Is there a proposed "curriculum" or can someone recommend something like that? Basically I'm looking to see if there's a recommended list of theory books ordered in a way that would be intended to go from one to the next? I downloaded the Mega file of theory and I'm familiar with some archive sites of books/essays. But I find I'm at kind of a loss on where to start. Sometimes the author is responding to a previously written work, and sometimes I start something where it feels like I missed a prerequisite book.
It doesn't help that I don't have great reading comprehension and definitely struggle with 1800s English language terms. I'm aware that there's a lot of variety in theory and thought within "the left" but I'm having a really tough time navigating it.
Sorry for the lib framework of this question, any help is greatly appreciated!
Honestly the order of theory I'd recommend would depend on the background you have. Regardless, I just posted a list the other day, and I've reordered it in the way I'd suggest it.
Principles of Communism - A good intro for the unfamiliar to the base concepts.
Cleansing of red-scare propaganda, if already done, feel free to skip: Blackshirts & Reds - Looking at the 20th century from a Marxist-Leninist perspective, revisiting American anti-communism
Socialism: Utopian & Scientific - A great introduction into socialist theory, and the difference between the utopian socialisms and scientific socialisms. Most importantly, details and explains dialectical materialism. This text is incredibly important as it sets up the program of a large majority of the following texts.
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State - Really does well to show just how deeply our productive social relations define our personal social relations and the norms that we abide by.
Communist Manifesto - A timeless short pamphlet that still does well to outline Marxist thought to this day.
Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism - A thorough analysis of capitalism’s evolution with regards to imperialism and the condensing of operations into monopolies. Capitalism has since evolved, but this will give you a very good understanding of Marxist philosophy with regards to capitalism and its many forms.
State and Rev - The seminal text for any Marxist Leninist. Opinions on this text will likely determine which branch of leftist thought that you fall into.
Wretched of the Earth - An analysis of revolutionary potential of settler colonial societies, really hammers home the fact that class is merely a portion of the current hegemony, and that settler colonialism and race are just as important to the contradictions as they stand
Settlers - A detailed history of settler colonialism and the unbelievable crimes Europe has committed upon the rest of the world (much like Wretched of the Earth)
Awesome this is great. Thank you. My background growing up was pretty apolitical. I mean I cared about the environment and didn't think that gay people or racial minorities were subhuman so I guess I was somewhat left. Then in college I got sucked into libertarianism for some time because I liked guns and smoking weed and "the two party system didn't work for me". I kind of bordered eco fascism for a minute when I was big into peak oil and just kind of figured we'd all die a horrible fiery death if we didn't take drastic measures to reduce global population. Then after 2016 election I decided I should get more involved with politics and had probably a 3 month peak lib moment where I religiously listened to Pod Save America and their other shows. Then I started to shift left more through actual left podcasts to where I'm at now.
Which is basically to say I took a long and windy road and am still just a lib
Lmao you just described my path almost exactly. As such, I think you'll really enjoy the list, let me know if you'd like any more recommendations. Welcome to the site!
Haha that's great. I figured I couldn't be alone in that regard. Sounds good though I'll definitely let you know, just gotta start reading. Thanks!
There's the Basic Study Plan from Movimiento Anti-Imperialista which is popular online among MLs. As others have said, a reading list isn't totally necessary but I share the feeling of wanting one. For me, I just want to have a discrete goal for my theory-reading.
Awesome, thank you, this looks pretty promising. I appreciate that it's subdivided into a few categories. So much of this theory seems so esoteric to me because growing up there was virtually no "left" presence in my life. My mom is like a classic "the View" liberal and anyone I knew with any remotely left views basically boiled down to conspiracy theories and ending the war on drugs (basically Joe Rogan stuff) but with no real framework to learn from.
Yeah, the categories are based on the idea that Marxism has "three component parts": scientific socialism, dialectical materialism, and a critique of political economy. Breaking it down that way really helps understand, even if the categories do have overlap. I would recommend reading "Principles of Communism" by Engels along with the other intro material, but the two Lenin pieces in the intro really help give context to Marxism that helps you feel like you aren't just dropping into the middle of a debate with no context, since most Marxists tend to hash out their theories in reference (usually in opposition) to other theories.
Just dive into the works, you have to start somewhere. Once you've read a few and have a decent base, you'll feel more comfortable, but the uncomfortability will remain until you digest a few of the works
if you’re starting with hegel then you might as well start with hume -> kant -> hegel so you understand the whole frame of the issue discussed
well i suppose but hume sort of is an organic beginning, the only thing really before him in this line is like descartes and locke and berkeley
new train of thought completely
Sounds good. Yeah you're right I do need to just dive in. I read Bhaskar's Socialist Manifesto and Robinson's Why You Should Become a Socialist. Which I liked quite a lot, but definitely need to read some of the specific works. I definitely got a good amount of lists from people so I just need to take the plunge now
I'm actually working on this right now, if you want to assist (and do some learning along the way, like I am) DM me (I'll make a public post if we get some momentum, but it's more of a personal project right now). In the longer term, it would be cool to develop actual content to go along with the curriculum, but I'm just outlining concepts for now.
That goes for anyone else too, especially if you have a real-life background in a certain topic.
I used the discourse collective podcast and now I understand all the buzzwords at least
ill find the link somewhere https://m.soundcloud.com/discoursecollective the beginning is orthodox marx and they build out from here
Here's what Mao recommended to senior Party leadership:
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-8/mswv8_56.htm
BSA has a really good breakdown, too:
https://blacksocialists.us/resource-guide
