Which books must I read?

[ernesto43]

I want to learn everything about Marxism.But I haven't read any book releated to Marxism. And I have no knowledge about Marxism.. Which books do you advise to me to learn everything about Marxism and dialectical materialism? But these books must inclued basic information about marxism and I can understand..They can be Turkish or English. But I feel happy you advise me Turkish books. Thanks..:)

[Holden Caulfield]

obviously the communist manifesto, and das Capital, although the second one is a tad wordy,

the Revolution Betrayed by Leon Trotsky,

them be good starters

[nvm]

The revolution betrayed and the communist manifesto!
I second that .

[Dean]

Escape From Freedom By Erich Fromm

[Malakangga]

the communist manifesto and das capital,that's a basic

[Holden Caulfield]

Escape From Freedom By Erich Fromm

anything, in any field, by anybody from the 'Frankfurt School' is worth reading

[Die Neue Zeit]

Why do I get the feeling that I will go AGAINST recommending the Manifesto? :(

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

[gla22]

communist manifesto and no gods no masters.

[Dros]

Basics:
The Communist Manifesto by Marx+Engels
The Principles of Communism by Engels
On the Origins of the Family, Private Property, and the State by Engels

Then:
The State and Revolution by Lenin
What is to Be Done by Lenin
On New Democracy by Mao
Quotations from Chairman Mao by Mao


Warning: If you read "The Revolution Betrayed", I suggest you take it with a very large grain of salt. The guy who wrote that book wasn't exactly the most accurate source on the matter, especially considering that he had just lost a power struggle with the guys he was writing about. If you decide to read it, I suggest you also read Another View of Stalin by Ludo Martens. (http://www.plp.org/books/Stalin/book.html)

[Rawthentic]

The Communist Manifesto is the first one, comrade.

I do not recommend reading Das Kapital until much later when you can understand that all as well as dialectical materialism.

Besides that, read everything you can. Read Trotsky, Mao, Lenin, Fanon, Che, Fidel, everything.

Don't take anything for a given. Remember that most of these works are old and need to be critically evaluated.

[rampantuprising]

"The Marxist Reader" by Emile Burns contains:

by Marx and Engels:
The Communist Manifesto
German Ideology

by Karl Marx:
Address to the Communist League
The Class Struggles in France (1848-1850)
The 18th Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte
The Civil War in France
Theses on Feuerbach
The Poverty of Philosophy
A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy
Das Kapital

by Engels:
Intro to Class Struggles in France (1848-50)
Germany: Revolution and Counterrevolution
Intro to Civil War in France
Ludwig Feuerbach
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State
The Housing Question

by Lenin:
The Teachings Karl Marx
Our Programme
What Is to Be Done?
The Revolution of 1905
Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism
The State and Revolution
On the Eve of October

by Stalin:
The October Revolution
Foundations of Leninism

i dont know if this book is still in circulation or not, I just happened to come across it in my Grandfathers' basement when i was about 16. :)

[oujiQualm]

This book is amazing. Amazing.

http://www.amazon.com/Thy-Will-Done-Rockefeller-Evangelism/dp/0060927232

[nvm]

Dont read anything from Stalin or Mao yet.
It is not important.
Real MArx, LEnin , Englels, and Trotsky .
Especialy the Revolution Betrayed.

[Tower of Bebel]

Also this might be interesting, yet not one of the most important works you should read as a beginner (Reform or Revolution? - by R. Luxemburg): http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/reform-revolution/index.htm


Warning: If you read "The Revolution Betrayed", I suggest you take it with a very large grain of salt. The guy who wrote that book wasn't exactly the most accurate source on the matter, especially considering that he had just lost a power struggle with the guys he was writing about. If you decide to read it, I suggest you also read Another View of Stalin by Ludo Martens. (http://www.plp.org/books/Stalin/book.html)

Note that this guy thought proper bourgeois democracy could be brought to the Congo and other Third World countries. There is better literature than both propagandistic works.

