Scan barcode
acaskoftroutwine's review
challenging
informative
slow-paced
3.5
A pretty good introduction into Leftist theory. Even with concessions given for the specific political or historical references that may not be wholly relevant anymore, the first three of these lay out a pretty decent look at Marxist thought, and I'll get to the Transitional Program in a second.
The Communist Manifesto is still remarkably relevant. Even though the work was written to lay out the ideas and political positions of the incredibly short lived Communist League, the greater points that it makes are still relevant, and read as if they're describing aspects of modern society (which, you know, they are). In it's short page count the Manifesto serves as righteous indictment of capitalism and a polemic laying out the arguments and reasoning of Communist thought in a straightforward and easy to follow way.
However, I don't know what it is but while The Communist Manifesto is a relatively easy read, Engels's Socialism: Utopian and Scientific kept losing me. Somehow Engels can start an argument in a clear fashion, going over the positions of scientific socialism and dialectical materialism, and somehow in the middle of the paragraph I completely lose the thread. Like I'll understand the point he's making but the argument he uses to make it will be overly obtuse.
Lenin's The State and Revolution though, is probably one of the best written parts of this collection. Lenin is able to lay out his positions in an engaging and entertaining way, throwing in historical details, discussions of theory, political arguments, etc. while never really boring the reader. Lenin's writing comes across as conversational, full of joking asides and sarcastic jabs, while remaining informative.
Lastly in this collection there's Trotsky's Transitional Program, which I think is the most oddly placed work in the collection. I don't necessarily have anything against Trotskyists or Trotsky, but while the first three works in this collection are more about describing why and how the systems around us work the way they do, the Transitional Program is a political platform describing the position of Trotsky and the Fourth International. While there are a few parts explaining Trotsky's ideas on Marxism and how progressivism has achieved everything it can, most of the work is just policy proposals. On top of that, Trotsky's writing is somehow even drier than Engels, and I kept checking out of the work. It feels odd to have this as the final work in the collection because it's purpose is so different, and I don't think having it here helps it at all.
(Obviously the answer to a lot of that last section is that Wellred books is run by International Marxist Tendency, a Trotskyist political org, but I feel that there must be some other work by Trotsky that fills the position of explaining or expanding on Marxist theory better).
As well as my issues with the choice of Transitional Program, there was also a formatting choice that I quibble with. The collection includes footnotes helpfully explaining details of the work, however there is no formatting differences between footnotes included by the original authors and the editors of this collection. So next to footnotes by the original authors reflecting on events that transpired between editions of their work, or explaining their thoughts in more detail, the editors will have footnotes explaining historical details and references. It's a minor point but it rankled me.
All in all a decent collection of beginner Marxist theory, my only real issues being mentioned above. I'd probably rate it a bit higher if it was just the first three parts, or included a better fourth part.
7 out of 10.
The Communist Manifesto is still remarkably relevant. Even though the work was written to lay out the ideas and political positions of the incredibly short lived Communist League, the greater points that it makes are still relevant, and read as if they're describing aspects of modern society (which, you know, they are). In it's short page count the Manifesto serves as righteous indictment of capitalism and a polemic laying out the arguments and reasoning of Communist thought in a straightforward and easy to follow way.
However, I don't know what it is but while The Communist Manifesto is a relatively easy read, Engels's Socialism: Utopian and Scientific kept losing me. Somehow Engels can start an argument in a clear fashion, going over the positions of scientific socialism and dialectical materialism, and somehow in the middle of the paragraph I completely lose the thread. Like I'll understand the point he's making but the argument he uses to make it will be overly obtuse.
Lenin's The State and Revolution though, is probably one of the best written parts of this collection. Lenin is able to lay out his positions in an engaging and entertaining way, throwing in historical details, discussions of theory, political arguments, etc. while never really boring the reader. Lenin's writing comes across as conversational, full of joking asides and sarcastic jabs, while remaining informative.
Lastly in this collection there's Trotsky's Transitional Program, which I think is the most oddly placed work in the collection. I don't necessarily have anything against Trotskyists or Trotsky, but while the first three works in this collection are more about describing why and how the systems around us work the way they do, the Transitional Program is a political platform describing the position of Trotsky and the Fourth International. While there are a few parts explaining Trotsky's ideas on Marxism and how progressivism has achieved everything it can, most of the work is just policy proposals. On top of that, Trotsky's writing is somehow even drier than Engels, and I kept checking out of the work. It feels odd to have this as the final work in the collection because it's purpose is so different, and I don't think having it here helps it at all.
(Obviously the answer to a lot of that last section is that Wellred books is run by International Marxist Tendency, a Trotskyist political org, but I feel that there must be some other work by Trotsky that fills the position of explaining or expanding on Marxist theory better).
As well as my issues with the choice of Transitional Program, there was also a formatting choice that I quibble with. The collection includes footnotes helpfully explaining details of the work, however there is no formatting differences between footnotes included by the original authors and the editors of this collection. So next to footnotes by the original authors reflecting on events that transpired between editions of their work, or explaining their thoughts in more detail, the editors will have footnotes explaining historical details and references. It's a minor point but it rankled me.
All in all a decent collection of beginner Marxist theory, my only real issues being mentioned above. I'd probably rate it a bit higher if it was just the first three parts, or included a better fourth part.
7 out of 10.
grubnubble's review
4.0
These are great introductions but require a group for discussion (or a lot of googling) to get the most out of them.
More...