*The Great U75 Politics Reading List Thread.

[Herbert Read]

1)Nestor Makhno-Anarchys Cossack availiable from AK Press

2)Ackelsburg-Free Women of Spain availiable from AK Press.


1)Swash buckling commie killing, no masters no gods and no commisars

2)Anarcho Femme orgainisation in spanish civil war good insightful read.

 

[darren redparty]

Having quickly skimmed through postings to date here are some from me;

CLR James The Black Jacobins, Fantastic, showed me what marxist writing SHOULD be like.

Maurice Brinton, for workers Power, showed me what I'd been doing wrong.

finally, for both political and pleasural reasons everything by Terry Pratchett,
Pratchett writes so wittily, so wisely and with such Humanity, that it seems that whenever we are discussing some political point or other we always seem to be able to draw a comparison with something in one of terry's books.
When political discussions often stray into arcane and exclusive language, to be able to say 'just like in INteresting Times' or whatever.

 

[Raisin D'etre]

Having quickly skimmed through postings to date here are some from me;

CLR James The Black Jacobins, Fantastic, showed me what marxist writing SHOULD be like.

Agreed.

 

[Sorry.]

Piven & Cloward, Poor People's Movements; How they succeed, why they fail. Abysmal title (sounds like a book about bowels...) but some insightful writing about the dynamics of protest, spontaneity, organisation, defiance and incorporation.

 

[Herbert Read]

Bash the Fash Anti Fascist recollections 1984-1993. K.Bullstreet.

Pamphelt availiable from antifa or Class War well worth a read

 

[catnip]

reading material

I also like 'The New Nuclear Danger' by Helen Caldicott.
All time favourite however, is 'The Poetical Works of Shelley', by, em, Shelley (Percy Byshe), but currently keen on A Tale of 2 Cities (Dickens).

 

[Ryazan]

Fuck off and watch Trisha then.

What? And have to put with watching the nobhead middle class students being "ironic" by sitting in the audience.

 

[cathal marcs]

E.L. Voynich - The gadfly a great novel

Robert Tressell - The ragged Trousered philanphropists. This booked shaed my olitical views when I first read it when I was 15.

V.I. Lenin - Imperialism The Highest Stage of Capitalism

K Marx - Capital Volume One. Marxs classic needs no explanation

Frantz Fanon - The Wretched of the Earth. A book I really found fascinating as is most of Fanons work im suprised no one else mentioned it to be honest.

J.P. Sartre - nausea also Colonialism/neo colonalism and The espectfull prostitute. Sartre is one of my heroes and like fanon suprised no oter sartre fans on the board

Plato - Republic

 

[Ryazan]

Wasn't Satre fond of Maoism for a bit?

 

[cathal marcs]

Wasn't Satre fond of Maoism for a bit?

He was during the late 60s and 70s and to so called Stalinism also although he was often denounced by the PCF for his existentialism. Although Sartre was often contradictory in his beliefs and there has ben so much historical revisionism from groups claiming Sartre to be their own.

 

[Ryazan]

The French communist party was staunchly Stalinist in the 50's.

 

[cathal marcs]

The French communist party was staunchly Stalinist in the 50's.

And that was when he was a member but again he was often at polemics as I say he was a rather contradictory/complex fella and had his own views rather than a dogmatic follower of other people.

Any other sartre admirers here? Or am I the only one?

 

[gilhyle]

Sartre remained close to the Maoists to the end - to the point that they provided the stewards for his funeral.

Even if half of Jung Chang & Jon Halliday's Mao; The Unknown Story is true, it is a portrait of the moral abyss for any Marxist. Not since reading the multi-volume Gulag Archipeligo ( for all its flaws), have I read more depressing stuff about the sad, tragic history of our socialism.

1937: Stalin's Year of Terror by Vadim Z. Rogovin is a great book on the nadir of the Russian Revolution. (meant to be part of a series but I don't know if the rest ever came out)

Socialism Pat and Future by Michael Harrington is an odly original book which tries to use the history of socialism to look into its future

 

[cathal marcs]

. Not since reading the multi-volume Gulag Archipeligo ( for all its flaws), have I read more depressing stuff about the sad, tragic history of our socialism.

The author was a fascist cunt FACT!

 

[gilhyle]

The author was a fascist cunt FACT!

True - or at least nearly true, he was (is?) actually an anti-semite, pro-tsarist, Russian Orthodox fundamentalist, last time I looked, who, unfortunately, still wrote great novels and also wrote the most detailed account of the Gulag (though no longer the most up-to-date or authoritative). It was full of distortions, that is also true (including misrepresenting and understating the extraordinary resistance of trotskyists in the camps), but is still a heart-rending testament about a key part of the story of how a revolution got destroyed.

