If you are found without them, you will have books thrust upon you!
For example: I’m currently reading through “Killing Hope”, which basically clears up any reservations I had about destroying the USA. I thought I knew how bad American Intervention was during the Cold War, but by god was I wrong. Its insane how fucking evil the USA is.
I’m also starting my foray through “Capital” and right now its just Marx bashing my head against the definition of a commodity.
Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism by Harsha Walia, which is an examination of the migrant and refugee crisis and the leveraging of borders as a tool for labour exploitation.
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, which is a series of interviews with Black feminists and founders of the Combahee River Collective.
We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Miriame Kaba, which is a collection of interviews and essays about community organising for abolition and transformative justice beyond policing.
And finally, The Essential Rosa Luxemburg which was a gift, and includes two of her essays, Reform or Revolution and The Mass Strike.
Rollback! Right-Wing Power in American Foreign Policy - Similar to Killing Hope or any other book that covers US interventions during the Cold War. I find this one interesting because it’s more about the factions within US foreign policy and their opposing foreign policy stances and the material reasons for those stances (e.g., where on the globe they have their investments, causing them to prioritize particular regions/continents for intervention, and also the gradual death of US isolationism) and how it affects whether they were more offensive or defensive in their approach to toppling communism, or which countries they wanted to target and how. It also goes into the network of intelligence, crime rings, politicians, legal bourgeoise, etc. that formed to destroy communism (basically just trying to describe and name the deep state). It’s also interesting because it was written in the 1980s, so it’s covering fairly recent events at the time. Finally, it’s not a Marxist book, but they seemingly strove to stick to the facts and avoid idealism, and much of the book is about analyzing opposing forces within US foreign policy, so I think it’s an interesting read for a Marxist. One of the big points they make is how the “containment” strategy is just a long-term rollback strategy, and also that the US seeks to topple communism (and national protectionist) governments wherever it can, and only resorts to “containment” when rollback is not feasible, resulting in containment for the Soviet Union and endless rollback interventions in the Third World.
(Korean) Thesis on north Korean leaders, Pt. 1: Premier Kim Il-sung’s Anti-Japanese Movement History - This is a series produced by a south Korean alternative media outlet, it’s a 10-part series covering Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. I am trying to translate it, but also it’s my first time to read much biographical information about leaders of the DPRK, and really to read much detailed history of DPRK. Therefore I have also been just reading up on historical info about DPRK, Kim Il-sung, etc. to prepare myself better (for example, so I can better translate old place names in China and Korea, and know the official English translations of various Korean revolutionary organizations). I really have not gotten very far in this because the translating takes time. Here is a list of the articles in this series plus a few others if anyone wants to see and can read Korean or doesn’t mind machine translation.
Edit: Oh, and I started reading the 1991 book America Against America by Wang Huning, a member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee. I didn’t get super far in yet but it’s a pretty interesting book describing the economy and culture of the US from his point of view while travelling there to study it.
About to start A People’s History of the United States. I’ve got An Indigenous People’s History of the United States on the list shortly after. I understand it covers a lot that the first one doesn’t.
I’m almost done with Washington bullets by Vijay prishad (audiobook). I recently acquired a copy of Red star over the third world (also by he). Idk what I’ll listen to next, maybe Cows save the planet by Judith Shwartz. I also have a copy of capital vol 1, but I’m scared to read it.
I also have a copy of capital vol 1, but I’m scared to read it.
Its not that scary but its confusing, I highly recommend having this one in your hands physically, as you will need to quickly flip through definitions and references that make it a hassle to read in online format.
Remember you’re not lesser for not understanding it immediately, or being able to read it super fast. These books are a brain twister, and I myself have taken almost a few months to understand it. I still haven’t gone through the first edition! Move at your pace, and increase it if you feel you are ready.
It is prescient: written in the 80s I think, and described pretty well what Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour attempted. It also described the forces that thwarted his leadership pretty well, too. Considered an important work by the UK left.
You are not logged in. However you can subscribe from another Fediverse account, for example Lemmy or Mastodon. To do this, paste the following into the search field of your instance: !genzedong@lemmygrad.ml
This is a Dengist community in favor of Bashar al-Assad with no information that can lead to the arrest of Hillary Clinton, our fellow liberal and queen. This community is not ironic. We are Marxists-Leninists.
