A Must Read List

[P.O.U.M]

Concerning Alan's books Bolshevism... I can only say the samething as Caesarscook. Its truly an extraordinary book. Ive read it one and a half times now. During the second reading I got distracted and fell off but fully intend to read it in full within the near future. The near future being next week at the latest. This book is truly phenomenal.

After I read this book when I was still whoring the forums of YFIS and RevLeft as much as I could, this book was qouted more often than not in those stupid senseless arguements with the Maoists and Stalinists. Stupid in the sense that they never went anywhere, well with the posters who supported the Maoists and such, but it always reaffirmed the fact that they were just spewing forth regurgitated nonsense.

[Volkov]

AMAZING book comrade!  I really can't say much more about that book except wow!  Both of them actually, but especially Alan's Bolshevism book.  It's so detailed and really pulls out all the lessons and the dialectical processes that made up the history of the Bolshevik party.  That's my review really:  "Wow!"  You can quote me on that one.

I have heard it is indeed quite good.  I hope to read it in the not too distant future. 

Where did you find it???  I've been looking for a copy of The Unbroken Thread forever.  I've read most of the articles online, but still.  I, too, wait anxiously for the TGCW!  All comrades should donate to the fund:  http://www.marxist.com/ted-grant-commemoration-appeal300806.htm

I tried buying a copy from a link somewhere on the internet (can't remember where it was.  Somewhere on marxist.com, I think).  I did pay for it, but several months passed and I never got a copy.  After asking some comrades, I managed to inquire a UK comrade about it.  He noted that there were not any more copies of it floating around, but he said that he would look.  He managed to find an older copy, and I ended up getting that one.  I noticed that Ted Grant had signed it as well :) 

[T.K.A.-Denmark]

The Unbroken Thread has been out of print for quite a while so Volkov just got lucky. We had one of the last of them for sale hear in Denmark, but it's of course sold by now. But then again it will become obsolete when Ted's full works are in print:)

About POUMS question on "Ten Days That Shook The World", it seems that since Reed isn't as known here as in his native USA they didn't bother republish it, then again that just leaves it open for us. I think we can make a healthy profit for the organisation on it. We did the same when we republished Trotsky's "Revolution Betrayed", that had also been out of print since the early 60'ies

[caesarscook]

My copy of Ten Days that Shook the World has Stalinist footnotes.  Goddamnit, I hate it when they do that!!!

[condor]

My copy of Ten Days that Shook the World has Stalinist footnotes.  Goddamnit, I hate it when they do that!!!

You mean by the British Stalinist Party? TDTST World is brilliant because it shows the Russian Revolution as it is, the most democratic movement in history. Any terror is entirely on the whites' side.

[P.O.U.M]

My copy of Ten Days that Shook the World has Stalinist footnotes.  Goddamnit, I hate it when they do that!!!

Who published the book? I think my copy is from Penguin. Though I have yet to read the book in full, I dont remember mine containing said footnotes.

[caesarscook]

My copy of Ten Days that Shook the World has Stalinist footnotes.  Goddamnit, I hate it when they do that!!!

You mean by the British Stalinist Party? TDTST World is brilliant because it shows the Russian Revolution as it is, the most democratic movement in history. Any terror is entirely on the whites' side.

My copy is from Penguin, but yes, they used the Stalinist CPGB text.

Who published the book? I think my copy is from Penguin. Though I have yet to read the book in full, I dont remember mine containing said footnotes.

If it is Penguin, it definitely has those footnotes unless yours was published after mine.  They will be noted "CPGB" after them and the basic thrust of their points can be summed up as this "This Trotsky guy was against the revolution, the insurrection, and generally he was an ass."

[Volkov]

My Penguin copy makes reference to some things of what Reed said to "not be true."  One note says to see a work entitled The Errors of Trotskyism.  It also makes Reed, in italic letters, say "coup d'etat" several times, when clearly, by Reed's account, the October Revolution was not a coup.

Ah, well.  As Marxists, we do a lot of flitering out of nonsense.  Nothing new.

[T.K.A.-Denmark]

Hehe it's a bit funny that stalinists tried to rewrite history through the use of footnotes.
Luckily were mostly rid of them today, but unfortunately some of their ideas still flourish, like the menshevic/stalinist stage theory. That Stalin and his crew revitalised that is one of their big crimes (of course killing old bolshevics and putting old contrarevolutionaries in their place is even worse)

[Volkov]

Hehe it's a bit funny that stalinists tried to rewrite history through the use of footnotes.
Luckily were mostly rid of them today, but unfortunately some of their ideas still flourish, like the menshevic/stalinist stage theory. That Stalin and his crew revitalised that is one of their big crimes (of course killing old bolshevics and putting old contrarevolutionaries in their place is even worse)

They have esssentially made a caricature of the Stalinist-Menshevik two-stage theory, given that back in 1905 in Russia, on the surface, the "theory" had some arguements going for it.  In the 21st Century, with massive proletarianization across the globe, there is no way to make sense while defending this garbage (it did not even make sense to defend it in Russia back then!). 

[UnitedSocialist]

I read "The Poverty Of Philosophy" By Karl Marx... It is pretty good on the economic/political bases of what needs to be done in an indepth since. I read it a few times myself and it really was the first thing by Marx i got into...

[comradesterling]

I'm not sure if this qualifies as a classic but I'm interested in your opinions with regard to G.A. Cohen's "Marx's Theory of History: A Defence."  I know that much of his updated theory flies in the face of orthodox Marxism but I of the opinion that it's necessary to constantly test and revise scientific hypotheses and, as socialism is a science, his approach seems to make sense.

I was a bit disappointed by his lack of focus on the dialectical progression of history but it remains a fascinating read.

[Kanatnikov]

My mustread list:
Dialectical and historical materialism
Theses On Feuerbach-K.Marx
The Poverty of Philosophy-K.Marx
Preface of A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy-K.Marx
Economy
Capital
Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism - V.Lenin
The theory of proletarian revolution
The state and Revolution - V.Lenin
The Permanent Revolution - L.Trotsky
On the nature of the USSR
The Revolution Betrayed - L.Trotsky
Against the Theory of State Capitalism - T.Grant    
About tactics
Left-Wing Communism: an Infantile Disorder - V.Lenin
Fiction
Germinal - Emile Zola
Animal Farm - George Orwell
Ugryum river - V.Shishkov
The Bull's Hour - Ivan Efremov (in Russian)

[gla22]

All those are good. i would also recommendNo Gods, No masters to get the anarchist perspective.

[Empiricist]

For simple understanding.

Try the wikipedia first to gain the basic knowledge before tackling tough books such as Communist Manifesto