Left-wing Literature Thread

What literature do I read to get into modern left thought? Should I read Deleuze or Foucault? Please don't suggest the charlatan Zizek.
>inb4 /pol/yps shit up this thread
Please do, /pol/acks, I enjoy every minute of it.

1984 is more poignant now than ever.

Didn't Orwell admit that 1984 and Animal Farm were just as much a critique of Western "democracies" as they were of Stalinism and Marxism.

Nope. Exclusively Marxism.

B R E A D

the FRANKFurt schol

Orwell was literally a Trotskyist and fought for socialism in Spain

That was before he wrote Animal Farm and 1984. Experiencing the atrocities of Marxist thought first-hand compelled him to write against it.

I thought he became disillusioned with Marxism in general though. Historically, "Trotskyists" were just western 'communists' who didn't really follow Trotsky, and even denounced him for Kronstadt, advocating war with Poland, etc.

>Atrocities of Marxist thought
He saw the atrocities of the Red Army and the Wehrmacht in Spain against anarchists. It has nothing to do with Marxist "thought" - just global politics and Stalin.

>Red Army and the Wehrmacht
i.e Marxist Thought

He called for socialist revolution in England at the times he wrote those. He was mainly anti-authoritarian and anti-fascist.

No, he was anti-Stalinism, not anti-Marxism

>Wehrmacht and Red Army is Marxist
ANYTHING THE GOVERNMENT DOES IS SOCIALISM

He called for democratic socialist policy (à la Bernie Sanders). Not socialist revolution.

This thread has derailed. Anyone read this yet? I'm thinking of getting it.

>He was anti-Stalinsim
In other words, anti-Marxism.

Bernie Sanders isn't democratic socialist, he's a social democrat. Democratic socialists support armed revolution generally while social democracy aims for transitioning to socialism through reformism or working with capitalism.

...

type 'amen' if you love jesus

ignore and satan will get you

Lel. Only people who think Stalin was a Marxist are crusty virgins on the internet and the occasional Marxist-Leninist you meet handing out fliers about Assad.

amen

Communism is antithetical to human nature. If Marx read Darwin, communism would not exist.

I can't tell if you're being ironic.

amen

First off, make sure you have read at least the first book in Das Kapital and the paris manuscripts. (And preferably some Freud).
I would start with Lukacs' History and Class Consciousness, since his extension of Marx's theory of alienation is really foundational for critical theory.

Then maybe Marcuse's Eros and Civilization for some freudo-marxism and some Althusser for the structuralist approach to marxism (start with Ideological State Apparatuses). Then read some of Lefebvre's work to see how he took Leftism in a completely different direction from the dominant structuralist reading in France at the time. Then move on to Debord's Society of the Spectacle which is really just the endgame and culmination of Lefebvre's and Lukacs' theories with a dash of surrealism. In '68 there hardly were more influential leftist theories. After this showstopper that may have left you in complete terror with the prospects of its analysis, maybe read Ranciére's 'The Emancipated Spectator', which really is a critique of the situationists.

Now I haven't touched on operaismo/autonomism, but perhaps check out some early Negri and Tronti to see another anti-authoritarian development of marxism at that time. The newer theories of Negri/Hardt in Empire, and Bifo, are more or less a natural progression from here.

If you've read your Freud (and have seen what Marcuse's did with him in regards to Marxism) and move on to read your Lacan, then check out Zizek's work (The Ticklish Subject, The Sublime Object of Ideology). Yes, I know he is a clown, but I think a lot of his academic work is also worth reading. Also, if you want to understand what Guattari/Deleuze are doing in Anti-Oedepus, you need to know Lacan since he is the basis that is destabilized in that work (and Guattari's work in general). Deleuze is incredibly hard to read and not at all your typical leftist but more of a classic philosopher. I think he is worth reading so by any means do it.

Now I haven't mentioned Foucault yet, but yes, he is very worth reading. I would read the first book of the history of sexuality for its general critique of power (it really is a concise version of Foucault's theory of power) and its influence on performative gender theory (see: Butler's Gender Trouble). Then I would read a couple of the college de france lectures on biopolitics, which is perhaps Foucault's most influential contribution.

