I personally like "Why Socialism" by Albert Einstein but that might be because I'm from a STEM background.
this post was submitted on 07 Nov 2024
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Copying my comment from another thread: when I need to discuss "change through bourgeois electoralism" with libs I love sharing this interview:
It's so perfect; it's a reputable Western newspaper so you can share it in almost any setting, just preface it for plausible deniability with something like: "It's a hilarious read, one of the greatest modern liberal intellectuals debates a genocidal maniac frothing at the mouth!"
Libs love the idea and usually swallow the bait expecting funzies, they looooove them a stuck-up Brit "speaking truth to power" and handing out "hitchslaps".
And then Stalin absolutely demolishes Wells and it really fucks with their world. Wells says FDR's New Deal will bring about socialism in the USA and Stalin's like nah cause the economy is in the hands of capitalists so at most you will get some concessions which capitalists will keep fighting to revert. Stalin's arguments are so clear and concise, and his predictions are so plainly correct, while Wells is just being confidently wrong and terribly smug about it.
I had some success with it too, including one well-meaning lib literally telling me the next day, "Stalin was right" which are the three words I would not expect a lib utter under any circumstances.
Important public men like yourself are not “common men”. Of course, history alone can show how important this or that public man has been; at all events, you do not look at the world as a “common man”.
Do you think it was at this moment Wells knew he fucked up
Reading this reminds me of Tucker Carlson’s interview with Putin. It’s very obvious through the interview who is working within historical context and material realities and who is stuck in idealist fantasyland.
Orwell: Now, however, there is a superabundance of technical intellectuals, and their mentality has changed very sharply. The skilled man, who would formerly never listen to revolutionary talk, is now greatly interested in it.
These are the folks purged by red scare McCarthyism. Stalin was very prescient. This is a good read, thank you.
Edit: The best dig was at the end
Wells: …the speeches of its members are widely reported in the press. It insists upon this, free expression of opinion – even of opposition opinion. I hope to discuss this point with Gorki. I do not know if you are prepared yet for that much freedom . . .
Stalin: We Bolsheviks call it “self-criticism”. It is widely used in the USSR. If there is anything I can do to help you I shall be glad to do so.
Hahaha yeah I'm in awe of how Wells is full of himself, my favourite quotes are "It seems to me that I am more to the Left than you, Mr Stalin" which Wells utters in the same breath he praises Henry fucking Ford who would later support NSDAP with such fervor Hitler wanted to make Ford the leader of the fascist movement in the US; and "I do not know if you are prepared yet for that much freedom" in regards to the PEN Club, which at the time of this interview forbid it's members from using words such as "nationalism, inter-nationalism, democracy, aristocracy, imperialistic, anti-imperialistic, bourgeoisie, revolutionist or alike", wow that's way too much freedom for authoritarian Soviets to handle lol
Not a book but a channel like Second Thought might help. It's friendly and easy enough to understand without diving deep into communist theory. It's a start.
Seconding Second Thought, also adding First Thought!
This series by Jacobin is IMHO a really good primer into leftism for libs: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BDg71ql7zQs&list=PLxlNhP2f0kULW8hdxvfF6ZcDbndpvF8Sb
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
Mein Kampf, apparently...
It's even worse when you realize they're not hurting the Rep voter, but his family members who could very well vote Dem, if they could.
73% upvoted
I expected too much from reddit, I suppose. I believe (and hope that it's the case) that it's some guy seething from upvotes and won't actually go through with this.
Not exactly short, but I like Blood in My Eye by George Jackson and I think there are audio readings of it out there as well as text. I feel like it's a good one for jumping straight past the risk of "working class, but western chauvinist" phase right into the experiences and thought process of a black revolutionary who put in a lot of theory and practice work while being an imprisoned enemy of the state, and in the context of the US. Making it more concretized and direct for a USian than, say, State and Revolution, which is also an eye-opening one in its own way, but could be read abstractly as "the working class needs to seize power" without any regard for the unique conditions as they relate to the US.
Anti-Nixon rocket launchers! (thanks to the Marx Madness reading of this book, I will forever have the image of Nixon's face on a rocket doing a Futurama style "AROOOO" right before it explodes in my head every time I think of that book)
