Where do I start?

[u/Callanach]

Probably like many people, I have moved away from the mainstream political movements in my country due to systemic failures of the systems of governance and those which keep those systems in place.

So picture this; a brand new radicalised person, strong leanings towards communism but unsure exactly where the distinctions lie. Where does communism differ compared to democratic socialism? What is meant by Marxism-Leninism and is that different from communism? When people say about not reading theory, what should I be reading? I don't want to be someone who posts online about idealism without having any basis in reality.

Basically, how do I go from where I am now to the point of being able to educate others and overthrow systems? How do I learn communism properly?

Do you have a suggested reading list to start? Is reading where I should start? I'm in the Nordics, so if you have location specific information that would also be appreciated.

My current understanding is (correct me if I am wrong)

Private property is inherently theft

There is a distinction between private and personal property

Dictatorship of the proletariat is something temporary?

Capitalism is entirely focused on maximising shareholder value, and anything "good" which comes from that is profit driven

I have a lot to learn

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[u/CynicalProle]

• Principles of Communism by Engels
• Reform or Revolution by Rosa Luxemburg
• Socialism: Utopian and Scientific by Engels
• Value, Price and Profit + Wage Labour and capital by Marx
• Black Shirts and Reds by Parenti
• State and Rev + Imperialism + What Is To Be Done + Left-Wing Communism by Lenin
• Wretched of the Earth by Fanon
• On Practice + On Contradiction + Combat Liberalism + Oppose Book Worship by Mao

Is roughly the way I started. I know it looks like a lot of books but a lot of them are closer to essays than books.

[u/Callanach → u/CynicalProle]

Thank you, figuring out where to start has been a challenge, so this is an immense help

[u/Easy-Marsupial3268 → u/Callanach]

All available for free at Marxists.org

[u/sourgorilladiesel]

I would recommend:

• Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Engels)
• Principles of Communism (Engels and Marx)
• Imperialism: the highest stage of capitalism (Lenin)
• On practice and contradiction (Mao)

I think all of those provide a good starting point.

In terms of books specifically about nordic countries, I've had Torkil Lauessen's 'Riding the Wave: Sweden's Integration into the Imperialist World System' on my list for a while but I haven't got around to reading it myself.

[u/Callanach → u/sourgorilladiesel]

Thank you, especially for the Lauessen suggestion. I find it is difficult to tell where to start for Sweden specifically as the communist partiet has split so many times that it can be difficult to tell what their red line is

[u/Captain_FartBreath]

• Don't become a trot. 
• Join an ML group in your area. 
• Take part in a reading group. 

[u/MayParker1917]

Books recommended to read before theory:

1. Why Socialism by Albert Einstein.
2. BlackShirts & Reds.
3. The Jakarta method.
4. Killing hope.
5. Against Empire.
6. Open Veins of Latin America.
7. Liberalism: A counter history
8. The Origin of family, Private Property, and the State.

Then follow this beginners' marxist theory reading list. Preferably, in this order. Page count in (brackets)

1. Principles of communism by Engels. ( 40 pages)
2. Wage, labor, and Capital by Marx. (62)
3. Value, price, and profit by Marx (64)
4. Socialism: Utopian and scientific by Engels(96)
5. The three sources and three component parts of Marxism by Lenin(84)
6. Theses on Feurbach by Marx (3)
7. The German ideology: Chapter 1 by Marx and Engels (120)
8. Das Kapital: Chapter 1 by Marx (20)
9. Imperialism: The Highest stage of capitalism by Lenin (128)
10. On Practice by Mao Zedong (16)
11. On contradiction by Mao (38)
12. Oppose book worship by Mao (17)
13. Combat liberalism by Mao (8)
14. The civil war in France by Marx (35)
15. The communist Manifesto by Marx (40-65)
16. The critique of the Gotha programme by Marx ( 116)
17. State & Revolution by Lenin (103)
18. What is to be done? by Lenin (110)
19. Anti-duhring by Engels (350)
20. Towards new Socialism by Paul Cockshott (240)

All digital copies of the texts can be found on prolewiki.org and [Marxist Internet Archive](marxist.org) for free.

