Reading-list of a total Newbie. Is it Ok ?

[Grunt]

I got many tips from many comrades here at the board
and I want to thank you all ! :)

I finally put together my reading-list with which my
education shall begin.

The books named below, I will read them and finish
them before the end of the year 2008.
In the order they are named below.

So: What do you think comrades ? Good list ?
Bad list ?



1. "Communist Manifesto" (by Marx)

2. "Essential Marx" (by Trotsky)

3. "Wage Labour and Capital" (by Marx)

4. "Value, Price and Profit" (by Marx)

5. "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" (by Engels)

6. "The Conquest of bread" (by Kropotkin)

[Post-Something]

It's "Trotsky".

[Grunt]

It's "Trotsky".
Thanks comrade ! :)

How embarassing - can't even spell the names right...:blushing:

[KrazyRabidSheep]

Depends on you.

Are you a scholarly type?
If so, the list seems okay.

Personally, I wouldn't be able to take so many "serious" books in a row; I'd have to alternate books like "Stranger in a Strange Land" (Heinlein), "1984" (Orwell), "Clockwork Orange" (Burgess) and other fiction.

I would also include philosophers such as Hegel, Bentham (and Mill), and Rousseau (but Engels and Marx are philosophical enough to begin with.)

However, if mentally you can handle such a load, that's a decent list (although I admit I haven't even read all of those.)

[Post-Something]

These are all really good, but maybe you don't want something so heavy. And you can still have a strong grasp of Marxism without digging right into Das Kapital for instance. I would recommend reading this right after the communist manifesto; it's really good at explaining the way the capitalist system works etc:

http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_Archives/bright/berkman/comanarchism/whatis_toc.html

Just go to the introduction and read from there.:)

[Post-Something]

Depends on you.

Are you a scholarly type?
If so, the list seems okay.

Personally, I wouldn't be able to take so many "serious" books in a row; I'd have to alternate books like "Stranger in a Strange Land" (Heinlein), "1984" (Orwell), "Clockwork Orange" (Burgess) and other fiction.

I would also include philosophers such as Hegel, Bentham (and Mill), and Rousseau (but Engels and Marx are philosophical enough to begin with.)

However, if mentally you can handle such a load, that's a decent list (although I admit I haven't even read all of those.)

Well said :)

You should really throw in a few novels in there as well, even if they aren't directly related to Marxism, it wouldn't hurt to read The Stranger, or even some Satre.

[Tower of Bebel]

So: What do you think comrades ? Good list ?
Bad list ?
It depens on what you want to do/learn. For example: I wont read Kropotkin for a while, as I'm still studying marxism (and it takes some time to read the classics).

Other important works would be Imperialism (Lenin); State and Revolution (Lenin); The origins of family, private property and the state (Engels); Capital (Marx); Anti-Dühring (Engels) and others.

[Lost In Translation]

I got many tips from many comrades here at the board
and I want to thank you all ! :)

I finally put together my reading-list with which my
education shall begin.

The books named below, I will read them and finish
them before the end of the year 2008.
In the order they are named below.

So: What do you think comrades ? Good list ?
Bad list ?



1. "Communist Manifesto" (by Marx)

2. "Essential Marx" (by Trotsky)

3. "Wage Labour and Capital" (by Marx)

4. "Value, Price and Profit" (by Marx)

5. "Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" (by Engels)

6. "The Conquest of bread" (by Kropotkin)

I think it might be a bit too heavy. The Communist Manifesto had me half-conscious after 4 hours of reading. But I'm only 13, so that might be a reason. However, this is pretty good. Maybe a bit more fiction would add a little variety to your learning experience. Too much facts usually has me revolted with that subject for a few hours :D

[Rosa Lichtenstein]

Stay clear of Anti-Duhring -- the 'philosophical' parts of it are woefully bad:

http://www.revleft.com/vb/anti-duhring-t80412/index.html

The other things on your list look quite good.

[eyedrop]

Your list seems somewhat too theoretical.

I found No Logo, by Naomi Klein to be helpful as a critique of capitalism today.

The Anarchist Collectives: Workers' Self-Management in Spain 1936-39 (http://www.amazon.com/Anarchist-Collectives-Workers-Self-Management-1936-39/dp/0919618219/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213481910&sr=8-1) is a very factual book, with a loot of first hand sources on application of anarchist theory.

If your going to read any Orwell books you should read Homage to Catalonia (http://www.amazon.com/Homage-Catalonia-George-Orwell/dp/0156421178/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213482130&sr=1-1), which outclasses Orwells other books, and contains some interesting tidbits who shatter ones romantic visions of how war is. There is also interesting opinions of how non-hierachial warfare works.

[Kropotesta]

Kropotkin’s The Conquest of Bread is here (http://dwardmac.pitzer.edu/Anarchist_archives/kropotkin/conquest/toc.html) so that you don’t have to buy it.

