For me, a few come to mind:
- “You’re imagining everybody in this story way more attractive than they actually were.”
It was posted somewhere on one of those spicy subreddits under some affair threesome story. And it sort if clicked with me. Like look around, normal people on the street don’t all look like supermodels. And supermodels don’t lurk around in reddit comment sections. It really put things into perspective for me.
- “Life isn’t short, it’s the longest thing you’ll ever do.”
It is a bit uplifting to realize that no matter if you have bad or good period in your life, it is only a short chapter contained in the longest time period possible for you to experience.
There were a few others that I probably can’t remember of the top of my head right now.
Thank you. Been thinking about finding good leftist quotes to as my phone wallpaper. Are there more, shorter quotes?
I’m curious about the intro reading list. I’ve tried the manifesto and listened to some audiobooks by Dessalines. Are there newer articles that are recommended, that summarise/improve the pre-existing content? Especially ones that talk about how the things were/are to be applied.
Lenin is a huge yapper, he has tons of fantastic quotes. Another good one is “There are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen.”
Here’s a little “intro to Marxism-Leninism” list I threw together, modified a bit. It’s critically missing Queer Theory, Feminist Theory, and National Liberation theory, so any additions on that matter would be excellent. I am working through intersectional theory right now, which is why it is missing from this present list, the goal is to be as straight to the point as possible.
A good intro for someone with no familiarity is Engels’ Principles of Communism and if you are anti-AES but willing to read I recommend Parenti’s Blackshirts and Reds.
From there, it becomes more important to understand that Marxism-Leninism is broken into 3 major components:
Dialectical and Historical Materialism
Critique of Capitalism along the lines of Marx’s Law of Value
Advocacy for Revolutionary Socialism
And as such, I recommend, in order:
By far my favorite primer on Dialectical and Historical Materialism. By understanding DiaMat first, you make it easier to understand the rest of Marxism.
Further reading on DiaMat, but crucially introduces the why of Scientific Socialism, essentially explaining how Capitalism itself preps the conditions for public ownership and planning by centralizing itself into monopolist syndicates.
Best taken as a pair, these essays simplify the most important parts of the Law of Value.
Absolutely crucial and the most important work for understanding the modern era and its primary contradictions.
Excellent refutation of revisionists and Social Democrats who think the State can be reformed, and not replaced. Also a good call to action to cap off the intro.
After reading all of this, whoever has completed these works should have a good grasp of the basics of Marxism-Leninism and be equipped to do their own Marxist-Leninist analysis, though tons of excellent and fairly critical works were dropped for the sake of limiting the scope to an intro reading list.
For your specific question regarding modern, easier to get into theory, I really love this person’s essays on Marxism. They are more advanced, but focus on modern Marxist analysis. I think Why Do Marxists Fail to Bring the “Worker’s Paradise?”, Socialism Developed China, Not Capitalism, and Why Public Property? are 3 of the best modern essays and primers on Socialism. The first goes over the Materialist theory of Democratic Structures and how they can be built while critically analyzing AES through an AES-positive viewpoint, the second goes over misconceptions about the PRC, and the last helps explain why Marxists advocate for public ownership and central planning, and why Capitalism makes way for this through decentralized markets coalescing into monopolist syndicates.
Let me know if you have any questions!