[ComradeOm]

The Manifesto remains, without question, the best introduction to Marx and Marxism. After that there's no real need to restrict yourself to one single tome as the principles of Marxism tend to be scattered across several works. Das Kapital is obviously the exception but this remains primarily an economic work and can be left until you have a firm grounding in the basics of Marxism

In terms of readers, I found Dynamics of Social Change (http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Dynamics-of-Social-Change/Howard-Selsam/e/9780717802647) to be an excellent introduction to Marx and Engels

After that two major works by Lenin - State & Revolution and Imperialism - are probably the most significant contributions to post-Marx theory

[trivas7]

Burning All Illusions: A Guide to Personal and Political Freedom by David Edwards. How the media and government conspire to keep power out of people's hands.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0896085317/ref=cm_cr_pr_product_top

[Schrödinger's Cat]

The Meaning of Marxism is a fair, easy read.

[professorchaos]

Limits to Capital by David Harvey

[Led Zeppelin]

I suggest you also read Another View of Stalin by Ludo Martens. (http://www.plp.org/books/Stalin/book.html)

Probably the worst book I have ever read, and that's saying much 'cause I've read a lot of crappy books.

You should start on MIA, with this section: Foundations of Marxism (http://www.marxists.org/subject/students/index.htm)

[Hit The North]

Probably the worst book I have ever read, and that's saying much 'cause I've read a lot of crappy books.

You should start on MIA, with this section: Foundations of Marxism (http://www.marxists.org/subject/students/index.htm)

Great idea. We should sticky the link.

[BIG BROTHER]

Well besides all that, I would recommend that you familiarize with the vocabulary used in Marxism. I recommend that from experience because when I first read the manifesto I didn't understand a great part of the book because I didn't get the vocabulary.

Perhaps later on you should read The basic writings of Trotsky. Part of the book tells the history of the October revolution from a Marxist point of view not a bourgeoisie.

And in the spirit of anti-sectarianism read from any revolutionary weather is Trotsky, Stalin, Mao, etc.

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ Even the CPGB-PCC recommended reading Stalin's Marxism and the National Question. :)

[Niccolò Rossi]

ernest43, it may be very easy to be confronted by all the recommendations being pushed on you from all sides.

First things first. Since your new to Marxism the first texts you aught to be reading are introductions to Marxism and the writings of Marx and Engels. Right now don't read Trotsky, Stalin or Mao. Also don't read Capital right now, it is far to advanced for this stage of your reading, all that will cause is confusion.

Now since your here I assume you have some understanding of what Marxism is. A great book to read is the Marx-Engels Reader by Robert C. Tucker. However, since you'd rather read in Turkish the MIA (English (http://www.revleft.com/vb/www.marxists.org) or Turkish (http://www.marxists.org/turkce/index.htm)) is probably your best source.

I would recommend the following:


A Ruthless Criticism of Everything Existing (Letter to Ruge) (http://www.anonym.to/?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.anonym.to/?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.anonym.to/?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.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1846/letters/46_12_28.htm)
These on Feuerbach (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/theses/index.htm)
German Ideology: Part One (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01.htm)
Wage Labour and Capital (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/wage-labour/index.htm)
Manifesto of the Communist Party (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm)
Principle of Communism (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm)
Critique of the Gotha Program (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm)
Marx debates Bakunin's Statism and Anarchy (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1874/04/bakunin-notes.htm)
Civil War in France (http://www.anonym.to/?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.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/index.htm)
On Authority (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/10/authority.htm)
Historical Materialism (Letter to Bloch) (http://www.anonym.to/?http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1890/letters/90_09_21.htm)

Note: the links are to the English translations. You can find some (not all) of the Turkish translations here. (http://www.marxists.org/turkce/m-e/index.htm)

Hope that helps.

[Hit The North]

^^^ Even the CPGB-PCC recommended reading Stalin's Marxism and the National Question. :) Which only goes to show what a bunch of crypto-sadists they are. :lol:

[Dros]

^^^ Even the CPGB-PCC recommended reading Stalin's Marxism and the National Question. :)

Very good read.

I suggest this too.

LZ:

Why am I not surprised that a Trotskyist didn't like a book that calls Trotsky a counter-revolutionary?

