Thread: Reading List

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  1. 9th January 2007, 06:22 #1
    Ander
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    Before I start, I know there is a "recommended reading list" in the Lit forum but I find it too broad and very unhelpful. Anyways...

    I have a friend who has recently become interested in leftism, particularily communism. He read the Manifesto which is the most obvious first step but now he would like to know where to move on to. I personally wasn't sure what to recommend to him as I myself learned by reading around online and whatnot so I thought you guys could help me.

    What would be the most logical works to read after the Manifesto in terms of basic beginner type literature? He would like to understand communism better as well as the most common schools (Leninism, Trotskyism, Maoism, etc.)

    Thanks.
  2. 9th January 2007, 06:35 #2
    Nemichka
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    I have really enjoyed reading the two biographies,
    Huey, Spirit of The Panther by David Hilliard
    and Che by Jon Lee Anderson

    another read that I am working on right now is Killing Hope, but it is a slow read. Very worth reading though.
    Some kind of disturbing stuff in there, though, but... I mean, it's the truth, even if it's a bit sick.
    Huey was really good to show me that revolutionaries weren't evil (I was kind of brainwashed, bleh, my history teachers had told me that Che was bad and that the BPP was crazy and went around killing random people) and actually cared for the good of the people. I dunno, these are just a few... I'm new to all this! =D
    [edit: these are not really good for explaining communism or any of the leftist stuff... but I think they would still be good reads for your friend ]
  3. 9th January 2007, 06:55 #3
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    Vargha Poralli
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    IMO better read and understand almost every major works of Marx and Engels before moving on to other works.

    if he had truly understood manifesto i would recommend reading

    1) What is to be Done - by V.I.Lenin

    2) 1905 - Leon Trotsky

    3) State and Revolution - V.I.Lenin

    4) Lessons of October - Leon Trotsky

    These works are simple to understand without other major works of Marx(Especially Capital).
    It is possible to build gigantic factories according to a ready-made Western pattern by bureaucratic command – although, to be sure, at triple the normal cost. But the farther you go, the more the economy runs into the problem of quality, which slips out of the hands of a bureaucracy like a shadow. The Soviet products are as though branded with the gray label of indifference. Under a nationalized economy, quality demands a democracy of producers and consumers, freedom of criticism and initiative – conditions incompatible with a totalitarian regime of fear, lies and flattery.
    -Trotsky
    Marx & Engels ! Lenin ! Trotsky
  4. 9th January 2007, 16:28 #4
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    The Grey Blur
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    State and Revolution - V.I.Lenin
    Quoted for truth. It is a very effective book.
    “It is not true that people stop pursuing dreams because they grow old, they grow old because they stop pursuing dreams.” - Gabriel Garcia Marquez

    "What forces can bring the national question to a successful conclusion? Only the working class can do so." - Ta Power
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