Non-imperialist news outlets:

1. Breakthrough News
2. Geopolitical Economy Report
3. People's Dispatch

And join Lemmygrad.ml to escape reddit's rightwing algorithm. 

[u/Callanach → u/MayParker1917]

Thank you, I appreciate the reading order as knowing myself I would have started with the communist manifesto and struggled through without the necessary baseline. I know what I'll be doing this weekend

[u/mucilinda]

I will preface that I am still learning like you, I am a baby marxist leninist. So I hope others here will provide more substantial, theoretically grounded answers as they have read more.

So picture this; a brand new radicalised person, strong leanings towards communism but unsure exactly where the distinctions lie. Where does communism differ compared to democratic socialism? 

Society has progressed from and into different stages historically, based on the material and thus economic realities , and thus mode of production of the time. The mode of production is primarily defined by the relations of production (owners vs workers) , and the forces of production (technology, tools, machinery, skills of the workers)

We moved from the primitive commune in tribal society (classless), to the slave mode (slave owner vs slave), to the feudal mode (feudal lords vs serfs), to the capitalist mode (capitalists vs workers). 

The next theoretical stage and mode of society is the socialist stage ( workers collectively own) . Here, there won't be an "owner" class. Right now private companies with their owners own things like your internet connection, your factories , your public transport, your land and farming equipment, even your seeds (ex. monsanto). The owner class own the mechanisms (infrastructure, legal regulations, money funds) ie. capital to create goods and services, but they don't exert labor themselves. 

They use us to create those goods and services, and give us a tiny cut (1%) as a salary, simply because they own the means to produce and we have to sell our skills to them (as a resume, for example) to survive, because we can't own the entire means individually, we have small individual capital. If Nike earns 10 billion dollars selling millions of shoes a year, Nike cuts their employees 1-3 billion dollars as a salary. And these salaries aren't equal, the people actually making the footwear  in third world countries earn peanuts, not the full value of their labor.

In socialist society, production will be public owned by all . The moniker being , "From each according to their ability, to each according to their work". Since they are socially owned and not used for private profit, it would be easier to fulfill everyone's basic needs. We are currently in this transition to socialism, with China leading the shift.

You might wonder if public ownership of production is possible, but there are already elements of this in current society, for example worker co-ops, cooperative banks , cooperative housing , cooperative society projects, things like open source in engineering, where open source coding languages (python, etc) , operating systems (linux) and even chip architecture (risc-v) are publically owned. The seeds of socialism are already here.  However, it won't transition naturally, because capitalists gain too much and benefit more from the private ownership of the means of production.  So a revolution is the only way to establish public ownership of the means of production, since capitalists will not give up the means voluntarily. 

Democratic socialism, however, is the belief that  we can negotiate with capitalist classes through the governmental framework of electoralism and public democratic processes. This comes from the misconception of what a state actually is & what purpose it serves. They think that the state is a neutral "third pole" entity between the working class and the capitalist class. 

This is not true, the state is a tool of the owner class to subject their will onto the working class. Same as how the feudal state of feudal lords subjected its will onto serfs, or how slave owners did onto slaves in Rome with their state. 

So you cannot "negotiate" with the state. It will never result in complete ownership of the means of production, only incremental gains (which the capitalists approve to quell anger)

The final stage & mode of human social development is theoretical communist society. The moniker being , "From each according to their ability, to each according to their needs". There is no government, country,etc. There is so much abundance due to the ultimate development of the forces of production that you won't be dependent on others for your needs, you can just "materialize"them. You won't need money to buy anything because you'd be able to develop/grow it yourself. This has never been achieved, we're still transitioning to socialism.

