Navigating Historical Context for Marx Anonymous 14-01-22 12:55:23 No. 9411
I feel like one of the biggest obstacles to understanding Marx's most crucial works is that he writes for an audience that he assumes already knows a ton of context, which makes sense considering his own context as a journalist for revolutionary workers on the streets themselves. It still makes those writings confusing to anyone that isn't an academic that has the privilege of having absorbed context. So, what are some good history books that can fill in that gap?
Some specific topics:
—English political economy from Adam Smith to the repeal of the Corn Laws
—Early communist party (Cabet, Blanqui, League of the Just, Communist Correspondence Committee, etc.)
—1848 Revolutions and aftermath
—Napoleon III's coup
—Paris Commune
—First International activities and drama
—General 19th century European history
I found this on the Paris Commune a while ago, pretty decent:
https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/mitchell-abidor-voices-of-the-paris-commune Anonymous 19-01-22 18:10:56 No. 9450
>>9449 also, this thread was prompted in the first place by me being a bit confused by the primary texts themselves
also, stalin LMAO
Anonymous 22-01-22 18:08:02 No. 9474
>>9469 like implied, i'd already have read the civil war in france since that's marx's main work on the commune. i'm talking about a more general history
the IWA did have some members on the committees but it was by and large controlled by petty bourgeois socialists unfortunately. big cause of their downfall
Anonymous 01-02-22 17:01:54 No. 9614
A version of Capital with explaining notes at the margins (like with Moby Dick) would be much better than the countless dubious guides to Capital.
>>9599 >Every Marxist/Communist should study Frédéric Bastiat closely. He was one of the foremost intellectuals of the bourgeois democrats "the most superficial and therefore the most adequate representative of the apologetic of vulgar economy" t. Marx
Anonymous 04-02-22 19:00:18 No. 9643
>>9614 How would adding notes to the side of the page suddenly make them more trustworthy than any other book? It would probably just create controversy as to the "right" interpretations, at least separate guides give you the notion that there are different readings of Marx.
>>9603 >>9613 >>9640 It's on marxists.org:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/photo/marx/pages/83km1.htm I've never seen this pic anywhere else (no books or biographies that I've read) and MIA doesn't list a source or provide any more info on it either, so it is a bit strange to me. That said, despite the man's dark complexion, some of his features, mainly the brow/forehead, do in fact resemble Marx, so I wouldn't disconsider it.
Anonymous 24-02-22 04:54:41 No. 9891
>>9888 trips confirm
unironically, a lot of self-described "marxists" would be lowkey disturbed by this fact, like that marx flag anon
Anonymous 28-08-23 03:38:17 No. 20390
>>9444 2 years too late but what do you mean by "common reading guide"? If you mean an order of reading, the Marx/Engels reader is already that. Using this
https://thecharnelhouse.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/Marx-Engels-Reader.pdf as a reference, there also seem to be some annotations giving context.
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