• invalidusernamelol [he/him]
      ·
      2 years ago

      You can get a really good grasp on communism and basically all theory with like 300 pages of text. The Manifesto, State and Rev, and BSAR. All together like 350 pages.

      • dismal [they/them, undecided]
        ·
        2 years ago

        BSAR? (ill probably remember whatbthis means the second i hit the "reply" button and feel like a stupid Ass,but be too lazy to delete this comment )

      • raven [he/him]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Don't forget Socialism: Utopian and Scientific

      • dismal [they/them, undecided]
        ·
        2 years ago

        but i agree entirely because ive only read the manifesto & state and revolution, and even those two alone gave me a really good grasp on marxist concepts .. if i didnt have adhd and like a lotta fucked up shit going on with my head id try my hand at das kapital , but its just not the time for me to try

        maybe ill get into parenti or something,. his lectures rule so im guessing his writing is just as good.. obviouslynot "theory" though

        • ssjmarx [he/him]
          ·
          edit-2
          2 years ago

          BSAR is less about communism and more about understanding anti-communism in the west. The most important concept that Parenti introduces in that book IMO is that anti-communism in western countries isn't like a political belief people have because they believe in it, it's more like a religious dogma that everyone has to adhere to in order to be taken seriously in the western political climate.

          • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
            ·
            2 years ago

            I think reading them in that order is good because the first establishes the goals, the second shows an example of conditions and form of a successful revolution, and the third shows the societal conditions of the modern working class and the continuance of centuries old tautology that's hurled against struggles for liberation.

        • invalidusernamelol [he/him]
          ·
          2 years ago

          Parenti is an important tool for understanding the tools developed after the Russian revolution and the global wars to subjugate and destroy Communist organizing. Kinda like a safety manual for effective organizing in the late 20th/21st centuries.

          Also you can get a copy of Borchart's The People's Marx for free on the archive. There are also quite a few Modern Library reprints floating around (check your local/state library system for it, under Capital and Other Writings (Modern Library #202)).

          There also seems to be another edition by a different editor on the MIA too

          Good for a primer on Capital