On Marx

Karl Marx

Marx is one of the two co-founders of Marxism (along with Friedrich Engels - timeline here).

Why does that matter? Why should I care? Well, what he's getting at is how history shapes our shared material nature. He does a good job analyzing society and the driving forces behind societal change. His analyses lead him to very interesting hypotheses about the future, who others have tried to test and realize; many people continue to work towards Marxian ends based on his worldview.

He's the start of much of this history, and he's worth reading. If his stuff is too intimidating or verbose for you yet, Engels or Lenin are worth checking out first. Stalin and Mao are also worth checking out if you're willing to check out the full ML-MZT spectrum of work. I'm trying to compile easy starting points for all each of these authors.

For now, I'll link some works (in a logical order) and post some of my own notes for quick takeaways:

• Wage-Labour and Capital (1847) is a great starter read for Marx
• Value, Price and Profit
• Capital (1867) - but don't start here, come back later probably. It's a difficult work, imo.
• Manifesto of the Communist Party (1848) - This one's overrated. You really don't need to read it. Come back after Capital, it'll be crystal clear what he's getting at.

For physical copies, check out RedPrintsPublishing

index tags: Philosophy, Communists, Reading List, Marxism, Dialectics, Karl Marx, Marx, Friedrich Engels, Joseph Stalin, Mao Zedong, Wage-Labour and Capital, Value Price and Profit, Capital, RedPrintsPublishing

category tags: Famous Communists