How familiar is this person with Communism and AES? If I just want to recommend a good intro for someone with no familiarity, I usually recommend Engels’ Principles of Communism and if they are anti-AES but willing to read I recommend Parenti’s Blackshirts and Reds.
From there, it becomes more important to understand that Marxism-Leninism is broken into 3 major components:
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Dialectical and Historical Materialism
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Critique of Capitalism along the lines of Marx’s Law of Value
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Advocacy for Revolutionary Socialism
And as such, I recommend, in order:
- Politzer’s Elementary Principles of Philosophy
By far my favorite primer on Dialectical and Historical Materialism. By understanding DiaMat first, you make it easier to understand the rest of Marxism.
Further reading on DiaMat, but crucially introduces the why of Scientific Socialism, essentially explaining how Capitalism itself preps the conditions for public ownership and planning by centralizing itself into monopolist syndicates.
- Marx’s Wage Labor and Capital as well as Wages, Price and Profit
Best taken as a pair, these essays simplify the most important parts of the Law of Value.
Absolutely crucial and the most important work for understanding the modern era and its primary contradictions.
- Lenin’s The State and Revolution
Excellent refutation of revisionists and Social Democrats who think the State can be reformed, and not replaced. Also a good call to action to cap off the intro.
After reading all of this, whoever has completed these works should have a good grasp of the basics of Marxism-Leninism and be equipped to do their own Marxist-Leninist analysis, though tons of excellent and fairly critical works were dropped for the sake of limiting the scope to an intro reading list. I can make more “advanced” recommendations if they are necessary as well.
Edit: I now understand that you are a Palestinian in Gaza right now. My deepest sympathies for you and the righteous struggle your people are facing. I would add the PFLP’s Strategy For the Liberation of Palestine to the beginning of the list as well, perhaps right after Principles of Communism, and these works should be available in Arabic as well if that is easier to read.
Palestine will be free.
She’s not familiar at all ,she thinks positive of Cuba like everyone form Palestine does ,she’s a woman from Gaza who is there right now
Ah, understood. In that case, I would keep the same list, but in Arabic if that’s more comfortable, and add the PFLP’s Strategy For the Liberation of Palestine to the beginning of the list as well, perhaps right after Principles of Communism.
Palestine will be free.
