I just became a leftist. What should I read first?
I just became a leftist. What should I read first?
Hey guys.
I've spent most of my life as a moderate lib, until about 6 months ago when I became full-on leftist. However, I know very little Marxist theory.
Assuming I know nothing, what books would recommend to some like me? Obviously Marx, but what else? And in what order? Would anyone be willing to curate a list of books that would give me the basics on Marxist theory and history from the perspective of Marxism? Any advice would be helpful.
Thanks!
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire is all about revolutionary thought in education, but he may be a great third or fourth read. This is the single most important book in my praxis.
The others likely mentioned are State and Revolution by Lenin, Settlers by Sakai, and Blackshirts and Reds by Parenti. Chapo are (rightly) obsessed with those three.
One I'd add that doesn't seem to come up often here is Reform or Revolution by Rosa Luxemburg. It's a short pamphlet, but a great read, and takes a dialectical approach to what we here would deem electoral vs revolutionary politics. Rosa is good, and distills theory/ideology down pretty concisely.