Want to read marx - advice?

[Robo the Hobo]

I have nothing to read at the moment, and as I havent yet read anything by carl marx, I felt I should try reading something, prefferably in a book form.

My question would be, what should I realy read first? There are probably some shorter papers you would normaly advise, but I realy need something substancial to read, any help available?

oh, and I will probably be able to find/buy whatever you advise me.

any help would be GREATLY apreciated.

[Question everything]

I haven't read much marx myself, but I can get you an Online Communist Manifesto...


http://www.gutenberg.org/etext/61

[JazzRemington]

You can read the following (in any order):

The first section of German Ideology (the one on Feuerbach)
Capital (at least volume 1)
The Communist Manifesto
Thesises on Feuerbach

Basically, the Communist Manifesto shows "early Marx," and contains writings that would be later abandoned by Marx. I would take it with a grain of salt, but it is useful to get the "spirit" of "Marxism."

The section on Feuerbach from German Ideology is useful as it outlines rather clearly Marx's view of history. Usually Thesises on Feuerbach is contained within German Ideology.

As for Capital, it is the culmination of Marx's work and is considered his "masterwork," the masterwork of a mature and developed theory of history and society. If you just want to get into it, just read Capital (there are three volumes, with another work, Theories of Surplus Value, being considered the fourth volume). There is also a study guide online written by a man named Harry Cleaver, which is pretty good.

In addition to the above, if you want to get deeper into Marx's writings, I'm sure there are collections of letters available somewhere. Many times Marx wrote letters defending certain aspects of his theories and clarifying them (e.g., he wrote once that what is called "historical materialism" is only a guide, and not a definite look at how history developed, and his scorn for being "hero worshiped".).

Also, I would recommend three other works: Reading Capital Politically by Harry Cleaver, Karl Marx's Theory of History: A Defense by Gerald Allen Cohen, and the second section of Making Sense of Marx by Jon Elster. Mr. Cleaver's work is available online for free.

While reading anything, think of it critically. Don't just accept it because it is written in some book, even if it is by Marx or by someone who quotes a lot of Marx.

As always, there is spark notes for some of Marx's works and there is the Learning section of the forum.

[Janus]

Marx/Engels archive at MIA (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/index.htm)

The following are good starters:

[A Critique of] the German Ideology
Principles of Communism
The Communist Manifesto
Wage-Labor and Capital
Preface to Contribution to critique of political economy
The Civil War in France
Critique of the Gotha Program
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific

[Tower of Bebel]

Read Das Kapital by Marx. It's hard to read (like everything else of Marx), so I give you some advice. Put Capital on your bed table and if you go to sleep you can read a part you don't understand. Within a year you understand what Capital is all about.
For many it's to difficult to read the book intirely. Many even start form the end and go to the beginning from there because it seems to be easier at the end and harder at the beginning of the book.

[bloody_capitalist_sham]

I tried to read volume 1 of capital, but really, it was too hard to understand.

Instead i read wages price and profit which was much shorter and easier to understand. though its still pretty tough IMHO.

[The Grey Blur]

Read the Communist Manifesto first.

[UndergroundConnexion]

Karl Marx

[RebelDog]

I think its best to read Marx by proxy at first. Here is a book by Alex Callinicos called 'The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx'. It lays things out for the layman in easily understandable terms and covers his major works/ideas.

http://www.istendency.net/pdf/revideas.pdf

[UndergroundConnexion]

Marx is not THAt hard to read. My advice is to read it at a desk, with a pencil in the hand an paper. Underline the important ideas, and after each section/chapter, try to make a short summary of what was said.

[Hit The North]

Originally posted by Permanent [email protected] 11, 2007 11:48 am
Read the Communist Manifesto first.
Excellent advice. The CM was written to appeal to workers and includes some of Marx's most direct and lucid passages as he both outlines his theory of history and charts the genesis of the capitalist system and its development into the modern age. His depiction of the necessity of class struggle is so compelling, you can barely doubt the truthfulness of it.

Some of Marx's prose can be quite turgid, but in the Communist Manifesto every word rings like a bell.

[Robo the Hobo]

Thanks everyone for your advice

I think I will either have a go at reading the communist manifesto, or capital first, although wich one I am not quite shore, and probably read some other related things at the side if I can find anything usefull on the internet.

[Question everything]

Originally posted by Robo the [email protected] 12, 2007 06:48 am
Thanks everyone for your advice

I think I will either have a go at reading the communist manifesto, or capital first, although wich one I am not quite shore, and probably read some other related things at the side if I can find anything usefull on the internet.
Manifestio is much easier and shorter.

[rouchambeau]

I would read Wage Labor and Capital before reading Capital. It's shorter and doesn't include a lot of the crap that you would find in Capital.

[JRR883]

SparkNotes makes a version of Das Kapital that might be helpful to those wanting a more concise version of it.