beginning to read marx

[pce]

let's say that i (someone who is new to marxism/communism/socialism/etc. relative to what there really is to know) wanted to start reading marx's writings(those of you who know me better can probably tell me more) would i be way out of my league?

if so then..........ok

but if not, what should i start with?

[Leninist]

Erich Fromm has a book called (I believe) "Marx's Philosophy of Man". It is an excellent introduction to Marx's Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts. What's nice is that Marx's text is included.
Overall a good intro to the old man...get an understanding of alienation and you are on your way

[pce]

i checked out that book (it's "Marx's Concept of Man") on amazon.com. i couldn't find it at any bookstores. it looks interesting-thanks

i did find a book "Marx A Very Short Introduction" by Peter Singer. i read a couple chapters (it's a "very short book" and i was intrigued) have you or anyone else here heard of him or this book? i found a couple other books by him that also seemed interesting (i had to skim as i didn't have much time) has anyone heard of this guy?

[Dionysian]

I have the Fromm book Marx's Concept of Man also, (very good), and also reading now Fromm's Philosophy of Ethics. Concept of Man may be out of print, as the copyright is 1961 and it went into it's 6th printing in 64. The second half of that book though, The Philosophy Manuscripts of 1844 is online along with most of Marx's works.

Ernest Mandel a Marx scholar wrote tons of books on Marxist analysis, you may be able to find some book in print of his.

http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works.../date/index.htm (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/date/index.htm)

http://csf.colorado.edu/mirrors/marxists.org/

[Guest]

It is incredible that the Marx archives are posted on the net including Das Kapital. That must have been a gigantic project to assemble all those papers. Whoever did that website needs to be thanked immensely for putting Marx out into the public arena.

[Anonymous]

im reading Das Kapital and its fucked up to keep up with the man i can tell you that, but i do advise you to read his works because its necessary to do so in oder to understand what the real ideas behind comunism are, and aslo the problems with capitalist system

[Leninist]

I agree that plowing through "Capital" can be a chore. But it's ok to skim those parts with the detail about about units of cotton, cloth, etc. Stick with it and you will find kernals of truth in his chapter introductions and conclusions that are worth the struggle. Good Luck

[kingbee]

2 things that got me going- marx for beginners (or introducing marx- i forget which) by rius, and the manifesto of the communist party has to be one hasnt it?

[DaNatural]

i first got a hold of information on Marx, in various sociology texts they helped me understand his basic view points along with other clippings from the net. I dont think Marx will go over your head he is fairly easy to understand, although I do struggle through some of his works. I recommend the Communist manifesto, which is extremely short but is packed with interesting points. I recently picked up Das Kapital but cant get myself to read it because it looks like a dry read is over a 1000 pages! Peace
Positive Energy Applied Correctly Elevates

[vox]

I highly recommend reading Wage-Labour and Capital and value, Price and Profit, along with the Manifesto, for an introduction to Marx and Engels. Also, you might want to read The German Ideology, which will give you a more philosphical rather than economic foundation.

Peter Singer is a professor of philosphy who focuses on ethics. His book Animal Liberation is a powerful statement against using animals for our purposes. Singer is rather controversial for some of the statements that he's made regarding keeping very sick children alive or allowing them to die. I heard him interviewed on a show on NPR, though I can't remember which one. You might be able to find it in their archives at www.npr.org if you're interested in hearing it. I've seen his book on Marx, but I've not read it.

vox

[pce]

vox, i am glad someone else has heard of p. singer. i am reading a book he put together of what he views as his most important works, it's called Writings on Ethics. i am also reading his book on marx (which is pretty thin but very precise and to the point). so far it's been slow reading for me, not because of the content but because of the quantity. i am in different stages of envolvement in 4 or 5 different books.

as for singers "controversy," i think the reason for his controversy is only because people take certain things he says out of context.

[Guest]

I always recomend Tom Bottomore's Dictionary of Marxist Thought and David McLellan's Marxism After Marx. Bottomore's Dictionary has essay type definions to words you keep coming across in marxist texts. Contributions are mostly made by Academics and univesity profs. McLellan's book places all the revolutionary theories into their historical context, he is more of a scholar/historian than a theorist.

Steve.

[Guest]

I always recomend Bottomore: Dictionary of Marxist Thought; it's a compilation of essays by different university profs and McLellan: Marxism After Marx, good acounts of what happened and in what context.

Steve

[Chancho]

I highly recommend 'Marx for Dummies' - just kidding!

Seriously, the Cambridge Companion to Marx is quite scholarly yet easy to read.

[vox]

People might also want to read "The Monthly Review." Thoughtful but not so academic as to be irrelevent, a lot of its content is available on the Web. I recommend it very highly.

http://www.monthlyreview.org/index.html

vox

[peaccenicked]

A good place to start is with Lenin
The three component parts of Marxism.
The communist manifesto is a relatively easy read
a very good way to get to grips with Marx is to study his predecessors. Aristotle, Smith, Ricardo, Hume, Kant, Hegel, Fuerbach, Moore, St Simone, Shakespeare,
Shelly, Keats , Byron and Goethe. The edge of difficulty
can be offset by going into to the pool at different ends,
There is nothing wrong with finding Marx difficult, after all those who influenced his thinking were great thinkers in their own right. Aristotle says learning is painful, I suppose in his own way was reffering to unlearning. To leave old certainties.

[ernestodekam]

Communist Manifesto is a very good read. I have it plastered to my walls in my bedroom and read it a lot.

[Nateddi]

Watch out, many books about Marx are biased toward the right!

Some modern day good authors are Noam Chomsky and Michael Parenti, check them out.