Tag Archives: Towards A History Of Socialism

Here is a list of books by Marxists that have stood the test of time. I am being impressionistic and probably idiosyncratic. I am more interested in analysis of what is than political organizing. What should be added? Removed? Frederick Engels, Anti-Dühring, 1877. I think German comrades learned Marxism during the second international more from this thick tome. I recommend other works for introductions these days. Vladimir Lenin, What is to be Done?, 1902. Lenin lays out a strategy and...

Michael Harrington was a great socialist in the United States. This is not to say that he did not make some political missteps, at least at Port Huron. Isserman's biography seems to have Michael making political missteps throughout the 1950s and 1960s. His son Alexander had exposure to some hard-to-understand ideas before he got to college: My older son, Alexander, began to read Dostoevsky on his own when he was about fifteen and once told a college professor who was explaining Hegel's...

A Beach On The East End Of Oneida Lake The Iroquois are an example of primitive communism. This post includes lots of anachronisms, and I use current place names. I had never heard of the Haudenosaunee before, which apparently is the preferred term. I find I do not know much about my neighbors, the Oneidas. The Oneidas were one of the five nations in the Iroquois confederacy. I am confused whether primitive capitalism is tied exclusively to hunter-gatherer societies, without a surplus...

Pablo Picasso's Guernica This post has long quotations, as is typical of a commonplace book. Where did socialism work? In Barcelona, Spain, and, more generally Aragon and Catalonia, from August 1936 to April 1937. This was the anarchist version, and was resisted by all governments, including the Soviet Union. The right staged their coup against the Republic in July 1936. Orwell went to Spain in December, and he wanted to kill fascists. He describes it as almost happenstance that he...

Many to the left of liberals, that is, socialists, communists, and anarchists of various stripes, were opposed to the Soviet Union since its founding. Another example is Bertrand Russell. This is from the preface to his The Practice and Theory of Bolshevism, first printed in November 1920: "The Russian Revolution is one of the great heroic events of the world's history. It is natural to compare it to the French Revolution, but it is in fact something of even more importance. It does more...

What to make of the Soviet Union? Apparently, the description of it as state capitalism goes back to Lenin. Djilas description of it as such is central to his best-known book: "Abstract logic would iпdicate tћat tће Communist reyolution, when it achieves, under different conditions and Ьу state compulsioп, the same things achieved Ьу industrial revolutions and capitalism in the West, is nothing but а form of state-capitalist revolution. The relationships which are created Ьу its victory...

Socialist and coomunist parties have formed various internationals over the course of centuries. I consider a declaration of the Socialist International, adopted at its First Congress held in Frankfort-on-Main on 30 June-3 July 1951 an authoritative statement of "The Aims and Tasks of Democratic Socialism". This declaration was re-affirmed in 1962. The declaration starts as follows: 1. From the nineteenth century onwards, capitalism has developed immense productive forces. It has done so...

We live, dead to the land beneath us, Ten steps away no one hears our speeches. But where there’s so much as half a conversation The Kremlin's mountaineer will get his mention. His fingers are fat as grubs, And the words, final as lead weights, fall from his mouth. His cockroache whiskers leer And his boot tops gleam. Around him a rabble of ring-necked leaders - Fawning half men for him to play with. They whinny, purr or whine. As he prates and points a finger. One by one...

I have been (re?-)transcribing various letters in which various points of Marxism are elaborated. This post is an index of what I have so far. I do not know that I will go on much. Marx to Engels, 2 August 1862, sets out the transformation problem and Marx's solution. Marx to Engels, 18 June 1867, on the order of presentation in Capital. Marx to Engels, 24 August 1867, on the two best points in volume 1 of Capital. Marx to Engels, 8 January 1868, on three original points in volume 1...

Selected Biographies AuthorYearTitleGustav Gross1885Karl Marx: Eine StudieWilliam Liebknecht1896Karl Marx, Biographical MemoirsPaul Lafargue1905My Recollections of Karl MarxVarious1908Karl Marx: In memoriamJonathan Spargo1910Karl Marx: his life and workClara Zetkin1913Karl Marx und Sein LebenswerkFranz Mehring1918Karl Marx: The story of his lifeOtto Ruhle1926Karl Marx: Leben und WerkDavid Riazanov1927Karl Marx and Frederick Engels: an introduction to their lives and worksInstitute of...