Getting familiar with the concept of biopolitics also opens up for reading one of the most influential theorists right now, Giorgio Agamben. There is much more to him of course and he too is very difficult, but take a look at 'Means Without Ends' and maybe the first book of the homo sacer series. Then maybe check out Tiqqun, every leftist at my uni atm are cumming over their weird mix of Agamben's theories with situationism.

Of course many things have been left out (including a lot of the Frankfurt school) but this is just a primer off the top of my head. Have fun.

How about you read Mises and Rothbard before you commit intellectual suicide by willfully exposing yourself to the idiocy that is leftist propaganda

>this post

Trash for most people honestly. If you haven't read most of Freud and Lacan then it's going to be a waste of paper. If you haven't read most of Freud and Lacan then I suggest you do that ASAP anyway.

You know that ideas ... are inaccessible on the mortal plane right?

Is it worth reading Situationism if I've read literally no leftist texts about from some secondary sources and basic texts on and by Marx? I have a copy of Society of the Spectacle.

I suggest you come over to /pol/ and take the redpill instead

BOOKCHIN
O
O
K
C
H
I
N

I recommend actually reading Darwin.

politics won't fill the empty void in your life, and no revolution will fix it either.

"How to construct your very own echo chamber"

Whoa really?

So is 451, but I've already tried that argument and no one wants to listen.

I don't know about 84 but animal farm certainly is. The ending almost literally says that capitalists and communist dictators are equally evil.

Wait, you actually take left-wing literature seriously? Lel.

451 is probably the most important book in the post 2000 world.

I am with you brother

What is leftist worth ethic like? That is, within a capitalist society. If you go to work everyday with the understanding that you're being exploited it would be very difficult to get a lot done or even to enjoy work. You wouldn't be compelled to work your way up to a management position because then you would be a capitalist. And you definitely wouldn't want to start your own business. Seems like a very bad philosophy for social mobility.

>What literature do I read to get into modern left thought?
Alinsky.

Yes. Situ are good.

Apocalypse baby for fiction
Mark fisher for cultural criticism
Constructivists for theory

>be atheist
>love the literary figure of Jesus though. Specially after studying the political climate of the era and notice christianity's relation to the disgusting religion called judaism
>John the Revelator is cooler, sure, Revelations is an amazing BTFO piece against the kikes, but the figure of Jesus was pretty cool too, what with the Good Samaritan and the thing with the tables and his rules against usury and whatnot
>on the other hand, absolutely adore Milton's Satan. Possibly my favorite character in literature
What do?

Amen, but I still love you, Satan?

Recognize that Milton's Satan is not the biblical Satan and learn to walk and chew bubblegum.

>Milton's Satan is not the biblical Satan
wat

Nigger, he's literally the snek. No step on snek.

Marx praised Darwin.

do u watch movies and think theyre real 2

Read the first line of my first post.

Milton's Satan is the biblical Satan. Neither of which is real.

Milton's Satan isn't in the Bible. It is not the Biblical Satan in that sense. That you like the depiction of Satan in Paradife Loft doesn't mean you like his depiction in the Bible. They are, essentially, two different creations, two different characters - even if they are both based on a real, existing Satan.

Milton's Satan is based directly on the Satan of Genesis and of jewish tradition.

You could say Milton's Satan is the biblical Satan, whereas the biblical Satan might not be, as one hard-depends on the other and not vice-versa.

stop using semantics that apply to a different situation

Thanks for your earnest reply

If they're national socialists or stalinists, what do you think?

What is leftist work ethic like? That is, within capitalist society. If you go to work everyday with the understanding that you're being exploited it would be very difficult to get a lot done or even to enjoy work. You wouldn't be compelled to work your way up to a management position because then you would be a capitalist. And you definitely wouldn't want to start your own business. Seems like a very bad philosophy for social mobility.

>Should I read Deleuze or Foucault? Please don't suggest the charlatan Zizek.

If you think zizek is a charlatan then Foucault abd Deleuze are even worse.

>marxism, neo-marxism and post-marxism
>a bunch of post modern cancer and barely any economics

>critique of critical critique
what

t. dude who binge-watches jordan peterson

sabotage

The third way by Giddens is a good overview of the centrist, market orientated ideas that have influenced western "left wing" political parties from Bill Clinton and Blair onwards.

pic related is gold

Mein Kampf.

