How to Be a Communist
Communism, in its simplest form, is a theory advocating the elimination of private property. Some of the most famous communists include Karl Marx, Friedrich Engels, Mikhail Bakunin, and Kropotkin.
[edit] Steps
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Read Marx. Read and analyze the writings of Marx and Engels' Das Kapital for a good instruction on the capitalist economy. You may read some of Marx's shorter economic works if you do not feel like reading through Capital, which comprises around 3,000 pages in all. Consider the concept of "common ownership of the means of production" or "workers control of the means of production".
- Read interpretations of Marx. For basic introductory books about Marx consider Introducing Marx by Rius (the best), Marx: A Beginner's Guide by Gill Hands, Rebel's Guide To Marx by Mike Gonzalez and Marx: A Very Short Introduction by Peter Singer.
- Read Lenin. Read the writings of Vladimir Lenin whose ideas included Bolshevism, proletariat dictatorship, vanguard party and democratic centralism, and who belonged the the tradition of Blanquism that caused Marx and Engels to use the term 'dictatorship of the proletariat' to differentiate themselves from the Blanquists. 'State and Revolution' is a good book to start, though his arguments against anarchism are largely strawmen arguments. Also read about the history of the Russian Revolution.
- Answer the Russian question and why the USSR collapsed. Stalin wasn't a theorist and described himself as Marxist-Leninist so Stalinism contributed little ideology except socialism in one country. Marxists have variously described the USSR as state capitalist[1], degenerated worker's state, deformed worker's state and bureaucratic collectivist.
- Read Leon Trotsky on international socialism; In Defence of Marxism, The History of the Russian Revolution and The Revolution Betrayed. Keep in mind that he was also a fairly ruthless dictator when he had the opportunity, however.
- Read less known writers such as Antonio Gramsci, Daniel De Leon, Rosa Luxemburg, Peter Kropotkin and Errico Malatesta.
- Read communist journals such as People's Weekly World[2], The Morning Star[3], Weekly Worker[4] and Libcom[5].
- Join a union.
- Attend the World Social Forum[6].
- Join a Communist party such as the Socialist Labor Party[7], the Communist Party USA[8] or US Marxist Leninist Organization[9] and campaign for communism.
[edit] Warnings
- The Red Scare is a term used to describe anti-communist periods in the USA. Suspected communists were persecuted during McCarthyism.
- The security services in the USA are still interested in communist organizations.
- Some 'communist' groups don't really want workers in control of the means of production at all.
[edit] Sources and Citations
- ↑ http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1955/statecap/index.htm
- ↑ http://www.pww.org/
- ↑ http://www.morningstaronline.co.uk/
- ↑ http://www.cpgb.org.uk/worker
- ↑ http://www.libcom.org
- ↑ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Social_Forum
- ↑ http://slp.org/
- ↑ http://cpusa.org/
- ↑ http://www.usmlo.org/
- ↑ http://www.marxists.org/subject/students
