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/lit/ - Literature

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17527348 No.17527348 [Reply] [Original]

Hello, /lit/.

I'm not a very political person and I'd like to understand "the left". With that I don't mean "knowing how to refute them" or "strawmaning them", but actually understanding it.

Take into account tho that I lack any kind of education in the social sciences, and that I come from a fairly conservative background.

Thanks, /lit/. Hope you have a nice day.

>> No.17527364

>>17527348
Start with the greeks

>> No.17527387

>>17527348
The left is sort of a schizophrenic entity. The best you could probably do is give Marx's capital a read (we have to read it at some point if we are to consider ourselves well-read) with the help of a companion book, reading group, or youtube lecture series.
Just looking at the history of the left you see a conflict which closely mirrors the libertarian/social conservative conflict on the right- there are those who favor cultural trappings of leftism, who make up the majority of the liberal worldview, and those who favor the economic doctrine of leftism, who might be called leftists proper. With a ton of esoteric mixes between these two sides, as on the right.
Parenti is a good history writer for leftist history. Gotta learn about the USSR and Gyna too.

>> No.17527397

Foucault - Discipline and Punish

>> No.17527558

>>17527397
Would I need to read something else first, or is it comprehensible enough for an ignorant such as myself to understand?
>>17527387
Thanks, anon.

>> No.17527564

Marx, Capital.
>>17527397
Don't read this.

>> No.17527579

they want to fix the ills of capitalism and feel centre libs don't go far enough. what do you struggle with

>> No.17527580
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17527580

>>17527348
read all the books by grover furr

>> No.17527595

There is no need to understand the left. Just ignore and override.

>> No.17527616

Read the Conquest of Bread by Kropotkin. Its brief, interesting, deals with objective calculations of resources, and contains the gist of Marxist ideas altough its anarchist rather than marxist.

>> No.17527623

extremely baity thread

>thing starts to trend
>need to tell world i dislike it
>make pointless thread

>> No.17527663
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17527663

>>17527616
This is a great book to start with.
I'd also suggest manufacturing consent, capitalist realism, and the communist manifesto as more easy introductory books to companion with Conquest of Bread.

I think one of the key issues you will run into with 'the left' is that many of the books regarding it are complex theoretical works, for a more historical take, and I KNOW /pol/ and /his/ fags SEETHE when the book is suggested, I would recommend The People's History of the United States. It takes the traditional highschool U.S. history narrative and includes all the parts people don't generally like to talk about.

>> No.17527713
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>> No.17527727
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>> No.17527741

>>17527663
>>17527713
>>17527616
Thanks guys. I really appreciate it.

>> No.17527742

>>17527663
good post and good guide.

>> No.17528949

intro to capital

>> No.17529419

>>17527387
>we have to read it at some point if we are to consider ourselves well-read
He said like le classly gentlemen, in a fake British accent.

>> No.17529834

>>17529419
someone's not well read.

>> No.17529875

>>17527348
The old anarchist and communist texts I find to be interesting theory but if you want to understand what the left “is” I suggest moldbug.

>> No.17529906

>>17527741
read this right now https://www.marxists.org/reference/subject/philosophy/works/ge/benjamin.htm its short

>> No.17530010

Strange Death of Marxism by Gottfried. Gottfried is also just putting his book on antifascism to press I believe.

If you want a real in-depth reading, Kolakowsi's Main Currents of Marxism is still the best and goes all the way down to the major 20th century movements. It starts out tough but if you know a bit of philosophy you can get it pretty fine. I would start with the chapter in the middle of the book on 19th century socialism, which is more historical, than with the very first chapter which takes you down through Hegel for 70 pages and can seem overly daunting.

Martin Jay's Dialectical Imagination is also okay.

That's if you want to understand the philosophy. I recommend starting with critical overviews like Gottfried's first. Most leftists do not read their own theory and their worldview is more of a hippie hangout and do drugs thing than any actual principles. At root, 99.9% of them are liberals looking for an identity, often because they're very rich and bored. It used to be guilty rich people trying to "give back" in a way that allows them to still be the protagonists and vanguard of the movement, but nowadays it's more just narcissistic retards who have been raised wealthy by indulgent parents, who think they are edgy social radicals and heroes of the downtrodden by default because that's what they were taught at private school.

Of course the best way to understand leftists is to try to be a leftist organizer for a few years and count all the rich people, liberal tag-alongs, and manipulative sex weirdo freaks you meet.