I teased the idea here and got one suggestion (Theses on Feuerbach).

Criteria –

  • 'Important' in communist history (think Lenin rather than a cool blogpost or Jacobin article)

  • 'Short'; I'm reluctant to give a specific word-limit. It should be readable in one sitting. 'Short' doesn't have to mean 3 pages, but shouldn't mean 59 pages. Basically nothing you'd call a book: a speech✔, a pamphlet✔, a letter✔, an essay✔

  • Available to us all online

I would pin the discussion thread for one week, maybe 10 days.

This would be good for people who don't want to read long things to educate themselves.

  • ComradeRat [he/him, they/them]
    ·
    9 months ago

    The drafts of the response to Vera Zasulich's inquiry: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1881/zasulich/

    The correct order is 'second' -> 'first' -> third -> fourth, as the original editor got the actual first draft and the actual second draft backwards.

    Has 1. repetition / rephrasings to build understanding of 2. one the key fundamentals of Marx's theories 3. as expressed by Old!Marx 4. in response to wrongheaded ideas of what his ideas are.

    • ComradeRat [he/him, they/them]
      ·
      9 months ago

      Also some of Deng's works could be neat e.g.

      On agit-prop: https://dengxiaopingworks.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-principles-tasks-and-orientation-for-cultural-work-in-the-129th-division/

      On the organization of the people's revolutionary government: https://dengxiaopingworks.wordpress.com/2013/02/22/the-party-and-the-anti-japanese-democratic-government/

      Foundation of Dengism (aka "the ideology of the modern Communist Party of China"): https://dengxiaopingworks.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/emancipate-the-mind-seek-truth-from-facts-and-unite-as-one-in-looking-to-the-future/

      On the dictatorship of the proletariat: https://dengxiaopingworks.wordpress.com/2013/02/25/uphold-the-four-cardinal-principles/

      Also the interview with Deng by Oriana Fallaci is neat: https://redsails.org/deng-and-fallaci/