Reading with Comrades discussion

I know it’s a bit early, but I wanted to go ahead and start asking folks for their nonfiction recs so we can vote on a work to read together in November!

I quite like interspersing books on current issues with some of the core Marxist-Leninist texts. We read The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State by Engels a few months ago, so I'd like to suggest one of Lenin's key works - The State and Revolution.

It's available free on the Marxist Internet Archive, at - https://www.marxists.org/archive/leni..., including in ebook format.

Given that the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP 26) is set to begin at the end of October, a book on climate change or eco-socialism could be useful.

Perhaps Ecosocialism: A Radical Alternative to Capitalist Catastrophe, Ecology and Socialism: Solutions to Capitalist Ecological Crisis or What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism.

I've only just come across these titles as I was searching for leftist books on climate change and I found a list made by Ian Angus, whose Too Many People? and Facing the Anthropocene I have read and recommend.

I’ve personally been really enjoying « Worshipping Power » by Peter Gelderloos. You can find it here https://theanarchistlibrary.org/libra....

We at DSA SF have a reading group that would be open to doing a book with you all, assuming we can all agree on a title. We would probably meet twice (virtually - on Zoom) in November.

i love that idea! yeah we usually just take suggestions then have a poll :)

Sounds like an excellent idea - and an opportunity for more people to participate. Any thoughts on what book(s) your group is considering?

John wrote: "Sounds like an excellent idea - and an opportunity for more people to participate. Any thoughts on what book(s) your group is considering?"

We are in a bit of a fallow zone. We read most of Wright's Envisioning Real Utopias, but it really didn't catch on. My personal thought is one or another book by David Graeber, but we're wide open at this point.

Jon would you mind setting up the poll and messaging out the link?

No problem.

The poll has closed, and we have a clear winner.

Our non-fiction book choice for November is The State and Revolution by Vladimir Lenin.

I hope as many as possible of us will read the book - which is fairly short - and participate in the group's discussion.

I’m so excited about this one!

Just a reminder - the book is available free in ebook format on the marxist internet archive - https://www.marxists.org/ebooks/lenin...

Its also available free online at https://www.marxists.org/archive/leni...

And there's normally a Kindle version available on Amazon for £1.

I'll post some details of links to reading guides, study guides etc, that hopefully we can all add to as we come across other resources that are helpful.

However, I felt the link below merited a post of its own - its a link to a site that "pairs original recipes with reflections on revolutionary texts".

Lenin, dark beer, dark chocolate, and strawberries.....what's not to love????

https://thisismold.com/required-readi...

Links to a variety of study guides from various sources can be found below. I've only glanced briefly at them so far, so can't comment on their quality, but you should hopefully find something of interest.

The number and variety is an indication of the importance of this text.

https://socialistaction.org/2011/08/1...
https://liberationschool.org/study-gu...
https://www.socialistrevolution.org/t...
https://www.socialist.net/the-state-a...
https://leftiststudyguides.wordpress....
https://socialism.com/educationalreso...
https://www.socialist.net/images/new-...
https://www.workersliberty.org/files/...
https://socialistworker.org/2008/07/2...

I'm really impressed by this book so far. Getting so much from it that I can image re-reading it almost immediately. And Lenin's writing style is much more readable that I'd somehow expected.

Who else in the group is reading it at the moment - and any comments so far?

What is funny to me is how often these older texts are portrayed as forbidden fruit or identifiers of societal outliers. Surely these were written by angry, screaming psychopaths like what we saw from those such as Hitler in black and white clips in History class.

I must have been raised with some really effective propaganda where I learned that reading these types of books was considered at best unpatriotic, borderline illegal, or at worst sinful (raised Catholic) and would jeopardize myself and my family from entering a holy afterlife, and why would I want to risk that!?

So far in Chapter 1, the idea that 'special bodies of armed men' are a power standing above society, influenced by the exploiting class is one that we're still seeing thrive 100 years after this text was written. Now with military-grade power!

For example, here in Minneapolis, we attempted to vote for the dissolution of such a force in the Minneapolis Police Department but failed. It seems we have been rendered, effectively, revolutionarily disabled by working class fatigue and engulfed in our fragile lives based around consumerism and pleasurable ignorance.