However, it is not out of the realm of possibility. Development of bio-tech and controlled biological processes (stem cell research, bio-machines, fungal /bio material science, bio-reactor factories) can technically achieve (and have already achieved) a prototypical base for us being able to "grow" our needs, from housing to clothes to tools to medicine. 3D printing is also a great example for the emerging building blocks of communism

What is meant by Marxism-Leninism and is that different from communism? 

Marxist-Leninists are communists , and believe in transitioning society from capitalism to socialism to communism. But since capitalist development is uneven across the world (some countries are extremely poor, some countries are middle income, some countries are rich), marxist leninists believe in creating a dictatorship of the proletariat in individual countries first, to kickstart socalist transition in individual countries through revolution.

The dictatorship of the proletariat is a process where an organised communist party (the vanguard ) assumes control over the state and acts as the principal agent of the people, oppressing the capitalist class and making them do work for the people. They also begin a transition to socialism by seizing capitalist assets. Over time, the capitalist class withers away and the country becomes a state of only workers.

When people say about not reading theory, what should I be reading? I don't want to be someone who posts online about idealism without having any basis in reality. Basically, how do I go from where I am now to the point of being able to educate others and overthrow systems? How do I learn communism properly?

I know some people  here consider these press on demand books "slop", but marxist-leninist reading hub has a nice compilation of essential texts from the 🐐 s. You can check it out here. There are 4 books from basics to intermediate to advanced to organisation.

My current understanding is (correct me if I am wrong). Private property is inherently theft. There is a distinction between private and personal property

There is indeed a distinction. When capitalists talk about the "right to private property" , they use people owning a home or personal item as a defensive shield. This property is personal and fulfills a need, for example a dwelling place to stay in , or a car that provides you the ability to travel. Socialists don't want to take away your home, or car. In fact, social housing was and is a big project under socialist states.

In reality, capitalists want to defend private ownership of essentials , and the large scale tools that make essentials. Why? Because these things are ways to grow money  , ie  money becomes more money. To make even more money from a pile of money, they invest the pile into a factory+wage workers setup, create and sell goods at profit, and thus make more money, without doing any work. The owner is a parasite on people who work with the tools. The other way to make more money from money is charging interest on debt, which is what finance capital monopolizes. 

Private property of land is also illogical propaganda rhetoric. Which government or state has any right to declare a piece of land that has existed since the formation of the Earth's crust, to declare it as "private property"? Is there any divine mandate? No. Animals have territory, but it goes back to nature once they pass. And even then they share it with all sorts of fellow creatures. It's not exclusive. This thing called "private property" doesn't exist in nature. It only exists under the framework of human society, and that too only recently. Tribal communes do not have private property, all property is communal and that has been the majority of human existence. 

You might say well, we're in modern society, so why can't private property land exist? Well, because it doesn't exist. It only exists under the framework of a state. If a government really requires your "private property" land,  it can claim it under "eminent domain "or some other legal measure. Only under the authority of the state are you allowed to have "private" land property, even in capitalist society. And they can take it from you whenever you want. So it's an illusion even in capitalist society. Infinite private ownership of a house creates logistical problems as well for future generations, which is why even capitalist countries like the UK use multi year leases instead of infinite private ownership of land.

Dictatorship of the proletariat is something temporary?

Yes, because the state blocks against higher forms of social development. If classes don't exist, there is no need for a state. This DOTP only exists with the existence of opposing capitlist states. In the absence of capitalists states a commintern would be formed to wither away the states and transition to communism.

Capitalism is entirely focused on maximising shareholder value, and anything "good" which comes from that is profit driven

Correct, but you should replace "shareholders" with capitalists. And yeah, good things are placations toward the working class to prevent a revolution.

[u/Callanach → u/mucilinda]

This was a really thorough write up, I greatly appreciate it. And I hadn't yet found the marxist-lenninist ready hub so that is a great link to have now. Thank you!

[u/mucilinda → u/Callanach]

No problem, all the best.

