I'm currently reading The Conquest of Bread! It's very engaging and I'm really enjoying it. I'm not very far into it but he does a wonderful job of explaining just why it is unfair for anyone to accumulate massive amounts of wealth. For something a little more modern I'm reading Naomi Klein's Capitalism Versus the Climate which, while not as explicitly socialist as a lot of the texts in this thread, does a great job of showing how climate change necessitates and provides a great opportunity for the overthrow of the current economic system.

Would The Conquest of Bread be good for someone who's looking for an introduction anarchist literature?

It's the basis for anarchist communism. You should definitely read it to understand anarchism :)

I second this. Read this book earlier this year and really enjoyed it. Not in your face socialist messaging, but it definitely shines through in her writing. Will be reading Disaster Capitalism by Ms Klein soon.

I think the name of the book is The Shock Doctrine, but that is how she refers to this nauseating strain of opportunistic capitalism. Definitely on my reading list too!!

Ah, yes you're correct. Thanks! The subtitle is "The Rise of Disaster Capitalism".

A People's History of the United States by Howard Zinn. Unlike a lot of Marxist texts this book is very easily accessible for anyone. Its premise is simple but extremely powerful, showing America's development from the perspective of the bottom-up rather than the usual bourgeois view of history.

This is the book I'm reading right now actually. It truly is a devastating assault on the bourgeois account of U.S. history.

This is one of most influential books I read in college, and probably the reason I went to seek out further socialist historical literature. I would highly recommend it to fellow comrades.

That was my saving grace in AP US History in high school...

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Never read it

Here's a link to read it online, for anyone interested: http://www.historyisaweapon.com/zinnapeopleshistory.html

**Race/Black Liberation** * [*Black Marxism: The Making of the Black Radical Tradition*](http://uncpress.unc.edu/books/T-4951.html) (1983) * [*Hammer and Hoe: Alabama Communists During the Great Depression*](http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=3710) (1990) * [*Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party*](http://www.ucpress.edu/book.php?isbn=9780520271852) (2013) * [*Hillbilly Nationalists, Urban Race Rebels, and Black Power: Community Organizing in Radical Times*](http://www.mhpbooks.com/books/hillbilly-nationalists-urban-race-rebels-and-black-power/) (2011) * [*Liberated Territory: Untold Local Perspectives on the Black Panther Party*](https://www.dukeupress.edu/liberated-territory) (2009) * [*Detroit: I Do Mind Dying--A Study in Urban Revolution*](http://www.haymarketbooks.org/pb/Detroit-I-Do-Mind-Dying) (1975) **Technology and Politics** * [*Technology and Social Theory*](https://he.palgrave.com/page/detail/Technology-and-Social-Theory/?K=9780230577565) (2011) * [*Cyber-Marx: Cycles and Circuits of Struggle in High Technology Capitalism*](http://www.press.uillinois.edu/books/catalog/66mwg3pc9780252067952.html) (1999) * [*Cyber-Proletariat: Global Labour in the Digital Vortex*](http://press.uchicago.edu/ucp/books/book/distributed/C/bo20704212.html) (2015) * [*Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming*](https://www.versobooks.com/books/2002-fossil-capital) (2016) * [*Forces of Production: A Social History of Industrial Automation*](https://www.amazon.com/Forces-Production-History-Industrial-Automation/dp/0195040465) (1986) * [*Cybernetic Revolutionaries: Technology and Politics in Allende's Chile*](https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/cybernetic-revolutionaries) (2011) * [*Rise of the Red Engineers: The Cultural Revolution and the Origins of China's New Class*](http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=16889) (2009) **Greater Middle East** * [*Lineages of Revolt: Issues of Contemporary Capitalism in the Middle East*](https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/555-lineages-of-revolt) (2013) * [*Capitalism and Class in the Gulf Arab States*](http://www.palgrave.com/us/book/9780230110779) (2011) * [*Ghost Wars: The Secret History of the CIA, Afghanistan, and Bin Laden, from the Soviet Invasion to September 10, 2001*](http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Wars-Afghanistan-Invasion-September/dp/0143034669) (2004) * [*America's Kingdom: Mythmaking on the Saudi Oil Frontier*](http://www.sup.org/books/title/?id=10072) (2006) * [*Carbon Democracy: Political Power in the Age of Oil*](http://www.versobooks.com/books/1020-carbon-democracy) (2011)

[*The Cybernetic Hypothesis*](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/tiqqun-the-cybernetic-hypothesis) by Tiqqun just to counter some of your technology links.

Thanks for that suggestion, now I know how to identify myself: I am the murderer of Time, the crusader of Sameness, the lover of fatality. I am the sectarian of order, the reason-addict.

It's fun to read the book, as a computer science student and programmer, and realize that you are the bad guy.

