I think the important thing to take away from this conversation about theory and practice is that reading can be a valuable way to inform our practice. However, it’d be remiss of me to leave the conversation there.
What I want to do is offer some texts that I, personally, have found really valuable in forming my leftist politics. I’ve also prioritised texts that are brief articles, rather than book-length. It’s best to get a feel for things, a general familiarity with concepts, before approaching anything longer. There are good and bad things in all of these, but on the whole, I think they’re useful reads. Click on the titles to get links.
The Principles of Communism is a short article by Friedrich Engels, who was Karl Marx’s best friend and frequent collaborator. It’s the best introductory text to a Marxist analysis of capitalism and what we should do. It’s short, and explains what capitalism is, what capitalists and workers are, and what a communist movement will need to achieve.
Class Society and the State is a chapter from a longer book called The State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin. I think it stands up pretty well on its own. Here, Lenin lays out a clear understanding of what a state is, and the function that a state plays in societies (like our own) which feature class division. He argues (to give a very brief summary of a complex point) that a state is a mechanism used by one class to exert its power over other classes. We therefore should smash the state of the capitalist class, and establish a state of the working class.
On Practice is a short lecture by Mao Zedong. Written in the midst of the against the Japanese occupation of China, he explains the interrelation of theory and practice. Less theoretical than The Principles of Communism, it is directly concerned with the actual things that we, as enemies of capitalism, should go out and do.
It’s A Class Struggle Goddamnit! is a speech by Fred Hampton, chairman of the Chicago branch of the Black Panther Party. Hampton argues that class struggle is the only method to bring about Black liberation in America, against identitarian politics which might argue for cultural practices. Instead, Hampton repeatedly reminds us that only revolution, and working class power, can give us what we need to survive.
The Tyranny of Structurelessness is an essay by Jo Freeman about the women’s movement of the 60s and 70s. Freeman argues that how our political movements are organised is a vital part of winning. For some forms of political work, like education and consciousness-raising exercises, an unstructured organisation can function relatively fine. However, for large-scale mobilisation and active struggle, the informal hierarchies formed in any casual social group quickly cause massive dysfunction. Freeman argues that for serious political movements, a formal decisionmaking structures is vital to accountable, responsible, revolutionary politics. This essay is really useful for thinking about how we can structure our organisations.
We’ve all been talking a lot about how important it is to read. These are some good places to get started. As always, I’m more than happy to answer any questions and work things out about these texts with anyone who wants to talk.
dededos
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snowghoul
kaledo-art
