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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; it is that deep and that wide.
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 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 but we've added ProleWiki footnotes to correct the record. |
| 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 and going through its respective contradiction, metaphysics and idealism. An absolute must read to understand the philosophical part of Marxism. |
| Wage labour and capital Marx | Marxism is also about the economic theory and Wage labour and capital provides the basis of that field in a smaller and easier package than Capital. Wage labour and capital was compiled from three lectures Marx gave in his lifetime; as simple as you can get. If you want to follow up on that, read Value, price and profit right after, but it's optional. |
| 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. This book gives you the basics to understand the primary contradiction that exists today. |
Estimated reading time for this list can be around a month (30 days) if you read a chapter every day, say before going to bed.
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). Honorable mentions that follow-up would be the Manifesto and State and revolution.
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