[chimx]

Tucker has a good collection of important excerpts of Marx's writings.

[Trystan]

'Introducing Marx' from the Introducing Series. That's a good introduction.

Then go on to the 'Communist Manifesto'.

Then what I did was pick up a book of collected essays and extracts from his major works: The German Ideology, Das Kapital etc . . .

And then I read general criticism of his theories.

[ernesto43]

Thanks..:)

[The Feral Underclass]

You should read The German Ideology so you can understand the basis of class struggle.

[Hit The North]

You should read The German Ideology so you can understand the basis of class struggle.

What, all of it?

[DancingLarry]

Marx, The XVIII Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte

[Niccolò Rossi]

What, all of it?

I think he was only referring to Part I. If that is the case, I would agree whole-heartedly, Part I of The German Ideology is a must read.

[The Feral Underclass]

What, all of it?

Alllllllll of it!!!

[The Feral Underclass]

I think he was only referring to Part I. If that is the case, I would agree whole-heartedly, Part I of The German Ideology is a must read.

Well, it's essentially the foundation on which class struggle is positioned. It's the very core of our beliefs.

[apathy maybe]

Personally, and I know that this goes counter to all the group think and shit, I don't think it is at all important to read The Communist Manifesto, indeed, it might well be a waste of time. Unless you specifically want to call yourself "Marxist" (which is frankly, not at all necessary to desire a future perfect ("communist") society, and attempt to achieve it, or even needed to understand history, whether from a Marxian or any other perspective), then don't bother calling yourself one.

Yeah, I read the Communist Manifesto years ago, and I didn't get much from it, even though I was attempting to learn about Marxism and communism (before I was an anarchist even) and all that jazz. Most of it just isn't relevant to the average person on the street.

So, what would I suggest reading? Well, I haven't read most of the stuff by Marx, Engels, Lenin or any of the other fuckers like that. Yet it seems that I still have a (well I consider it so) reasonable understanding of Marxism (sufficient to disagree at least). How did I get this without even reading the original authors? By reading stuff that was actually readable (unlike, say, Das Kapital, which I doubt that most of the people recommending it, have actually read).

This forum was a great learning experience for me. I participated in discussions, read them, and asked questions. Not only that though, I read various other books on politics generally, and Marxism specifically, I discussed in real life with people, both Marxist and otherwise, Marxist ideas.

Yeah, so where was I? You don't need to read Marx and Engels to understand Marxism. And you don't need to be a Marxist to understand, or even agree with Marxian analysis.

Just read what interests you, hang out in radical bookshops and chat to people, browse the books. Buy what seems interesting and read it. Ask questions around this place, read all the stickied threads, and whatever. Don't be pressured into reading something if it seems boring as hell, and don't be pressured into labeling yourself as anything. Do your own thinking, and don't let others do it for you.

It's your life. Enjoy it.

[Bilan]

Werd, Apathy Maybe.

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ Not at all. I'm tempted to start a Learning thread that deals specifically with throwing the archaic Communist Manifesto into Hume's bonfire.

[Hit The North]

^^^ Not at all. I'm tempted to start a Learning thread that deals specifically with throwing the archaic Communist Manifesto into Hume's bonfire.

What, and keeping Kautsky's drivel? Purleeze!

And why is Hume the only one with a bonfire around here? :glare:

[Die Neue Zeit]

^^^ I mentioned Engels' The Principles of Communism up above as a far superior work, considering its Q&A nature (thus being more tailored to "ordinary workers"), and considering that the answer to the second question explicitly expresses the document's 19th-century nature. :)

Besides, the real founder of "Marxism" expressed the "merger" far more explicitly than Marx did, even if the latter did so implicitly in the Manifesto (given its specific format, as noted by Lars Lih on p. 46 and 47 of Lenin Rediscovered). :( Therefore, such expression needs merely a right-side-up analysis to the original author's upside-down approach. :)

[Hence my avatar ;) ]

[Dean]

I still think you should read Escape From Freedom by Erich Fromm. Probably more beneficial than any other suggestion here...