[Niccolò Rossi]

So: What do you think comrades ? Good list ?
Bad list ? It's not a great list, but it's getting there.

I would suggest you pick up a copy of: The Marx-Engels Reader by Robert C. Tucker (http://www.amazon.com/Marx-Engels-Reader-Second-Karl-Marx/dp/039309040X/ref=pd_bbs_sr_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1213487346&sr=8-1). You can buy a used copy off Amazon for as little as $10 US, but I've seen then sold in the past for less than $3!

The book is an 800 pages collection of some of Marx's most central and important works, along with many letters and minor works of interest. This is the book that made me a Marxist, you can substitute nothing for the works of Marx and Engels themselves.

However, you don't have to pay anything if you don't want to! In case you've never seen it before, the Marxist Internet Archive (http://www.marxists.org/index.htm) is the biggest collection of Marxist works online, with over 300 writers and 20 000 documents in more than 20 Languages!

As a reading list I would suggest the following:



A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing (Letter to Ruge) (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/letters/43_09.htm)
Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844 (only the chapters: Estranged Labour (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/labour.htm) and Private Property and Communism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/comm.htm)
Contribution to a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right: Introduction (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/intro.htm) (This is one of my all time favourites, Marx's writing at it's best)
Society and Economy in History (Letter to Annenkov) (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1846/letters/46_12_28.htm)
These on Feuerbach (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/index.htm)
German Ideology: Part One (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01.htm)
Wage Labour and Capital (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm)
Manifesto of the Communist Party (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm)
Principle of Communism (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm)
Critique of the Gotha Program (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm)
Marx debates Bakunin's Statism and Anarchy (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1874/04/bakunin-notes.htm)
Civil War in France (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/index.htm) (specifically the chapter: The Paris Commune)
Socialism Utopian and Scientific (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/index.htm)
On Authority (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/10/authority.htm)
Historical Materialism (Letter to Bloch) (http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1890/letters/90_09_21.htm)

Read these and you will have a fairly solid basis of Marx and Engels.

I would not suggest reading Lenin or Trotsky or any other Marxists until you have read the list above.

Enjoy and Good Luck!

[F9]

If you are interesting and to starting learning to Anarchy i would suggest you for starting the "abc of anarchism" by Alexander Berkman!

Fuserg9:star:

[Dros]

The Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State by Engels

The Principles of Communism by Engels

[KrazyRabidSheep]

I'd like to add that you should probably read some Nietzsche and fascist-type lit, too (but after you're comfortable with communist ideas.)

Know your enemy and all that. Critique it, and learn the arguments that will be used against you.

Another novel I thought of that addresses individuality is "The Giver" (Lowry). It's written as a children's novel, but is deep nonetheless.

[Dros]

Nietzsche was not a fascist.

[gla22]

The communist manifesto is very easy to read compared to mark's other works which are more philosophical in nature. I'm working my way through a big anthology of marx and engles now.

[Nietzsche's Ghost]

Yeah it was his sister who was with the nazis. Also didn't he renounce his citzenship or something like that?

[Die Neue Zeit]

Throw the Communist Manifesto into Hume's bonfire! [Engels' Principles of Communism is qualitatively superior.]

[BobKKKindle$]

Know your enemy and all that. Critique it, and learn the arguments that will be used against you.

It's important to learn about the arguments one will encounter, so as to devise ways to refute those arguments, but fascism is not the main ideological "enemy" of socialism, because fascism is normally numerically weak, and can only gain mass support when the working class is faced with intense economic hardship. The OP should consider looking into some books written from a libertarian or market-liberal viewpoint, so they can understand how capitalism is defended.

For example, an argument often put forward to defend capitalism is the concept of a "natural right" to own property. This forms the basis of Nozick's position in Anarchy, State, and Utopia.

What are the weaknesses of this position? Well, the concept of a "natural right" is weak, because rights are ideas which have been created by society, and so are subject to change. Nozick does not give an explanation of where "natural rights" come from, or why access to healthcare is not also a natural right. Nozick's position is a form of ideology. The ruling class in each epoch has attempted to make it seem as if the way society is organised is the natural order, to justify the division of society into classes, and discourage people from thinking about how it might be possible to organize society in a different way. The process of creating and distributing ideology allows the ruling class to gain legitimacy and maintain its position as the ruling class.

As for the socialist books the OP should read, instead of starting with books written by Marx, the OP should consider reading about written about Marx's ideas, because Marx's language can be hard to understand. I recommend Marxism: For and Against (Heilbroner) as a basic introduction.

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ BK, I used to frequent the propertarian LewRockwell.com (http://www.lewrockwell.com/) a LOT.

[KrazyRabidSheep]

I'd like to add that you should probably read some Nietzsche and fascist-type lit, too
I didn't say Nietzsche was fascist.

However, he did have ideas contrary to communism (such as Ubermensch).