If you haven’t already found it, this GitHub page is an excellent collection of sources about socialism, imperialism, and other relevant topics, made by @dessalines and others.
I’m currently reading:
Border and Rule: Global Migration, Capitalism, and the Rise of Racist Nationalism by Harsha Walia, which is an examination of the migrant and refugee crisis and the leveraging of borders as a tool for labour exploitation.
How We Get Free: Black Feminism and the Combahee River Collective edited by Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, which is a series of interviews with Black feminists and founders of the Combahee River Collective.
We Do This 'Til We Free Us: Abolitionist Organizing and Transforming Justice by Miriame Kaba, which is a collection of interviews and essays about community organising for abolition and transformative justice beyond policing.
And finally, The Essential Rosa Luxemburg which was a gift, and includes two of her essays, Reform or Revolution and The Mass Strike.
Rollback! Right-Wing Power in American Foreign Policy - Similar to Killing Hope or any other book that covers US interventions during the Cold War. I find this one interesting because it’s more about the factions within US foreign policy and their opposing foreign policy stances and the material reasons for those stances (e.g., where on the globe they have their investments, causing them to prioritize particular regions/continents for intervention, and also the gradual death of US isolationism) and how it affects whether they were more offensive or defensive in their approach to toppling communism, or which countries they wanted to target and how. It also goes into the network of intelligence, crime rings, politicians, legal bourgeoise, etc. that formed to destroy communism (basically just trying to describe and name the deep state). It’s also interesting because it was written in the 1980s, so it’s covering fairly recent events at the time. Finally, it’s not a Marxist book, but they seemingly strove to stick to the facts and avoid idealism, and much of the book is about analyzing opposing forces within US foreign policy, so I think it’s an interesting read for a Marxist. One of the big points they make is how the “containment” strategy is just a long-term rollback strategy, and also that the US seeks to topple communism (and national protectionist) governments wherever it can, and only resorts to “containment” when rollback is not feasible, resulting in containment for the Soviet Union and endless rollback interventions in the Third World.
(Korean) Thesis on north Korean leaders, Pt. 1: Premier Kim Il-sung’s Anti-Japanese Movement History - This is a series produced by a south Korean alternative media outlet, it’s a 10-part series covering Kim Il-sung and Kim Jong-il. I am trying to translate it, but also it’s my first time to read much biographical information about leaders of the DPRK, and really to read much detailed history of DPRK. Therefore I have also been just reading up on historical info about DPRK, Kim Il-sung, etc. to prepare myself better (for example, so I can better translate old place names in China and Korea, and know the official English translations of various Korean revolutionary organizations). I really have not gotten very far in this because the translating takes time. Here is a list of the articles in this series plus a few others if anyone wants to see and can read Korean or doesn’t mind machine translation.
Edit: Oh, and I started reading the 1991 book America Against America by Wang Huning, a member of the CPC Politburo Standing Committee. I didn’t get super far in yet but it’s a pretty interesting book describing the economy and culture of the US from his point of view while travelling there to study it.
About to start A People’s History of the United States. I’ve got An Indigenous People’s History of the United States on the list shortly after. I understand it covers a lot that the first one doesn’t.
Those 2 + Settlers, I’d say are the best 3 US history books.
I’m almost done with Washington bullets by Vijay prishad (audiobook). I recently acquired a copy of Red star over the third world (also by he). Idk what I’ll listen to next, maybe Cows save the planet by Judith Shwartz. I also have a copy of capital vol 1, but I’m scared to read it.
Its not that scary but its confusing, I highly recommend having this one in your hands physically, as you will need to quickly flip through definitions and references that make it a hassle to read in online format.
Yeah, I got the physical thing for my birthday. I already read some simple explainer stuff, but I wanna read the real thing.
Remember you’re not lesser for not understanding it immediately, or being able to read it super fast. These books are a brain twister, and I myself have taken almost a few months to understand it. I still haven’t gone through the first edition! Move at your pace, and increase it if you feel you are ready.
Yeah, I got the physical thing for my birthday. I already read some simple explainer stuff, but I wanna read the real thing.
The Hard Road to Renewal, by Stuart Hall.
It is prescient: written in the 80s I think, and described pretty well what Jeremy Corbyn’s Labour attempted. It also described the forces that thwarted his leadership pretty well, too. Considered an important work by the UK left.
Socialism Betrayed and An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the United States
I’ve heard of the first, but not the second. What are its contents, obvious title aside.