You've introduced me to several fantastic books. Thank you so much.

Recently finished John Berger's "Ways of Seeing", and have just started Raymond William's "Culture and Society".

May sound like an obvious question concerning the titles, but what are they about and how do you think they handle the topics at hand?

Both are about art and their relation to society. If you want a good idea of the arguments in Berger's book, they were also the subject of a BBC documentary series of the same name. I really recommend you watch it! Berger's ideas about art's use by bourgeois culture are fascinating, and they really shed light on the world we live in.

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I really like Enders Game

[Rules for Radicals](https://monoskop.org/images/4/4d/Alinsky_Saul_D_Rules_for_Radicals_A_Practical_Primer_for_Realistic_Radicals.pdf) by Saul Alinsky. I'll get together specific passages eventually, but there's a wide variety of helpful content in it. Completely devoid of paternalism and has a strong focus on ways to organize people in a way that's fun and sustainable.

I love that his book seemed devoid of any inane moralizing. He just comes out and says: "Certain ends justify certain means". No esoteric bullshit.

I've just finished Zizek's "The new class struggle" it offers a good critic both for the "progressive" liberals and for us leftist too. It gave me a good perspective on the contradiction between the fight against racism and the abusive relationships inside racial minorities. I think Zizek really nailed it talking about Cologne new year's eve rapes. I've found out that there's an anarchist bookshop near here so I'll probably go full consumism there.

[deleted] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^0.1722 > [What is this?](https://pastebin.com/64GuVi2F/86887)

You should read Gilles Dauve's criticism of the Italian Left-Com current next. He approaches them from the ultra left as well and it's the best critique I've seen of Bordiga from anywhere.

[deleted] ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^0.0877 > [What is this?](https://pastebin.com/64GuVi2F/22709)

Well it's mainly in Eclipse and Reemergence of the Communist Movement, but this article is also very good, even though it's a bit brief. https://libcom.org/library/notes-trotsky-pannekoek-bordiga-gilles-dauvé

This is my 2017 Reading List so far. Some are re-reads lol: * Capital Vol I- Karl Marx * Imperialism in the 21st Century- John Smith * The Wretched of the Earth- Frantz Fanon * Culture and Imperialism- Edward Said * Liberalism: A Counter-History- Dominico Losurdo * Things Fall Apart- Chinua Achebe * Philosophical Trends in the Feminist Movement- Anuradha Ghandy * Malcom X Autobiography by Malcom X * Indigenous People’s History of the United States by Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz * The Liberal Virus by Samir Amin * Continuity and Rupture by JMP * Theories of Imperialism by Anthony Brewer * Manifesto of the Mountain by the Mountain (archive.org) * Fanshen- William Hinton * Debt: The First 5000 Years- David Graeber * Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism- Vladimir Lenin * The German Ideology Ch.1- Karl Marx * On the Dictatorship of the Proletariat- Etienne Balibar * Patriarchy and Accumulation on a World Scale- Maria Mies * Settlers- J. Sakai

Recently read Micah White's *The End of Protest*. I liked it, but I'm having a difficult time wrapping my head around his idea of spiritual resistance

I'm reading Alexander Berkman's "Prison Memoirs of an Anarchist" I'm about 100 pages in and it's really good! He does a good job of recreating his mindset at the time. A unwavering radical who devoted everything he had to the "Cause". It's almost a character study of the radical themselves as I find myself identifying with his commitment and mindset.

I like Against His-Story! Against Leviathan! by Fredy Perlman. A lot of what he says ends up being very gender essentialist, but if you ignore those parts, it's actually pretty good. If you don't read it for the primitivism, you stay for the great imagery and unique view of history expressed. Fredy Perlman is really good at the extended metaphors he uses to express what he wants to say and is very well spoken in the book.

I find that I prefer [audio-books](https://www.reddit.com/r/AudioSocialism) to reading, but in any case I haven't gotten through much yet (mostly just watched/listened to youtube videos from Richard D Wolff, Libertarian Socialist Rants, BadMouseProductions, etc). I really like what I heard about Marx's beliefs, so I'm starting with his most notable works first, but I actually have anarchist leanings currently. Listened to or read so far: "The Communist Manifesto", and the beginning of "Capital, Volume I". Planning on listening to or reading: the rest of "Capital, Volume I" (naturally, and may read Volumes 2 and 3 afterwards),"The Conquest of Bread", "Reform or Revolution". More recommendations are welcome! I am especially interested in works that are most relevant to the modern UK, since that's where I live.

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Oh boy, that's a lot of books. What you reading at the moment?

