“The Boss Needs You, You Don’t Need Him. Labor is Entitled to All it Creates.” This is the big one – how Marx believes the value of your labor is being stolen.
communism
Introduction | Marxism 101 | Briefing #1
Begin an overview of Marxist economics, breaking down the ideas behind all the talk of socialism & communism you hear in the news. Whether you firmly believe in the capitalist system or can’t stand it, understanding Marxism is no longer optional.
COMMUNISM FOR KIDS – Bini Adamczak
Possibly the simplest, most effective and endearing attempt to explain how capitalism works and how people have imagined communism as an alternative.
WHY MARX WAS RIGHT – Terry Eagleton
Professor Terry Eagleton skillfully refutes ten of the most common criticisms of Marxism. In the process, he exposes Karl Marx’s freedom-loving, creative and occasionally hard-partying qualities.
MARX’S CAPITAL ILLUSTRATED – David Smith & Phil Evans
A condensed version of Karl Marx’s big scary “Capital”, written in contemporary language, and with many helpful and frequently amusing comic illustrations. This is incredibly useful.
WAGE LABOUR AND CAPITAL & WAGES, PRICE AND PROFIT – Karl Marx
Two works by Karl Marx give us a crash course in the Labor Theory of Value and Marxist ideas on the nature of capitalism, what determines prices, and how your boss is screwing you over.
SOCIALISM: UTOPIAN AND SCIENTIFIC – Friedrich Engels
A tour through the Enlightenment-era philosophies and utopian experiments that influenced Marxist ideology and thinking. You know, historical materialism & other dinner party conversation topics.
CRITIQUE OF THE GOTHA PROGRAM – Karl Marx
Karl Marx explains why he believes social democrats won’t be able to build socialism. Plus glorious amounts of 19th century nerdy shit-talking.
MANIFESTO OF THE COMMUNIST PARTY & PRINCIPLES OF COMMUNISM – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
The classic explanations of communism and calls to revolution from authors Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels (plus my notes with some doodles of Doctor Strange and other curiosities)
AN INTRODUCTION TO MARXIST ECONOMIC THEORY – Ernest Mandel
A short and sweet introduction to Marxism from a late Belgian Trotskyist intellectual. Useful and well-written, but it can still meander and show its age despite its small size.
A PEOPLE’S GUIDE TO CAPITALISM – Hadas Thier
This is a great companion if your plan is to bone up on a bunch of Marxist economic texts, and an accessible summary of Marx’s views on capitalism if you’d rather not read ten more books on the subject.
