The Basics

[MNRebel]

So I'm totally new to doing forums.. and I'd really like to be taught about all this left wing stuff.. a friend told me this would be a good place to learn.

[Red Menace]

well, leftist politics in general is what you need to learn about. Here are two sites that may help.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works...11/prin-com.htm (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm)

http://reds.linefeed.org/vocab.html

Basically I wouldn't recomend reading the communist manifesto until later, when you start learning the terms. I read the whole thing about 1 month ago, and I had had radical beliefs for about a year now, and I still had trouble understanding some of it. Honestly just read some of the stuff in the forums, mostly in learning, and you will learn alot.

oh and welcome to the forums comrade. The proletarians have nothing to lose but their chains. They have a world to win.

Working Men of All Countries, Unite!

[MNRebel]

Great. The sites will be helpful :)

I'm actually trying to read the communist manifesto at the moment :wacko:

[BobKKKindle$]

I would personally not try to approach the Communist Manifesto just yet; the dialectic and materialist philosophy that Marx implicitly uses can be quite difficult to understand, and should by no means be considered the most important principle of Leftism. I recommend the following site:

http://www.zmag.org/weluser.htm

Although it does not have many theoretical rersources, the site analyses important world issues from an explicitly leftist standpoint, and this will enable you to fully appreciate the exploitation that occurs under Capitalism, before you investigate the theory of how capitalism exploits workers, in addition to concepts such as alienation and commodity fetishism.

But Welcome Comrade! No Gods, No Masters!

[Cryotank Screams]

Good overviews;

Anarchism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anarchism)
Anarchism (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/kropotkin/britanniaanarchy.html)

Good sites;
Anarchist Archives (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/anarchist_archives/index.html)
Spunk Library (http://www.spunk.org/)
Anarchy FAQ (http://www.infoshop.org/faq/index.html)
Anarchist Library (http://flag.blackened.net/daver/anarchism/index.html)
Kate Sharpley Library (http://www.katesharpleylibrary.net/)

[Delta]

The Anarchy FAQ that Scarlet Hammer mentioned is quite good. There's enough material there to keep you learning for weeks.

And welcome comrade :)

[Son of a Strummer]

Welcome!

I consider the following essay by Michael A. Lebowitz to be the most lucid introduction to the ideas of Marx...

Karl Marx: The Needs of Capital vs. The Needs of Human Beings (http://www.dougdowd.org/NewFiles/articles/lebowitzhi.html)

[peaccenicked]

Here is a pretty good way to get to the basics. a you tube -the communist manifesto -illustrated by disney.
http://www.scottishinternationalist.com/th...-by-disney.html (http://www.scottishinternationalist.com/the-scottish-internationalist/2006/11/24/the-communist-manifesto-illustrated-by-disney.html)

[Fawkes]

Read "Anarchism: From Theory to Practice" by Daniel Guerin.

[lithium]

Welcome MNRebel!

I haven't even read the Manifesto yet, but I'm still learning lots. Just read through these forums - you'll learn a lot by seeing what other people have to say. Check out those links mentioned above. Try to get to grips with the basic ideas of leftist politics and economics, and try to figure out the differences between Socialism, Communism and Anarchism.

For a start I'll point out a basic fact that a Communist society has not existed yet - Russia was not Communist, and neither Cuba or North Korea are Communist, regardless of what the media tell you.

Anyways, we're all here to help you. Hope you enjoy it here!

[Red Menace]

Originally posted by [email protected] 25, 2006 08:20 pm
Here is a pretty good way to get to the basics. a you tube -the communist manifesto -illustrated by disney.
http://www.scottishinternationalist.com/th...-by-disney.html (http://www.scottishinternationalist.com/the-scottish-internationalist/2006/11/24/the-communist-manifesto-illustrated-by-disney.html)
Ha ha ha, that was funny.

yeah watch it if you have 10 minutes free, it includes most of the manifesto, well the important stuff at least

[Delta]

Originally posted by [email protected] 25, 2006 07:20 pm
Here is a pretty good way to get to the basics. a you tube -the communist manifesto -illustrated by disney.
http://www.scottishinternationalist.com/th...-by-disney.html (http://www.scottishinternationalist.com/the-scottish-internationalist/2006/11/24/the-communist-manifesto-illustrated-by-disney.html)
It's fun to watch, but I wouldn't say that you can get a very deep understanding of it.

[Nusocialist]

The Anarchists faq is indeed excellent.

I personally recommend learning as much about the LTV(labour theory of value.) and other socialist economics,that's what I've been doing.

[peaccenicked]

I dont think the Disney thing is the last word on the Communist Manifesto but it does give the basics of the injustice of cold cash relations in the modern world. I dont think Marx would have disaproved I think he would have wanted to make it longer. Then how do you add footnotes to a cartoon. Making a cartoon out of footnote one, the one about written history might be hard to persevere with bcause it totally undermines the sense of "all'' in the sentence: All hitherto previous history has been the history of class struggle. One might have to expand into Engels on the "The Origins of Private Property, the Family and the State"
to give it proper depth.

This slip in the CM is a precursor to the fundamental mistake of post-moderism(by the way it looks like Derrida has returned to modernism) the mistake of mechanically cutting history up into bits, but what does a student need to know first:the basic shape of the big picture that Marx and Engels pioneered.

[blueeyedboy]

Nusocialist, what do you read on socialist economics and the LTV? Where are the best sites for information on socialist economics?

All replies are welcome.

[peaccenicked]

What I recommend is going straght to the horses mouth, it is source material for those that follow. http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch01.htm The first chapter contains the essence of the whole book, the rest is an expansion. If you get the first chapter the rest comes as an unfolding of the picture painted in the first chapter. The first chapter requires a little study and questioning, well if you get into dificulties, you can use this thread. Everyone is invited to have a go at chapter one. Ill be here often to check, to see if anyone is interested.

[OneBrickOneVoice]

Originally posted by [email protected] 26, 2006 09:09 pm
Nusocialist, what do you read on socialist economics and the LTV? Where are the best sites for information on socialist economics?

All replies are welcome.
Check this out; Simple Socialists Truths. Very easy read, covers alot of the economical building blocks of socialism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/lafargue/1903/xx/truths.htm)

[The Bitter Hippy]

excellent link, leftyhenry!

i'd reccomend reading the beginner's guide to marx's capital.
http://www.revolutionaryleft.com/index.php?showtopic=45625