this post was submitted on 09 Sep 2024
949 points (98.5% liked)
Political Memes
5483 readers
3635 users here now
Welcome to politcal memes!
These are our rules:
Be civil
Jokes are okay, but don’t intentionally harass or disturb any member of our community. Sexism, racism and bigotry are not allowed. Good faith argumentation only. No posts discouraging people to vote or shaming people for voting.
No misinformation
Don’t post any intentional misinformation. When asked by mods, provide sources for any claims you make.
Posts should be memes
Random pictures do not qualify as memes. Relevance to politics is required.
No bots, spam or self-promotion
Follow instance rules, ask for your bot to be allowed on this community.
founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
view the rest of the comments
I think this just generally highlights the importance of opening a book and reading. There have been centuries of Leftist thought, questions have been raised and they have been answered. Many considering themselves "left" can sympathize with Leftist goals, or even jab at the sources of modern struggles structurally, but lack the organizational and practical knowledge obtained from Theory and applying theory to practice.
The more you read, the more you realize how little you actually know.
What books specifically would you recommend?
To me, the most influential contribution in the last few decades would be "Capitalist realism: is there any alternative?"
Its very heavily influenced by Marx but it's more like a philosophical intervention where I would see das kapital as more of a historical intervention. As in "erm no, this is the story of how we got here" (das kapital). Although, there's plenty of philosophy of course. Its only about 5 pages long and there's free readings of it on YouTube.
Although, imo, the real origin story of capitalism covered in das kapital, on a national scale, is something everyone should be much more aware of.
What are you familiar with, what do you feel weak in? I'm a Marxist, so I can recommend some generally good introductory works, but if you have specific interests or pre-existing knowledge I can make specific recommendations.
Otherwise, I will always recommend the famous Yellow Parenti Speech.