An Actually Short Reading List
I’ve seen a lot of Short, Introductory, Beginner’s reading lists with ten or twenty links, and, well, they’re intimidating. While you might not want to leave off something important, if everyone gets scared off by your list, nobody reads anything. So, let’s try something a bit more approachable! Here are three easy-to-read works.
If you’re new to communism, this short-ish work will introduce you to… the principles of communism! Engels’s writing style can be a bit difficult, and he references a lot of old-timey stuff (what’s a spinning-jenny?), but it’s a good introduction!
Link: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm
If you like the thought of communism, but are wary of ‘authoritarian’ or ‘totalitarian’ communism, this very short (one page!) text might help you understand why historically, communists have supported those measures (hint: if they just wanted power, they wouldn’t be siding with the powerless!).
Link: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1872/10/authority.htm
Quotations from Chairman Mao Zedong
Quotations from Chairman Mao, while longer than the last two works, is made up of small, self-contained… quotations, which are individually easy to read (and reread), and if you’re interested in learning more about a topic, you can always check out the work the quote is referenced from. This ‘little red book’ discusses communist perspectives on topics ranging from education, the military, and study, to self-criticism and culture.
Mao’s writing style is, I find, much easier to read, and the little red book covers such a wide range of topics that, if you only try to read one of these, I’d say to try this one. If feudal peasants were able to study and understand it, so can you!
Link: https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/mao/works/red-book/index.htm
That’s all! Thank you for reading this, and I hope you give the works I mentioned a try!
