You may like this Marxist-Leninist intro list I made. Rather than just recommending a bunch of good works, it's formatted to build up on itself over time, so you are more prepared for the later works by reading the earlier ones. Might fix your momentum obstacle!
this post was submitted on 15 Jun 2025
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Politzer's Elementary Principles of Philosophy is the first ever book on philosophy I tried to read as a child: I found it in my parent's bookcase and I was curious to know what philosophy was about. Even though I gave up very quickly, the first distinction it makes between materialist and idealist philosophy had left quite an impression on me. Seeing the title brought back some memories 
Ah, what I would give to have an old, physical copy! Used copies are prohibitively expensive these days. I love the book, it's really such a great intro and really gets you excited about philosophy.
I bought a new print from the Foreign Languages Press, it took a while to get here but it was cheap and nicely made and when it comes to out of print theory thats all I can ask for.
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I'm not sure if you'd consider it theory, but The Principles of Communism is a great document to send to someone who knows nothing about communism: https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1847/11/prin-com.htm
im a little surprised in the beginning of that document by the words "in all civilized countries of the world"... yeesh
Yea, it’s not great. I believe he had in mind a certain objective measure of societal development, in terms of the advancement of the productive forces. An aroma of racial science persists; but I don’t think he was exactly saying that certain peoples are biologically under-evolved.
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My ADHD ass made it through Parenti's Blackshirts and Reds, and I re-read Steinbeck's Grapes of Wrath 20 years after high school and had it finally click, so there's that
If there was a ratio of how dense and vitally important the information is, and how short and easy it is to read, pretty much anything Stalin wrote.
Foundations of Marxism Leninism, Dialectical and Historical Materialism, Marxism and the National Question, all good examples.
Complex ideas laid bare in simple terms, I read Critique of the Goetha Programme by Marx first then State and Revolution by Lenin and then Foundations of Marxism-Leninism and it was helpful like honing a blade.
But I think it would have been easier going backwards.
It's 2025 the trans woman with a unicorn profile picture is telling you to read Stalin.
Damn right, the immortal science
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Combat Liberalism is so short and impactful I think it's a must read. It will take you 5 minutes
Today I learned I am a liberal
Combat Liberalism fits in a Reddit comment. Use that as you will.
honestly this one is for people who already are bought into socialism tbh, not great for beginners or liberals. It makes a lot of assumptions and has axioms that would seem like a leap for a liberal who doesn't already subscribe to our tenets
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The Wretched of the Earth by Frantz Fanon is one i found quite easy to read.
wait am i just stupid
No. It wasn't horribly difficult, but I found it slow and required a lot of reflection.
I dunno, i barely graduated high school, dropped out of college, and work as a tradesman. Maybe I found it easy just because it made a million different thoughts and contradictions in my head click, and i just tore through it. Time for a reread, i guess.
It's very emotionally charged, especially if you're at the intersection of different oppressions.
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Why Socialism? The author? Albert Einstein.
But really, it actually is good and easily approachable. Liberals can read it and understand it without having to agonize over its meaning ir challenges.
It's good, don't get me wrong, but it's effectively the definition of the concept of socialist memes being long winded
Lenin's State and Revolution was surprisingly accessible. The Conquest of Bread is another good one that's very easy and you can really appreciate Kropotkin's passion for wanting to free his fellow man. Anything Parenti is a smooth read, imo; Blackshirts and Reds, Inventing Reality being tops.
Blackshirts and Reds, on Comlib. State and Revolution on Prolewiki, and The Conquest of Bread on Standard Ebooks (couldn't find it on the Anarchists library in the few seconds I used to search so went for Standard Ebooks, lol).
Oh, and I don't know if I'd count Jakarta Method as Theory, but it's an important read and accessibly written.
Came in here to say that blackshirts and reds was an incredible read
Oh look practically 
for me so I can go start my 10th epub (I just started the 9th)
I'm just gonna give myself the award in preparation 
Nah, this one: 
I mean the communist manifesto was pretty easy to understand tbh. State and Revolution wasn't so bad either
I don't know if there are annotated versions of state and revolution, because I remember it referencing what would be common knowledge/current events in early 20th century Russia, but that it wouldn't be so easy to get now
Harry Potter by JK Rowling
Does Fischers Capitalist Realism count?
That was great, and short, and easy to read
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I just started reading Planet Of Slums by Mike Davis and it’s easy albeit depressing. It’s not theory per se
This is a silly question but how is "theory" defined?
Ive read some theory that is undisputedly theory but I've read some other stuff that I'm not sure what category to think of it as, just political non fiction? Sociology? Historical analysis? Pop political science even?
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It's not theory per se, but The Dispossessed by Ursula K Le Guin just describes the value system of a socialist society without big words or sweeping statements.
Blackshirts and Reds is a must read 
Communist Manifesto was of course easy, and I thought there's been some feminist-Marxist stuff on the abolition of family and the like. I remember that clicking pretty fast. I think Engels also wrote a piece like that?
I think Engels also wrote a piece like that?
Origin of the Family, Private Property, and the State
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One Piece was a pretty easy read. Long though
Not theory but I read Triumph of Evil recently and its 200 pages and it sums up how America was the bad guys during the Cold War pretty well
https://mltheory.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/austin-murphy-the-triumph-of-evil.pdf
Probably not going to be everyone's cup of tea, but Emma Goldman's Anarchism and Other Essays is still a real treat to read. It's short and punchy in a way that I think a lot of Marxists really struggle with. Probably skip the last chapter unless you really want a critique of 19th century media.
The conquest of bread is pretty approachable, too, even if it has a bit of flowery, old timey language.
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