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pointing my curious friend to communist resources (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 4 months ago by surjomukhi@lemmygrad.ml to c/asklemmygrad@lemmygrad.ml

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Hi, I have a friend who has shown interest in leftist politics, especially Communism, they often discuss these topics with me as I have a bit of knowledge about them. We discussed about Israel-Palestine, Cuba, China, october revolution etc. Good thing is they do not hold prejudices against these movements and genuinely want to learn. Is there any compiled list of resources for baby leftists that I can share with them? Thank you

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[–] Malkhodr@lemmygrad.ml 8 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I always suggest Blackshirts & Reds to start out with as it does a great job at deconstructing the nature of anticommunist propaganda.

From there I'd suggest Reform and Revolution by Rosa Luxemburg in order to dispell the often reformist slant people trend towards.

Fron there probably State and Revolution by Lenin, as it is just a very good comprehensive text that allows people to see how Marxism should function.

After that then follow any number of ML reading guides, and intersperse it with other texts of interest that they may feel unknowledgeable about and want to improve.

I'd also recommend any book on the specific material conditions of your local community if it exists. For example, Palo Alto: A history of California Capitlism and the World should imo be read by every Californian communist at dome point (I'm still trying to get through it myself).

[–] cfgaussian@lemmygrad.ml 7 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago)

One thing to note about reading Lenin: While his works are (in my opinion) the best way to really solidify one's understanding of communism, they can also be a bit overwhelming for beginners or just in general people who are not familiar at all with late 19th early 20th century European politics, because of the large amount of discussion and references to contemporary political movements, figures, publications, etc.

It definitely takes a bit of patience and willingness to delve into that specific historical time. Which is why your recommendation of reading "Blackshirts and Reds" and "Reform or Revolution" before getting into Lenin is absolutely the right approach imo. Perhaps even add some of Engels' works such as "The Principles of Communism" and "On Authority" ("Socialism: Utopian and Scientific" is great but may be a bit daunting at this point) in there before Lenin.