Comrade:CriticalResist/sandbox

Stuff useful for library work

Some useful regex functions

You can use search and replace with regex in the visual editor, just tap Ctrl+f on your keyboard, then click on the icon representing (.*) — that's the regex (regular expression) function, which will interpret your search string as regex.

Unfortunately you can't use regex in the replace function but anyway, here are some cool regex functions you can use to help you on pages. Just copy the "regex code" row into the search bar (yes it looks like nothing, that's normal)

Regex code	What it does	Use for
\[(\d+)\]	Detects references like [12]	Transform plain text references into formatted MediaWiki references (ctrl+shift+k to add a reference). Will probably leave behind extra spaces so run the next function.
\s{2,}	Detect two spaces or more	Search for this code, add a space in the replace field, then press replace all and it will correct all possible extra spaces to just one.
\s(?=[.,;:!?)%])	Remove space before punctuation	Removes a space before punctuation, like . or ? or ; be careful before replacing all, you should look through instances one by one.
\s-{1,2}|\s\u2013	Detects a hyphen or two OR an en dash after a space	This can indicate incorrect use of an em dash — Will detect either - or --, which are sometimes incorrectly used. Replace all with em dash (with a space before but not after) Will also detect the en dash (–), which should also be replaced.
(?<!\s)\d+\s*[.\-\)]	Detects improperly formatted ordered lists (e.g. 1), 2), etc)	We should use mediawiki lists instead of plain text. This detects such a case. Use only to find it, then apply the list format manually.
(?<![.!?])\n	Detects superfluous line breaks	When importing from PDF, you will usually have extra line breaks that shouldn't be here. This code detects them (new lines preceded by period, exclamation mark or question mark). Replace with an empty space. Note: detecting line breaks doesn't work in MediaWiki. Import your text to say Google Docs, use their search function, then import result to ProleWiki. You still have to go through the text manually but it saves a lot of time and cramps.

Other online libraries from marxists.org

Marxists.org is ran by trots and they've been known to edit stuff to fit their bias -- notably in Mastering Bolshevism from Stalin, whole sections are missing and they give the work a completely different name.

As much as possible, we shouldn't use them. You simply cannot know if their edition of a book will be truthful or not. They also rely on old translations for many texts, while I've found that newer translations tend to flow better.

Here are libraries we can use other than marxists.org:

• http://www.marx2mao.com/
• https://libgen.is/ (if you already know what you're looking for)
• http://ciml.250x.com/archive/index.html never tested it, only has Marx, Engels, Lenin, Stalin, Hoxha (it's a hoxhaist website)
• https://redsails.org/categories/ our comrades at Red Sails also have a library (look under Authors); they also say where they source their works from.
• https://openlibrary.org they have books on everything and from everyone, including marxist authors. However they have to use a "borrowing" system by law, and you have to make an account. Maybe use them to find a book, then download it from libgen.
• https://www.redstarpublishers.org/#OML has PDFs, which are a pain to edit into ProleWiki. Marxists.org also has PDFs, which I doubt they edit to the sheer work, but maybe they still do.
• https://www.bannedthought.net has mostly the fundamentals, but I was able to find Juche idea: answers to hundred questions using a search engine (no idea how you'd find it on the normal site)
• Marx&Engels, Lenin, Stalin and Mao's works are available in their respective Collected Works, which can easily be downloaded from marx2mao for example as PDFs.

Make sure that the work you want to copy from these doesn't come from the MIA though, obviously.

Other sandbox stuff for my own use

Crit's absolute beginner reading list

Once you start on your theoretical journey and become a student of marxism, you will realistically always remain one; your learning never stops.

Yet, in my opinion, most lists include too many books and act more like repositories than actual reading lists or syllabus. Realistically, a marxist-leninist reading list will contain every single book ever written that comes remotely close to marxism-leninism.

In this list, I purposely chose to limit myself to 6 books. This is a list for absolute beginners, the absolute bare minimum reading that should be done (and in this order) as sort of a crash course to get you started. Your situation is this: you like communism, you want to learn more, but you don't know where to start. Well, this is your list.

The books I chose (and please read them in this order) are:

Book	Why it was picked
How marxism works Chris Harman	Harman was in a Trotskyist party, but his short pamphlet (44 pages) remains one of the best introductions to marxism. You could give this to an absolute beginner who's never even heard of the word philosophy before and they'd come out with working knowledge of marxism. It's wrong in a couple places if I remember correctly, but it's nothing you won't fix with further reading.
Principles of communism Engels	Engels wrote this pamphlet in an FAQ format, which explains in very simple terms what communism is, where it's coming from, etc. Very short read and absolutely vital to understand not only (marxist) communism but also the class struggle and the history of how we got where we are now (capitalism).
Elementary principles of philosophy Georges Politzer	Philosophy is not difficult or only for academics when Politzer teaches it. Under this seemingly innocent title lies a complete course on dialectical materialism, one of the fundamental parts of marxism.
Value, price and profit Marx	Marxism is also about the economic theory and Value, price and profit provides the basis of that field in a smaller and easier package than Capital.
The three sources and three component parts of Marxism Lenin	To tie it all together, I added this short essay by Lenin which explains the three components of marxism: the philosophy of dialectical materialism, the labour theory of value on the economic side, and the class struggle as the third component. In my opinion this pamphlet is too difficult for a first-time reader despite its shortness, it works best as a reminder of what marxism actually is. Never forget these components and you will never stray wrong.
Imperialism, the highest stage of capitalism Lenin	Finally, to breach into the 21st century (despite being written a century earlier!), you must understand imperialism. We live in the age of imperialism still, as it is after all the highest stage of capitalism. NATO, the IMF, the World Bank, all these modern-day projects are purveyors of imperialism in the world.

As I said, this list is not exhaustive at all. It is the bare minimum to get you started in marxism, and it's not even really going into marxism-leninism specifically (except for Imperialism).