this post was submitted on 12 Aug 2023
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The Communist Manifesto? Is that a video game?

Leon Trotsky? What's his Twitter handle?

Antonio Gramsci? Did he invent Instagram?

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[–] [email protected] 23 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (6 children)

The average non-marxist has probably only read Marx and Engels' introductory works and maybe a little bit of Lenin.

e: I know there's nothing that really indicates this but I was joking

[–] [email protected] 39 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (2 children)

The average non-Marxist has heard of the Communist Manifesto and thinks that is the extent of the philosophical canon. The average Liberal has not even read any Liberal philosophy, like Locke, Montesquieu, Rousseau, Paine, etc.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 1 year ago (1 children)

The average non-marxist doesn't know that "Capital" and "The Communist Manifesto" are different things, much less that the latter is a pamphlet and not a book.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 1 year ago (3 children)

100%

I remember reading the communist manifesto in university twice because I was sure I must have missed something. (This was extra curricular, I was in engineering) Like it was fine, but it didn't really live up to my expectations of reframing history by analyzing it through the lens of class.

I only recently figured out that it wasn't Capital. (It was before I read your post but probably within the last year, so ~15 years from when I read the manifesto).

I haven't gotten around to reading Capital, would it work as an audio book?

[–] [email protected] 11 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

I haven't gotten around to reading Capital, would it work as an audio book?

Here you go:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUW6cjZgi7Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4Cpj_wXF88

I would also recommend David Harvey's supplemental explanations of Capital, he is very down to earth:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5vu4MpYgUo&list=PLWvnUfModHP9Ci8M1g39l4AZgK6YLCXd0

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Reminds me, I've been thinking about pivoting to audiobooks since I do delivery driving for a living. Wouldn't be able to focus totally on the material, but possibly more worthwhile as learning material than podcasts.

I want to say Capital was serialized in magazines in France for similar reasons?

[–] [email protected] 5 points 1 year ago

Capital is pretty difficult, though if you're enthusiastic than go for it. I just thought I should include what I said to the OOP:

Personally, I think the best introductory work for someone who doesn't have the patience for The Principles of Communism (and I don't have that patience myself) is Engels' Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, here as text and here as an excellent audiobook.

It's personally my favorite audiobook (not that I listen to a ton), but that's because I think the reader's dry tone is charming and works well with the type of humor Engels occasionally employs.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I've been working my way through using this reading by Professor David Harvey. In the beginning he mentions that he taught the work for a couple decades, and for a first go round with the work I really appreciate having someone experienced to hold my hand through it, lol.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n5vu4MpYgUo&t=3331s

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

They are way more likely to have read Voltaire or even Montaigne than they are Montesquieu unless he substantially overlaps with their field of study, at least to the best of my memory. Swift is another.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I thought it was a great joke.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 1 year ago

thank you, that's kind of you to say

[–] [email protected] 17 points 1 year ago (1 children)
[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago (1 children)

i can't find it now but yeah :p

[–] [email protected] 29 points 1 year ago
[–] [email protected] 14 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In what country? In the USA, a lot of people don't read books unless it's required for school or work. If they do read for pleasure, it's often young adult, bs 'self help' (ie Rich Dad, Poor Dad), or shallow non fiction that reinforces what they already believe.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 1 year ago

i was doin a dumb joke sorry

[–] [email protected] 4 points 1 year ago

Yeah, I would say that the biggest exposure kids have to reading anything related to politics here is Animal Farm for school, and that's not even that common. The average person here does not read dense poli-phil tomes even if they do read at all.