Actually the full 4 volumes I read also becomes incredibly boring, kinda like de Sade's 120 Days of Sodom.

The three books I recommend are none of these things. Harrington is also some sort of left winger (I think a break-away from the Schachtmanites who broke away from the party which broke away from the American SWP in 1940, which of course broke away from the American CP. THe other authors, I don't know - but I doubt any of them are either fascists or even Russian Orthodox, if that helps. They are all just a good, challenging or disturbing read.

A book should make you think, not agree.

 

[cathal marcs]

True - or at least nearly true, .

he was. Have you read about his exploits on Spanish TV after Francos death?Makes the blood boil

 

[Fledgling]

I've just finished two books on the Spanish Civil War and recommend them as excellent introductions which are more than that.

1. The Spanish Labyrinth by Gerald Brenan:

A three part account of the history and political origins of the Spanish Civil War, written by an Englishman who lived in Spain. The first part has a good historical background to the situation, especially the dividing lines in Spain before the Second Repulbic. The second part looks at speicif ideologies,; thier history and some of their ideas and leaders. The third part examines the second Republic which fell with the Civil War. The best parts concern the anarchist chapters and the agricultural sections altohugh each chapter informs you and the narrative is well written.

2. The Spanish Cockpit by Franz Borkenau:

Slightly overlaps the above with some history but this can be skimmed if you've read Brenan. The book has 2 major sections on Anachrist Spain in 1936 and the author's second visit later in the conflict after the atmosphere changed somewhat. Excellent eyewitness stuff and a good examination of the political changes inside Republican territory.

I'm going to find more books on the conflict, these were excellent.

 

[Grego Morales]

Violent London by Clive Bloom.

Civil Disobedience is always portrayed as an aberation by conventional history. This book proves otherwise.

 

[Idris2002]

I'm reading that Violent London book at the moment. It's not the worst thing I've ever read, but it's all a bit shock/horror, and from a fairly small-c conservative perspective as well.

 

[Mallard]

I've just finished two books on the Spanish Civil War and recommend them as excellent introductions which are more than that.

1. The Spanish Labyrinth by Gerald Brenan:

Great recommendation. Seconded

 

[PatrickHarringt]

Who is John Galt?

Ayn Rand
Fiction: Atlas Shrugged
Non-fiction: The Virtue of Selfishness

Atlas Shrugged is a great read but it is flawed. Inherited wealth is never addressed by Rand (all the heroes are either self-made or work their way up from the bottom of their dad's companies!). The basic theme that Capitalists are the motive force of the economy because they are the creators ignores how every invention or innovation is built on a previous idea (a cultural legacy). People on the 'left' should read it to spot errors and clarify why they are against Capitalism!

 

[kropotkin]

And what should ex-leaders of the National Front read it for?

 

[greenman]

Just finished Green Left activist Derek Wall's 'Babylon and Beyond - The Economics of Anti-Capitalist, Anti-Globalist and Radical Green Movements' Pluto Press, 2005. Excellent stuff. Order it from your local library. Wall is very keen on defending and extending 'commons', of which he sees libraries as a partial current example.

 

[BettyButterfly]

George Galloway, I'm not the only one.

 

[northernhord]

The Banks - sinn feinn research groups
Malatestas Anarchism
Manufacturing consent - Noam Chomsy
A quest for bread - Kropotkin

 

[northernhord]

Capital - Karl Marx (in parts)

 

[Plato1983]

The Han Feizi by Han Feizi, a collection of 55 writings and articles by one of the principle founders of the school of thought known as Chinese Legalism.

The Republic by Plato, one of his works detailing how to attain a perfect state, free of the corruptions and general malaise of incompetence that we see in many of todays governments and states.

Leviathan by Thomas Hobbes, a classic defence of the state and of an oderly authority, detailing the horrors of a humanity without the state and of a higher order.

The selected writings of Giovanni Gentile, Italian philosopher and founder of 'Actual Idealism' along with his valuable contributions to the Fascist political and social experiment in Italy from 1922-1943.

