A social democrat friend who knows basically nothing about socialism and was a berniecrat is looking for book recommendations, what is a good book to recommend to him?
I sort of dived in the deep end when I first started (perhaps unproductively ) and I they’re the type of person who would probably benefit a lot from nice prose and nothing SUPER heavy, but I also know a lot of intro books are full of BS that needs to be deprogrammed later(especially stuff that includes left-anticommunism) so I’m being cautious.
What would you recommend?
Blackshirts And Reds by Parenti is a good one.
chapter 3 has a fair chunk of anti-communism in it, and while the book is a really good polemic I feel like it isn’t a really good FAQ for new socialists
I havent read the whole book in a little bit, but im looking at chapter 3 and it’s mostly a critique of American “leftists” and them being anti-communist especially when it came to the USSR or Cuba. Chapter 4 talks about some inefficiencies in the USSR but it’s far from bashing it. I only skimmed the chapters just now though, so i could have missed something.
Yeah isn’t chapter 3 largely the Left anti-communism: The Unkindest Cut chapter?
it is.
operating off of memory so I had to skim, here was the first major thing I found
from chapter 3, page 45-46
Those of us who refuse to join the the Soviet Bashing were branded by left-anticommunists as “Soviet Apologists” and “Stalinists,” even if we disliked Stalin and his autocratic system of rule and believed there were things seriously wrong with existing Soviet society
even if we disliked Stalin and his autocratic system of rule and believed there were things seriously wrong with existing Soviet society
Smh Parenti was a lib
Against Empire is another good one, succinctly goes over how and why America has fucked over any socialist/communist country.
This is the book that radicalized me
Reform or Revolution by Rosa Luxemburg shot down a lot of stuff I believed that I thought was pretty radical.
I have quite a few!
You should start with Dreams from My Father. It’s a bit older, but it’s a classic. From there, you go directly to The Audacity of Hope (ooh that title!). And the trio is completed by the latest of this author, published quite recently in fact, A Promised Land.
But, we are feminists. It’s not enough to just read men. We also need to read women! In fact, forget the men. Forget the books I recommended above. I have another trilogy, a BETTER trilogy! Hard Choices, My Own Words and Becoming.
I miss them
Legendary bit account. Lives on in poster Valhalla.
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
war and peace
Whatever you pick start with history instead of political theory. Gotta lay those foundations. First step in finding out where you are is finding out how you got there. Besides the natural radicalization that can result it can also inoculate them against the prevailing liberal narratives. Once you see the current of class struggle that runs through history it’s hard to go back. No other narratives feel complete enough to compete.
State and rev.
Alice Isn’t Dead? Half kidding.
Alright, well if he is a Berniecrat then maybe:
- Anything by David Graeber (Debt: the first 5000 years and Bullshit Jobs are great)
- People’s History of the United States if he’s looking for a big one
- This changes everything by Naomi Klein
- Chapo guide to revolution (a joke entry, but still good for something more lighthearted)
If there is one video I would recommend, it would be this one: Here’s second thought’s social democracy video
I found a YouTube link in your comment. Here are links to the same video on alternative frontends that protect your privacy:
