have missed that part.

Some of the books you have been referred to are just too much if you are just starting to learn. The best place to start is with the What is Communism FAQ? (http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=26804) or with What is Communism?. (http://redstar2000papers.com/theory.php?subaction=showfull&id=1082898978&archive=&cnshow=headlines&start_from=&ucat=&)

If you feel more confident after that you can try reading The Communist Manifesto. (http://www.anu.edu.au/polsci/marx/classics/manifesto.html)

The best thing is then to ask questions on here if you don't understand and someone can explain them to you. Once you have a basic understanding you can then move on to things like 'The State and Revolution' anda ll the others.

I would also like to plug the book What is Communist Anarchism? (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html) it is simple to read and understand and gives you an indepth look at what anarchist communism is all about, provided your interested of course.

[Severian]

Originally posted by The Anarchist [email protected] 11 2005, 11:55 AM
veryone seems to have missed that part.

Some of the books you have been referred to are just too much if you are just starting to learn.
Most of the stuff suggested so far is short pamphlets or booklets, not full-size books.

And IMO, it's best to start with the Marxist classics - or really, books by revolutionaries, in their own words. Not later reinterpretations, often by non-revolutionaries or pseudo-revolutionaries.

And he says he's already read the Manifesto and some stuff by and about Che.

[Technique3055]

Thanks everyone for all the suggestions and links, it should be real helpful.

Props.

[workersunity]

Id say read reform or revolution by daniel deleon and by rosa luxemburg.