[ Side note I think is worth considering .. the total number of votes on the Question to remove MPD: 143,319 .. this is the number of people that major cities across the country were hoping would decide for them the answer to .. "Policing, is it bad, actually?" .. 143k of 429k residents (2020 Census) were burdened with the task of filling in a mark on a piece of paper to arguably decide a future of American Policing and now we'll just collectively shrug and say "well, what is to be done but nothing?". Results were ~56% No to ~44% Yes.
It could be considered a precursor to criminal activity to be 'woke', i.e. to be aware and critical of societal issues or norms. This is all influenced by an ever more powerful oligarch that doesn't need to rule with weaponry or violence, but can keep us vibrating with a dull anger just enough to inspire us to reach deeper and deeper into escapism since it seems we're powerless to do anything about it, even through seemingly democratic processes like voting on charters in local elections. ]

Any way, sweet book so far, I'm getting into it and it's fueling my pessimism which will surely not piss off my loved ones when I bring it up over Thanksgiving Turducken.

Glad you're enjoying it so far, Ryan. I'm almost finished, and have been very impressed by it; I can see I'll have to read some more from Lenin.

I hope it doesn't spoil your Thanksgiving, and I've learned something new from your post - I had to consult wiki to find out what Turducken is!

i’m planning on reading it over thanksgiving break! 💓 i already love lenin though lol

Just finished The State and Revolution



and really enjoyed it. Will think it over for a couple of days, and then probably read it again.

For anyone who is thinking of following-up with a biography of Lenin, this article from International Socialist Review gives a useful overview of what's available.

https://isreview.org/issue/86/lenin-a...

Lenin is topical here in the UK at the moment since our idiot Prime Minister quoted him in a speech to business leaders. In the same speech he compared himself to Moses, spoke in praise of Peppa Pig, and made noises imitating a car.

As we're almost at the end of November - how many of us have read The State and Revolution, or are still reading it?

What did people think of it?

I’ve been working on reading through it but I’ve been kinda busy lately and it’s not the easiest read. It comes into conflict with a lot of the other things I’m reading right now. I have some critiques of it too, personally my main critique is of the way it centers European countries as « civilized » countries and the only ones worthy in considering in theoretical analysis, which tbh is a problem you find in all areas of science. I think if one thing can be agreed upon everywhere is that « the master’s tools cannot take apart the master’s house » gradual change within the political system will never be fundamental change or revolutionary. It’s not bad though, certainly important to read. I have some other thoughts and questions but those may be worth bringing up when I actually finish the book.

I am not far through it as school work has been very time consuming. I'll hopeful find time to finish it soon :))

I'm heartened that people are reading it, and sticking with it despite this being a busy time of year for a lot of people. There is no deadline - this thread will remain open and we can come back at any time and make posts, ask questions, etc.

Good points from Ryan and Five, and I'm looking forward to seeing more once you've finished.

The questions of what the state is, and the relationship between the state and the working class remain totally relevant at this time of increasing inter-state tension, and increasing repression.
One thing that hasn't changed since Lenin's time is that the state is the instrument of class oppression.

I haven’t read Lenin before, this text opened my eyes to so many leftist concepts that I heard many times but never read first hand. For example, the concept of “withering away of the state” as well as other key Marxist elements that was developed by Marx but mostly by Engels. Like many other leftists, I feel like I read more Marx than Engels. It was refreshing to hear Lenin’s interpretation of Engels (as well as Marx). I also love the fact that it’s a small book and unlike academic jargon it cuts to the core rather than blah-blahism.

It’s also obvious that there are some the ANTI-academic/social-Democrat (leftist activist call them armchair revolutionary) position in this book (we shouldn’t forget it was published after the socialist revolution of 1917. Lenin is associating these social Democrats (Kautsky and the second international) to anarchistic position of abolishing the state overnight, which “can” apply to both bourgeois state as well as proletariat statehood. Lenin has a major problem with these folks and call them opportunists.

Like the previous comment, I have also noticed the Eurocentric (and specially Western Europe) perspective. The only time book leaves Europe, is when it goes to North America and mentions the settlers. Yet, I am not expecting Lenin to go anywhere else aside from Europe after all we are talking about 19th and early 20th century. The man led the second biggest (after China) socialist revolution in history.

hami, you're right about his perspective. Lenin first became a social democrat mainly because he thought that this Western European movement provided a way forward for revolutionaries in Russia. The strategy of party-led leadership - especially that like the German SPD - seemed to give him a way of realizing the potential of the Russian masses.

The Marx Memorial Library have a couple of relevant free presentations available in the "past events" section of their website. They're both from Jonathan White, a tutor at the Library and author of an excellent book on Historical Materialism. The links are -

https://www.marx-memorial-library.org...

https://www.marx-memorial-library.org...