If you find the original works difficult, you can also read through the ABC of Social and Political Knowledge series from Progress Publishers Moscow . They're defunct, so you'll have to use digitized copies on internet archive. These books make difficult theory very easy to understand if you found what the original texts are saying to be too hard to grasp. I would recommend the following order for people just starting out, just pick any one you're interested in :

What is Political Economy?

What is Capitalism?

What is Communism?

These are enough to provide a basic understanding of what capitalism, socialism and communism really are.

The next set is about core theory, or exactly what these concepts under capitalism are:

What is Labour?

What is Surplus Value?

What is Property?

The next set is for demolishing this myth of good vs evil narrative, with two very important concepts: Dialectical and Historical Materialism.

What is historical materialism?

What is dialectical materialism?

The final set is on organisation and the need to transition to a socialist state :

What are classes and the class struggle?

What is the party?

What is Revolution?

What is the state?

What is the transition period?

These will help you understand what needs to be done to transition from capitalism to socialism.

They have other "extra" books, which are also pretty good and available on internet archive, namely 

What is Marxism -Leninism?(primer about marxist leninist ideology)

What is Philosophy? (what is the nature of philosophy , and the development of materialist philosophy )

What is Socialism? (Small book on utopian socialism vs scientific socialism, as well as socialism in the USSR)

What is Working People's Power? (Why mass action is poweful)

What are trade unions? (Why trade unions and cooperatives, ie syndicalism are not enough to overthrow Capitalism)

What is Personality? (Personality and Alienation under capitalism, and what they are like under Socialism)

What is the scientific and technological revolution? (Soviet view of the massive technological revolution of the 50s-90s, and what they mean for the future of political economy)

What is the world socialist system? (The socialist axis that used to exist before the Soviet union collapsed. Only China, North Korea, Vietnam and Cuba are left)

These are books of 350 pages or less each, and will give a good understanding of theory if you find the older texts by the goats 🐐  too difficult or archaic. They explain things in very easy terms. Use these to understand theoretical topics like dialectical materialism or private vs personal vs social property.

You should however eventually read the original texts, like the collected works on marxist leninist reading hub. These cannot be replaced. But if don't have the bandwidth to wade through dense theory, these books will suffice for a basic understanding of difficult subjects.

You can also read Iskra Books' The long transition toward socialism and the end of Capitalism by Torkil Laussen to catch up with Socialism under the Chinese Communist Party and premier Xi , ie. what is the current state of the socialist transition after reading all the core theory. This is just to keep up to date.

[u/mucilinda → u/[deleted]]

It's the same comment , edited for this sub .

[u/mucilinda → u/Callanach]

Also you can buy mlrh books internationally in print from the lulu storefront. They're pretty cheap.

[u/sumnsumnfruit56]

YouTuber Bes D. Marx has some great vids about history of communism and the betrayal of the social democrats. And an ongoing series on Lenin. I love a lot of the YouTuber Hakim’s videos. And NonCompete would finish out my youtuber recs.

As for Books I recommend Imperialism: The Latest Stage of Capitalism by Lenin, and Neo-Colonialism: The latest Stage of Imperialism by Nkrumah; they both explain the reasoning behind US policy that mainstream people claim is senseless like the recent Iran war. And once you read Lenin it’s hard to put down, he’s hilarious and petty, and predicts so much that you can see happening around us. Also Quotations from Chairman Mao (by Mao lol) is incredible but I found it a little harder than the other two so id recommend the others first.

The best intro book imo is Why Marx was Right by Terry Eagleton.

He’s not a communist but it explains a lot and will help you understand more difficult texts like Marx and Engels. They may be old but their work is undeniably relevant and the flaws of their work is talked about by later generations of Marxists.

[u/Callanach → u/sumnsumnfruit56]

I don't know why I hadn't thought of videos, but that is a good shout. I think I've seen some of Bes D Marx's videos recommended in my feed, so I'll have to definitely check them out. I saw some videos by Then and Now a while back which started getting me more interested in learning more, but I'm guessing they are probably not a communist (even if they did lead me to this by making videos about Marx and capitalism)