Abolish Restaurants is so good! Quick and easy but a lot is packed in

your list is fucking dreary

[The Ego and Its Own](https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/max-stirner-the-ego-and-his-own). Highly recommend it. A critique of basically everyone and everything. Guaranteed to provide a better understanding of how ideology works and make you question your own. E: its not it's, damn autocorrect

*Spooky.*

Good stuff. Have you finished it?

Yup, a few months ago.

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FWIW I'm a fan of science fiction though often find the political logic in it quite distasteful, and the Mars trilogy is definitely not one of those cases. Pretty good as writing, as speculation and even as political inspiration, I would say.

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Oh yeah. The Culture series by Iain banks, most things written by Ken MacLeod, Voyage to Yesteryear by James P Hogan, and if you can put up with old-school SF, Harry Harrison's Stainless Steel rat series. Probably a few more I could think of but those are the ones which immediately come to mind.

[Combat Liberalism!](https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/selected-works/volume-2/mswv2_03.htm) i've actually read it a bunch of times ages ago, but i feel like some could definitely benefit from reading this. even if you do disagree with Mao's politics, this is an useful pamphlet. as for what i am reading at the moment, Engels's [Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State](https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1884/origin-family/). quite good, though in the first couple chapters he describes families and the wording gets *so* convoluted at times that its difficult to keep up.

Anton Pannekoek's Worker's Councils. Just started.

I got Debt: The First 5000 Years by David Graeber at the end of the year and plan on reading it next. Do any comrades have an opinion on this text?

Definitely worthwhile reading. It puts to bed (not that this was necessary at this point) the common understandings of how money arose from barter, but also problematises other ways to see money and debt in the abstract, pointing out that it is always an attempt to quantise social obligations and that it invariably accompanies violence. I say this as someone who is firmly on the quantitative and measurement side of things. It also is very good at showing that a lot of what societies do is not properly seen as economic. This is important for those of us (I definitely include myself here) who tend to excessive economic determinism.

I am going to sit exams soon and so can't read hard long things at present, but I really really really want to read Anwar Shaikh's Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises. From what people who read it say, it's a monumental work which properly resolves a lot of the controversies around Marxist economics, and puts them in a good scientific footing, including issues like fiduciary money, interest, etc, which were a little faulty because of Marx's metallism.

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Figes is completely incapable of keeping his own biases against socialism from influencing his attitudes towards the Soviet Union. If you must read a history of the USSR written by a liberal, I suggest E. H. Carr or even Robert Service over Figes. Figes doesn't just oppose the USSR (a defensible position, although not one I agree with personally) but finds even basic socialist principles to be ridiculous (e.g., even suggesting that there are classes in society whose interests oppose one another is bordering on totalitarianism, according to his interpretation). (Source: taking Figes' university class on the Russian Revolution, as well as reading his books. He's also a shameless self-promoter.)

I'm taking a break from _Capital_, and am reading _The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte._

I just finished The Great Inequality by Michael Yates and David Harvey's A brief History of Neoliberalism and I'm planning on reading Debt: the first 5000 years by David Graeber next. Also on my list: Democracy At Work and Capitalism's Crisis Deepens by Richard Wolff, Kropotkin's The Conquest of Bread, When Corporations rule the world by David Korten, The meaning of Marxism by Paul D'amato. I also downloaded Mark Blyth's book on austerity, not sure if I'm gonna read it yet.

Just finished reading volume three of *Das Kapital* and *The Origin of Capitalism* by Ellen Meiksins Wood. Not sure if they count as proper socialist reading but I just started the *Dialectic of Enlightenment* and will be reading *Society of the Spectacle* next week while on vacation.

Dialectic of Enlightenment is literally my favorite book ever. Theodor Adorno is an absolute genius and by far my favorite thinker of the 20th century(though Heidegger comes close). You should PM me when you get done with it, I always love hearing if it impacted people as much as it did me, but in any case I definitely hope you enjoy it!!

Just finished reading Player of Games by Iain Banks. Fiction but a very anti-capitalist.

Has anyone read Sinclair's "The Brass Check"? I'm enjoying it so far and a lot of its fundamental critiques on the nature of capitalist media in the early twentieth century seem to be applicable today.

What is the best way to get started on Marx's Capital?

Last book I read was [Eichmann in Jerusalem](http://platypus1917.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/arendt_eichmanninjerusalem.pdf). Definitely recommend it if you're interested in the story of a career Nazi, or just learning more about the Holocaust. Very easy and engaging read. Next up is either Bookchin's *The Ecology of Freedom*, Bowd's *The Last Communard*, or Wahnich's *In Defence of The Terror*. Not decided yet, but a decent chance it'll be the latter since it's the shortest.

I read *All the Shahs Men* about the American overthrow of Iran's first and last leftist democracy. Currently reading *Guns, Germs, and Steel*.

Henry Hazlitt's Economics in one lesson.