Reading List For Beginners

[LOLseph Stalin]

I'm sure there has probably been a thread about this in the past, but it's something I have been thinking about. Together as a leftist community I think we should compile a list of texts to recommend to beginners as this is a commonly asked thing. Also, can an admin please sticky this?

The list:

Economics

Wage Labour and Capital - Karl Marx
Value, Price and Profit - Karl Marx
Marx's Capital for Beginners - Smith & Evans
Factories and Workshops- Peter Kropotkin

General

Communist Manifesto- Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific- Friedrich Engels
Principles of Communism - Frederick Engels
ABC of Socialism- Leo Huberman
Marx for Beginners - Rius
Mao's Red Book- Mao Zedong
ABC of Anarchism- Alexander Berkman

History

The Civil War in France - Karl Marx
Critique of the Gotha Programme - Karl Marx
Ten Days that Shook the World - John Reed
The Che Guevara Reader - Ernesto 'Che' Guevara
The Revolution Betrayed - Leon Trotsky
The Russian Revolution- Rosa Luxemburg

The State/Revolution

The State and Revolution - Vladimir Lenin
Marxism, Freedom, and the State - Mikhail Bakunin
God and the State - Mikhail Bakunin
Nationalism and Cultural- Rudolf Rocker
Socialism and War- Vladimir Lenin
Reform or Revolution- Rosa Luxemburg

Philosophy

On Contradiction- Mao Zedong
On the Significance of Militant Materialism-Lenin

[Chairman^-_-^]

I think it would also be a good idea to suggest different texts for different age groups and or reading levels. Sometimes I have been told the Communist Manifesto is too elusive.

[*Viva La Revolucion*]

I like this idea. As a 'beginner' it would be useful to have advice about some good, introductory texts.

I would recommend The Communist Manifesto. A bit of an obvious choice, perhaps.

Edit: I understand how it could be described as elusive, but it's still important and maybe some annotations would make it clearer.

[LOLseph Stalin]

I thought State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin may be a helpful thing to add for a beginner's text on Leninism.

[mikelepore]

Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific
I recommend this to the beginner not mainly because of what the title says, but because so much of it is written in plain language, without a lot of undefined vocabulary or references to obscure philosophers.

[LOLseph Stalin]

Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific
I recommend this to the beginner not mainly because of what the title says, but because so much of it is written in plain language, without a lot of undefined vocabulary or references to obscure philosophers.

Yea, I have actually found Engels to be easier to understand than Marx. I think it's because he is able to write in simpler language.

[Nwoye]

The Communist Manifesto - Karl Marx, Frederick Engels
Principles of Communism - Frederick Engels
Critique of the Gotha Programme - Karl Marx
The Civil War in France - Karl Marx
The State and Revolution - Vladimir Lenin
Marxism, Freedom, and the State - Mikhail Bakunin
God and the State - Mikhail Bakunin

Any suggestions?

[New Tet]

Engels, Socialism: Utopian and Scientific
I recommend this to the beginner not mainly because of what the title says, but because so much of it is written in plain language, without a lot of undefined vocabulary or references to obscure philosophers.

I second this suggestion. Aside from being one of the founders of modern communism, Engels was very much to socialism what Carl Sagan was to astronomy or David Atenborough to the natural sciences.

[Chairman^-_-^]

We could also suggest non-theoretical readings guys. If someone is just initally showing intrest in Sociaism they wont bother reading what they would consider obscure writers.

Lets find some porpaganda , modern propaganda articles.

[Dave B]

I agree that the first common mistake is to concentrate on Marx and ignore Engels, Fred is the more readable of the two and it was in fact left to him to present their more ‘general’ views;

"As a consequence of the division of labour that existed between Marx and myself, it fell to me to present our opinions in the periodical press, that is to say, particularly in the fight against opposing views, in order that Marx should have time for the elaboration of his great basic work. Thus it became my task to present our views, for the most part in a polemical form, in opposition to other kinds of views."

[FONT=Arial]http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/housing-question/preface.htm[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial]As to good introductory reading, Part II and III of Anti-Duhring has been left out of the list I think.[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial]http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1877/anti-duhring/index.htm[/FONT]

[OriginalGumby]

On the manifesto, Haymarket Books has published a very useful annotated version that explains passages right next too the original. There are also other writings included and study questions.
http://www.haymarketbooks.org/produc...oducts_id=1602

Also I posted this in another thread but it is relevant. The ISO newspaper ran a series of articles on ten socialist classics in its newspaper.
http://socialistworker.org/series/te...alist-classics

[Led Zeppelin]

There are already some reading lists available in the Learning forum (and they're stickied as well).

SolidarityWithIran, can you please collect all the suggestions written by members in the thread and edit it into your original post, and also categorize them according to subject-matter (look at the other stickied threads in Learning for how you can do that).

I can then sticky the thread for you, and do you mind if I move it to learning?

[NecroCommie]

I thought State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin may be a helpful thing to add for a beginner's text on Leninism.

I second this, for it makes very clear our stance on state in a very detailed way. It is also important for more traditional Marxists, even if other teachings of Lenin would not intrest.

[Dave B]

If people are interested in the ‘communist manifesto’ they might also be interested in its 'prototype';


Frederick Engels 1847, Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith

[FONT=Arial]http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/06/09.htm#12[/FONT]

[FONT=Arial]With background at 69 at;[/FONT]


[FONT=Arial]http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/cw/volume06/footnote.htm#69[/FONT]

[Djehuti]

Leo Huberman - ABC of Socialism
Leo Huberman - Man's Wordly Goods
Tariq Ali - Clash of the Fundamentalisms

[Sarah Palin]

For "entry level" leftists, I found most things by Engles to be very understandable and enlightening, e.g: http://marxists.org/archive/marx/wor...1/prin-com.htm

[LOLseph Stalin]

There are already some reading lists available in the Learning forum (and they're stickied as well).

SolidarityWithIran, can you please collect all the suggestions written by members in the thread and edit it into your original post, and also categorize them according to subject-matter (look at the other stickied threads in Learning for how you can do that).

I can then sticky the thread for you, and do you mind if I move it to learning?

Ok, sure. I can edit my post, and yes, you can move it to learning.

[F9]

I wouldnt suggest Bakunin but mehhh.
Anw ABC of Anarchism by Alexander Berkman, and Anarchism and Violence by Errico Malatesta
Ohh and Nationalism and Cultural by Rudolf Rocker

[Brother No. 1]

Socialism and War by Vladimir Lenin.

[Dust Bunnies]

Sticky this please for new members?