/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.2701930]

/lit/, first time here in months. I've been really interested in starting reading about Marxism and Marxist philosophies, any idea on where to start? I've looked into buying some Althusser works, any other authors I could look into?

[Anonymous No.2701943]

Althusser isn't really the best place to start with Marxist philosophy. He'd be somewhat difficult to get into if you're a beginner. If you're already somewhat familiar with Marx's theory and familiar with the schools of thought he uses in his philisophy then you should be all right with Althusser, 'For Marx' is where everyone starts. Try that.
If you're completely new to Marxist theory, then an introduction to Marxism is definitely what you need to invest in. Maybe one on Hegel too.

[Anonymous No.2701949]

Karl Popper - The Open Society and Its Enemies

[Anonymous No.2701958]

Elementary Principles of Philosophy - Georges Politzer

[Anonymous No.2701959]

Thomas Sowell wrote a short biography of Marx in the Thomas Sowell Reader. I found it very enlightening.

[Anonymous No.2701960]

Marx is shit tier.

Acquire Kropotkin and Proudhon.

[Anonymous No.2701962]

>>2701949

[Anonymous No.2701965]

>>2701943
I've read the communist manifesto - who hasn't - and would that be considered an intro to Marxist theory? Or should I look into pre-Marxist ideas first, such as Hegel, as you suggested? Also, would a biography to Karl Marx himself also be somewhat necessary?

[Anonymous No.2701968]

>>2701965
>dat double also
Didn't even notice I wrote both of those.

[Anonymous No.2701971]

>>2701965
It's meaningless agit-prop that was designed to preach to the choir rather than present any coherent argument, so in other words yes.

[Anonymous No.2701992]

>>2701965
The Communist Manifesto is more of a polemic pamphlet rather than a philosophical text. It really doesn't delve into some of the more theoretical and philosophical concepts Marx uses in order to put forward his critique of Capitalism. For that you would need to read Capital, which is pretty heavy going for a beginner.
Marxism: A Very Short Introduction sums up a lot of his propositions in simple and clear language - it also sums up basic Hegel and how it inspired Marx. That would be a decent starting point, I would say.
I definitely wouldn't say read Marxist theorists like Althusser without having a pretty clear grasp of the theoretical framework Marx puts forth in Capital and his earlier work (German Ideology, etc).

[Anonymous No.2701998]

>>2701930
THE GERMAN IDEOLOGY

By far, he literally lays out all the foundations of his later philosophy, in the style of hobbes or locke, saying, this is man's natural state, this is why he has to act this way and have a proletariat revolution

[Anonymous No.2701999]

>>2701992
Okay, thanks. Yeah, that was one of the things I noticed about the Communist Manifesto, that it wasn't exactly philosophy. I'll look into those.

[Anonymous No.2702008]

>>2701998
I would also second this. If you want to delve right into some of Marx's more philosophical writing, The German Ideology is ideal.

[Anonymous No.2702037]

>>2701960
>>2701949
normative marxism ≠ descriptive marxism

I wish people would have the patience to make this distinction. I'm willing to bet most, if not all the people here who took a history class in high school and/or college (seconday/uni for you other bros) received a Marxist account of American history.

[Anonymous No.2702040]

>>2701960

You should know that Althusser approaches Marx from the field of philosophy. David Harvey has been teaching Das Capital for decades, more from a human geographical/economic point of view, and you might want to look up his lectures on Youtube, or read his "A Companion to Capital"

Althusser's "Reading Capital" is great, but as others said, it can be difficult.

[Anonymous No.2702062]

Get an introduction to theory book and Das Kapital, you can fairly easily follow Kapital if you watch David Harvey's lecture series on it, (think it's on jewtube).

Capital is very economistic though, so I'd also read some of Marx's Early Works, where he outlines a more philosophical approach.

For a Marxist theory of politics, read some Antonio Gramsci, (Gramsci is the final boss, he's that cool!)

[Anonymous No.2702078]

>>2702062
mah-nigga.jpg