A selection of his many writings are below:

Delle Commedie di Antonfranceso Grazzi, detto "Il Lasca" (1896)
Una critica del materialismo storico (1897)
Rosmini e Gioberti (1898)
La filosofia di Marx (1899)
Il concetto della storia (1899)
L'insegnamento della filosofia nei licei (1900)
Il concetto scientifico della pedagogia (1900)
Della vita e degli scritti di B. Spaventa (1900)
Polemica hegeliana (1902)
L'unita della scuola secondaria e la libertà degli studi (1902)
Filosofia ed empiricismo (1902)
La rinascità dell'idealismo (1903)
Dal Genovesi al Galluppi (1903)
Studi sullo Stoicismo romano del I sec. d. C. (1904)
Riforme liceali (1905)
Il figlio di G. B. Vico (1905)
La riforma della scuola media (1906)
Le varie redazioni del De sensu rerum di T. Campanella (1906)
Giordano Bruno nella storia della cultura (1907)
Il primo processo d'eresia di T. Campanella (1907)
Per la scuola primeria allo stato (1907)
Vincenzo Gioberti nel primo centenario dell sua nascità (1907)
Il concetto della storia della filosofia (1908)
Vincenzo Cuoco pedagoista (1908)
Scuola e filosofia (1908)
Ilmodernismo e i rapporti fra religione e filosofia (1909)
Un poeta del pensiero. Cultura (1911)
Bernardino Telesio (1911)
L'atto del pensare come atto puro (1912)
Il programma della Biblioteca Filosofica di Palermo (1912)
Intorno all'idealismo attuale: ricordi e confessioni (1913)
I problemi della scolastica e il pensiero italiano (1913)
La riforma della dialettica hegeliana (1913)
Sommario di pedagogia come scienza filosofica (1913)
Il torto e il diritto del positivismo (1914)
La filosofia della guerra (1914)
Pascuale Galluppi giacobino? (1914)
Documenti pisani della vita e delle idee di V. Gioberti (1915)
Donato Jaja (1915)
Biblografia delle lettere a stampa di V. Gioberti (1915)
Studi vichiani (1915)
L'esperienza pura e la realtà storica (1915)
Per la riforma deglie insegamenti filosofici (1916)
Il concetto dell'uomo nel rinascimento (1916)
I fondamenti della filosofia del diritto (1916)
Teoria generale dello spirito come atto puro (1916)
Le origini della filosofia contemporanea in Italia (1917)
Sistema di logica come teoria del conoscere (1917)
Il carattere storico della filosofia italiana (1918)
Esiste una scuola italiana? (1918)
Il Marxismo di Benedetto Croce (1918)
Il tramonto della cultura Siciliana (1919)
Mazzini (1919)
Il realismo politico di V. Gioberti (1919)
Guerra e fede (1919)
Dopo la vittoria (1920)
Il problema scolastico del dopoguerra (1920)
La riforma dell'educazione (1920)
Discorsi di religione (1920)
Giordano Bruno e il pensiero del rinascimento (1920)
Arte e religione (1920)
Bertrando Spaventa (1920)
Difesa della filosofia (1920)
Storia della cultura piedmontese della 2a meta del sec. XIX (1921)
Frammenti di estetica e letteratura (1921)
Albori della nuova Italia (1921)
Educazione e scuola laica (1921)
Saggi critici (1921)
La filosofia di Dante (1921)
Il concetto moderno della scienza e il problema universitario (1921)
G. Capponi e la cultura toscana nel secolo decimonono (1922)
Studi sul rinascimento (1923)
Dante e Manzoni, con un saggio su Arte e religione (1923)
I profeti del Risorgimento Italiano (1923)
Intorno alla logica del concreto (1924)
Preliminari allo studio del fanciullo (1924)
La riforma della scuola (1924)
Il fascismo e la Sicilia (1924)
Il fascismo al governo della scuola (1924)
Che cosa è fascismo (1925)
La nuova scuola media (1925)
Avvertimenti attualisti (1926)
Frammenti di storia della filosofia (1926)
Saggi critici (1926)
L'eredità di Vittorio Alfieri (1926)
Cultura fascista (1926)
Il problema religioso in Italia (1927)
Il pensiero italiano del secolo XIX (1928)
Fascismo e cultura (1928)
La filosofia del fascismo (1928)
La legge del Gran Consiglio (1928)
Manzoni e Leopardi (1929)
Origini e dottrina del fascismo (1929)
La filosofia dell'arte (1931)
La riforma della scuola in Italia (1932)
Introduzione alla filosofia (1933)
La donna e il fanciullo (1934)
Origini e dottrina del fascismo (1934)
Economia ed etica (1934)
Leonardo da Vinci (Gentile one of contributors, 1935)

 

[Azrael23]

Order Out of Chaos - Paul J Watson.

 

[Hawkeye Pearce]

The United States: A People's History - Howard Zinn

 

[esi]

So glad someone said "Brave New World"- personally I like Huxley's style of writing more than Orwells.
a good story can educate far more people about the political concepts of our society than some great tome that they'll never open!