Nazis were socialists.

You get a job teaching at a university where you don't have to feel bad about being comfortably middle class. That way you don't have to do any of that nasty manual labor stuff the real proles do.

I hate Peterson with a passion, but that doesn't change the fact that having a proper understanding of economics to be a proper leftist.

>want to read left wing literature
>have to buy the book

what a novel insight...we have to buy and sell things to survive in this moment...damn
it's almost like the totality of capitalism subjugates us all...leftists btfo by based smug anime girl
i hate marx now

>le human nature

I don't know if that's true but OP, you can read Koestler (for example The Yogi and the Commissar) which is a really good critique of the USSR while still being true to his leftist principles.

Drumpf. Am I right?

Does Veeky Forums actually care about workers? If so, why?

if you'd read Darwin that post wouldn't exist

Economics in One Lesson by Henry Hazlitt.

Trust me, it's amazing.

It really is funny when anticapitalists use Apple products, as Apple has the worst working conditions and lowest wages of American companies in China.

;^)

damn...it's like...acknowledging the innate hypocrisy of your political stance is the same as doing something to correct it...no pasaran...

This post is fake news.

...Wat

I have other books in my list, but these are some

Confronting Empire Eqbal Ahmad
The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Friedrich Engels
A Thousand Plateaus. Capitalism and Schizophrenia by Gilles Deleuze
The Organized Community by Juan Domingo Peron
The Capital by Karl Marx
Permanent Revolution by Leon Trotsky
Bakunin on Anarchy
The Spanish Anarchists. The Heroic Years, Murray Bookchin
What is Property. An inquiry into the principle of right and of government by Pierre-Joseph Proudhon
The Conquest of Bread by Pyotr Kropotkin
The Accumulation of Capital by Rosa Luxemburg
What Is to Be Done and Other Writings by Vladimir Lenin
Prison Notebooks by Antonio Gramsci
Industrial Society and Its Future by Theodore Kaczynski (I know is the unabomber, but not by coincidence, he was previously a victim of MK ULTRA)
Anarcho-Syndicalism by Rudolf Rocker
Anarchy by Errico Malatesta
An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith (he was against monopolies and the division of labor)
Essays in Fabian Socialism by George Bernard Shaw
Hegemony and Socialist Strategy. Towards a Radical Democratic Politics by Ernesto Laclau
Pedagogy of the Oppressed by Paulo Freire

Post-marxism should be moved to a Post-left section which should then be increased with people like Bob Black, Hakim Bey and left accelerationist guys.

Also, should reduce the Zizek and increase Frankfurt (namely, Benjamin) and add Civil War on France, a very important text by late-Marx our oblivious Leninist friends seem bent on ignoring because Marx goes against their dictatorship-disguised-as-freedom in it.

...

Hegemony and Socialist Strategy - Chantal Mouffe and Ernesto Laclau

Lean Out - Dawn Foster

The Communist Hypothesis - Alain Badiou

Capitalist Realism - Mark Fisher

The Origin of Capitalism: A Longer View -
Ellen Meiksins Wood

Capitalism: Competition, Conflict, Crises -Anwar Shaikh

amen

Look in a Tescos dumpster some time. Boxes of perfectly good products, thrown out because they didn't shift quickly enough or went 1 hour past sell-by date. Meanwhile people are waving WILL WORK FOR FOOD signs one street away.

>advocating eating out of the trash rather than just redistributing wealth, guaranteeing jobs, ending exploitation, and abolishing private property

user surely there must be a better way than this

sounds about right ;^)

Can someone explain the constant stream of Marxist criticism and thought applied to every aspect of life?

It's always appeared to me as just a way to keep the academic wheels turning, but im curious to know if any advances in for example state planning or the mechanics of a stable revolution have come out of it all

Fine, fool. Run away from reality and encourage others to follow you.

>left wing literature thread

I remember when I was 16 too, OP

>guaranteeing jobs

Oh I do agree user, we absolutely should bring back the workhouse

amen

Also the Child's Guide to...whatever you're outraged about today series.

having a smartphone is essential to survive in today's job market. all smartphone manufacturers have terrible working conditions. your point?

...

nice argument

thanks, comrade

woke twenty-two year old

class conscious eight-teen year old

You human-biodiversity-conscious too?