this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2024
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Bonus points if it's not just multiple books by people with basically the same ideology.
"Wow, you've read Marx and Engels? That must mean you have a thorough understanding on all things political!" /s
Good sir or madam, you are mistaken, for I have also read Lenin.
Let us not speak of the time I read Chomsky, for I was quite confused by the open disdain for autocracy.
Ok, well I didn't actually read all of it, just the excerpts on Marxists.org.
You can hardly be taken serious if you haven't read Stalin, too, you know. /s
Which work of his would you recommend?
Economic Problems of Socialism in the USSR
Foundations of Leninism is the most classic Stalin work, but this is better with some prior reading of more basic works on marxism.
I'm not a fan of Stalin, but his interview with H.G. Wells is hilarious.
Nothing. I was sarcastic. Anything of value that Stalin wrote, you can find by better authors.
Which all ones would you recommend? (To a beginner)
Any that you like?
?
You said that there were better authors & works. Any ones that you like or recommend?
To a beginner, the Graeber Books are great (e.g. Debt, or the dawn of everything).
The conquest of bread by Kropotkin is awesome, too.
And if it should be a little bit less traditionally anarchist: Murray Bookchin is great, too.
Thank you.
Have you read Marx or Engels? What have you read?
Not the point I was trying to make.
How does one make a point using an example they know nothing about? To be clear, I agree with you, but as someone who has read a fair amount of M&E and know a ton of people who have read M&E, they are among the top 1% of readers in terms of sheer volume, but also curiosity and intellectual honesty.
Combined with the fact that the vast majority of Marx and Engels was social science, not ideological polemic, I get the impression that you are giving advice that you haven't actually taken. Which would be fine, we are all contradictory beings to some extent. But it does beg the question.
And if you had read them, then I would want to know your insights on what you had read
That's a lot of conclusions you jump to there, buddy.
I simply got the feeling that I got to a real Marx-head, when mentioning him and Engels in passing gets that reaction. Since I don't particularly enjoy these kinds of conversations, I backed off.
I've read a bit of both Marx and Engels and watched a lecture on Marxism. I enjoy parts of Marx and don't really like what I've read of Engel's original work., is that enough?
What have you read of Engels? Socialism: Utopian and Scientific is one of my favorites. Other than some of his letters, forewords, and some essays, I've been really wanting to read The Conditions of the Working Class in England, since it's referenced in Capital; and I think I have something else saved by him on my Kobo, can't think of it ATM. I think Engels is really easy to grasp; Marx is a phenomenal writer but unless you're in the mood to read about 1. Economics 2. Dense academic history or 3. A blistering criticism of some "Young Hegelian" scholar like Feuerbach or Bruno Bauer its hard to find something of his to just easy-read. The Manifesto is pretty accessible but it was mostly written by Engels, the two men were really one author most of the time, and I've read the manifesto several times and while its good its not my favorite work.
Sorry for coming off confrontational, but you picked two very good and influential thinkers to target. You could have said "don't just read Malcolm Gladwell and Sam Harris" or "Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro," who are all hacks, but very popular authors; whereas Marx and Engels have fallen out of fashion. It's conspicuous, is all.
Geez the downvote brigade is out in full force
Dude, I told you that I'm not into that kind of discussion. And it turned out exactly the way I was afraid it would. I think that's why you got downvoted, btw.
Also, you sound like the kind of guy I was making fun of in my first comment.