Re: Communist Writings

[Greg Schofield <gschofield@xxxxxxxxxx>]

At 06:47  14/06/01 -0400, you wrote:
> I was wondering what everyone's favorite communist publications are?  How
> have they influenced you?   I am still a young student of Communism.  I
> have been interested in it for many years, and from time to time I read
> publications from Marx, Trotsky, Lenin, and so on.  I was just wondering
> if anyone could recommend anything to me?  I will be taking a Marxist
> Philosophy class next semester at my college, which deals primarily with
> Marx's writings and a little about Hegel.
> Thanks,
> Chris

1) Chris there is one fairly recent book which is very philosophical but
also very rewarding - it is an argument about the role of Hegel's Science
of Logic in the structure of Marx's Capital.
Tony Smith's "The Logic of Marx's Capital : Replies to Hegelian Criticisms"
- it is highly recommended but depends on being a bit familiar with Hegel.
This book became critically important to me in understanding how the whole
of Historical Materialism relates to itself, for once seeing the Science of
Logic within Marx's Capital, a lot of other things fall into place
including that comment about Marx turning Hegel rightway-up.

2 A) Lenin's "Philosophical Notebooks" are very good (don't bother with his
"Materialism and Empririo-Criticism" - it is not very good at all - in fact
it is very mechanical). The Notebook is very scattered and not all comments
are to be taken seriously, try just breezing through it for a first read
concentrating on just the bits that seem important and catch your eye.
Lenin makes a profound self-discovery after the first quarter, but it takes
just a while for it to jell, by the end of the notebooks he is a different
man - it is quite an exciting read.

2 B) Raya Dunayevskaya's "Rough Notes on Hegel's SCIENCE OF LOGIC" is a
very good and should be read after Lenin which it comments on.

2 C) Next I would highly recommend the first half of: CLR James - "Notes on
Dialectics"

3) Engels' "Dialectics of Nature" is worth going-over if you have not read
it, but is very much worth as a second look after reading James, Raya
Dunayevskaya and Lenin.

4) If you have an interest in history I would very much recommend George
Thomson's "Studies in Ancient Greek Society : The Prehistoric Aegean", it
is then worth breezing over Engels' "The Origin of the Family, State and
Private Property" though some of it is showing its age.

5) Engels' "The Peasant War in Germany" is a wonderful historical work. But
if you have an interest in military matters try his articles on the "the
Rifle" and other devices, they standup very well indeed despite their age.

A lot depends on your personal interests though, there is alienation, the
more political works and the more philosophical. Marx and Engels' "Selected
Correspondance" is worth a read, from the second half onwards, where they
explaining details to people, sometimes in a phrase or two really big
questions are tackled - I like these letters especially, because the people
they are writing to are posing the same questions and misunderstandings we
all have.

The problem is so many books have had such a great impact on me, it is
difficult to give a reasonable list. There is a trick I discovered, a trick
of self-awareness. Beware when something appears as a revelation, that
usually means that you have got the wrong-end of it.

This is something different from clarity, which can be even more exciting,
that is when the penny-drops and a great many things seem clear almost all
at once (Marxism has a kick-like a mule) this is good, but beware of the
greys, those bits that do not fully fit - they are very important and if
neglected can turn clarity into its opposite.

The best is when the words appear to confirm what you were already think
but had not quite got into words. It is the greatest oddity that the words
so quickly form the concepts in the mind that it feels familiar and new at
the same time, it sometimes takes real effort to judge whether the thought
would have matured without reading the words, usually in honesty the
judgement is negative (but it is really hard to tell). The reason I call
this the best response is that when it happens you know you are learning
and retaining what you have learnt, the knowledge becomes a part of you.

Now I could be accused, perhaps rightly, of wanking-on in these last three
paragraphs, but the intellectual/emotional side of Historical Materialism
is for me very real, the real joy of dancing with truth for a time. Without
that it all too readily becomes dogma and empty slogans.

Chris enjoy the dance, it can last a lifetime.

Greg Schofield
Perth Australia