Basically somebody was talking about how socialism is when everybody gets paid the same and so nobody would want to work hard, I told them they were clueless and go read about what socialism is before shit talking it and they said ok what book should I read? I’m not sure I should recommend anything too complicated to somebody who knows nothing. I feel like Socialism Utopian and Scientific might be too old to connect. Any good primers y’all could recommend?
Yeah A People's History is good because it highlights a lot of stuff that people sorta know about and gives them the historical detail for just how fucked up the US is
Richard Wolff has a book called Understanding Socialism that is pretty short and purports to be the exact type of thing you’re looking for. I haven’t read it so I can’t confirm, but I checked out the Understanding Marxism one he did out of curiosity and it’s extremely “Marxism for someone who has literally never heard of Karl Marx”, so I’d expect this to be similar!
His YouTube stuff is very easy to understand too imo as a dumb guy
Oh yeah I’ve seen a lot of Wolff on YouTube he’s pretty cool! I don’t agree with his ideas about how to bring about socialism but in terms of critiquing capitalism he is really good at explaining things!
Absolutely, his Q&A is really easy to comprehend and his narrative style is entertaining too
Why Communism by Moissaye J. Olgin is an outstanding intro since it's a plain-talking pamphlet that gets straight to the point with simple and concise writing with why your life fucking sucks and why you should be a communist.
Here's a short excerpt from the first part.
YOU are a worker. You have had a job for a number of years. Your pay was not high, but you managed to get along. You were a faithful worker. You never shirked. Perhaps you saved up a few dollars against a rainy day. Perhaps you married and raised a family. You were decent, law-abiding.
One nice morning you are told your services are no longer needed. In plain words: you are fired. You are thrown out. There is a depression, they say. The employer has no more work for you. He cuts operations or he shuts his plant altogether. While you remain without a livelihood, he goes to his country estate or abroad to have a good time. He does not care to think what will happen to you. You plainly do not exist for the “company” any longer. It has no obligations towards its unemployed.
Chris Harman’s _How Marxism Works is a good one, it’s written in an easily accessible style and breaks down the basics of Marxism. It also has a lot of examples from throughout history in terms of what capitalism has produced, how marxists have responded to it, and communism in practice in China, the USSR, etc
Red Menace did a good intro to Marxism if they're open to podcasts too.
I like that episode but I think it’s bit in the philosophical/theoretical weeds for someone who literally doesn’t know what socialism is, I’d start with something a bit more “Socialism for Dummies”
That's where I think it has a special power. If you just describe socialism, that does include the utopian projects which don't reflect what socialism means. It also leaves the "Stalin and Mao killed 1 honey mustard person" narratives unquestioned. If you describe what it means to the individual, either you're stuck explaining some other field or you're limiting it to some misleading superficial understanding of what it means for the individual. They get to vote at work and their survival isn't tied to their productivity. Selling points certainly but that's also social democracy so you just create a radlib. The most essential things about socialism are that shift from idealist to materialist framework, the dialectical analysis of relationships, and the idea of political experimentation to resolve problems in those relationships. If you have even a basic grasp of those things, then reading a book like People's History of the US isn't just exposure to an alternative narrative of history. Understanding how socialists think will give them that formalised ruthless criticism of all that exists. Understanding what Marxism means opens up that whole realm of critical theory which radicalises them based on their individual oppression.
I understand what you’re saying, and I agree. But I know for myself all the “dialectics” stuff was way above my comprehension when I first got into socialism. I picked that side up as I went along. I think it would be easy to turn someone off by throwing deep theoretical concepts at them straight away (especially someone who is already coming from a place of “I don’t like socialism”).
I definitely agree with your thoughts though, once you flick that dialectics switch in someone’s brain you give them an incredible tool in terms of viewing the world/history. Maybe throw the podcast in along with some more 101 type resource and say “by the way, that sPoOkY Marxism stuff you’ve heard about all your life? It’s literally just a way of analysing the world - here’s a pod that explains it in like 90 minutes”.
Only problem is its now quite old and though it reads well to a certain type its age would justify dismissing it
If they need the push that imperialism is, in fact, really bad...I'd try Eduardo Galeano's Open Veins of Latin America, though it's quite dense and very long.
Another one would be Thomas Frank's Listen Liberal, which is pretty good at giving a slight extra push, though without the need for close reading political theory.
It's a really tough read, though. Because page after page after page is just another description of an atrocity committed in Latin America by an imperial power.
Lol that book rules, had me rolling laughing at parts with how relatable the stories were. RIP Graeber, gone too soon.
The article-length version is good for anyone who can't be arsed to read a whole book, and it gets the major points across:
https://www.strike.coop/bullshit-jobs/
The classics are always good. The State and Revolution was the most enlightening piece of theory I've read
State and Rev is way to cool for a fresh liberal. Literally tried that with a book club and the one guy who hadn't read theory before was too intimidated by it and skipped.
Basically somebody was talking about how socialism is when everybody gets paid the same and so nobody would want to work hard
I love this logic. Nobody would want to be a doctor without financial compensation, of course. If you paid a janitor a living wage, he wouldn't be a janitor anymore. Duuuh!
I have a hard time staying engaged with non-fiction having warped my brain by reading pulpy sci-fi novels for most of my childhood, so I'll recommend The Dispossessed by Ursula LeGuin and Walkaway by Cory Doctorow. Both are fun and engaging stories about anarcho-communism with plenty of explosions and
sexcopulation to keep my ADD brain from getting bored
