#only getting like 60% of it bc I don’t know that much about soviet history or law

[communistkenobi]

I know being like “communism is religious” is an extremely annoying thing to say but I’m reading a book called red demiurge which is about the legal history of the soviet union and honestly that title is not hyperbole

[edwad]

What’s your mum’s favourite book about Marx? And yeah I was asking about which books about Carl marcks you thought were the worst

ah well i’m an idiot and wrote all that for Nothing. anyway my mom has no opinions bc she’s a fellow traveler at best. but for the thing you actually wanted:

i feel like almost all books on marx are p bad tbh so this isn’t hard to do. not sure if you’re asking about biographies or just books on his Thought but i’ll talk about a few of each here.

the revolutionary ideas of karl marx (callinicos) is one of the best books on the planet if you want to understand marx the wrong way. it’s traditional marxism 101, including a chunk of the text dedicated to explaining dialectics and idealism/materialism as poorly as possible. gets lots of things flat out wrong, and not just interpretive stuff but actual historical facts. it was also published in the 80s iirc and he laughs at the idea that we’ll all have our own computers someday (supercomputers are so big!!! how would they fit in an apartment!!). this bit actually made it through to the 2nd edition which came out in like 2006 or something so it’s even more laughable. he’s also a trotskyist and did some fucked up shit which i’m not gonna get into here. swp sucks ass

marx for beginners (ruis) is an illustrated guide to marxs life and ideas which refers to him as “charles” throughout and makes a fucking mess of everything. i read it pretty early on into my marxism and i don’t think there was a single thing in the whole book that i didn’t already know (rightly or not lol) just from skimming marxs wikipedia page. it’s pretty bad

unraveling capitalism (choonara) written by another swp-er but focusing on marxs capital. it pushes the TSSI interpretation, which i don’t dig, and comes with all the problems of a text written by a swp-er. i don’t think this one is completely trash because it might have some utility as a 101 text, but it treats marx as an economist rather than as a social theorist critiquing economics, i.e. he approaches marx backwards.

marxs das kapital (wheen) mildly informative book stuffed with wheen’s typical bizarre speculation presented as unsourced fact. heinrich rightly rips him apart for this in his new marx biography. this book is more of a biography of capital itself, rather than a biography of marx (which wheen also did, poorly), but it tries to draw things out that aren’t there and tie marxs later critical project directly to things from his youth, which isn’t an uncommon position by any means but one that i always have a hard time tolerating.

marx and marxism (claeys) this book was so bad that i don’t even remember reading it. i retained nothing. i learned nothing. i just know that i kept fighting the author in my head

why marx was right (eagleton) i read this after years of being told it should be read as a beginner-friendly book on marx. turns out it’s bad. i think class-struggle-anarchism is the one who said this book should’ve been called “why marx wasn’t wrong” because that’s really what the book is trying to do. it defends marx from the 20th century (more or less the trotskyist history of the soviet union) but doesn’t actually prove him correct. he also gets some things wrong, which doesn’t help his case

every book ernest mandel ever wrote except maybe the formation of the economic thought of karl marx which is like 60-70% alright, mostly because there aren’t a lot of other books like it. allen oakley is the only person i can think of who’s doing something similar and which has been published in english, but oakley is loads better. he’s just much heavier on the marxology and less on The Narrative (which is fine by me)

[whiskered]

⭐️ 85 Questions ⭐️

thank you for the tag ginger @dantique <3

— what was your last…

1. drink: water 2. phone call: it was with my mom on friday and idr why 3. text message: an hour ago to my cousin and i said “i send her too many messages tbh i’m probably annoying” was talking about my crush l o l  4. song you listened to: lovers on the sun by beth god this cover makes me so :( 5. time you cried: yesterday in my car bc i thought about my cousin calling dnp homophobic slurs lol

— have you ever…

6. dated someone twice: i don’t remember it but according to my friends i did “date” my one and only “boyfriend” (from 7th grade) twice. why don’t i remember it tho 7. kissed someone and regretted it: can’t regret a kiss that never happened! 8. been cheated on: previously mentioned “boyfriend” had crushes on other girls while we were together and i remember being rly upset about it but lol no 9. lost someone special: yes 10. been depressed: i don’t honestly know 11. gotten drunk and thrown up: no

— fave colours

12. aquamarine blue  13. pastel pink  14. periwinkle

— in the last year have you…

15. made new friends: yes 16. fallen out of love: no 17. laughed until you cried: yes i think 18. found out someone was talking about you: no 19. met someone who changed you: yes 20. found out who your friends are: eh not rly 21. kissed someone on your facebook friends list: nope

— general

22. how many of your facebook friends do you know irl: tbh idek bc i rarely go on facebook and i can’t remember how i decided to add ppl 23. do you have any pets: yes!! 2 fishies 24. do you want to change your name: i use my middle name online..but i still rly like my first name. so no 25. what did you do for your last birthday: the day of i went out to eat with my family. and then last week my parents through me a surprise party with my extended family and family friends :) 26. what time did you wake up today: 6:30 AM like every weekday bc i have to drive to campus lol 27. what were you doing at midnight last night: sleeping! 28. what is something you can’t wait for: i have nothing that is close to look forward to. hm. i guess interactive introverts though that’s still 3 months away 30. what are you listening to right now: i started listening to lovers on the sun again 31. have you ever talked to a person named tom: no!

32. something that’s getting on your nerves: my own inability to get my school work done

33. most visited website: tumblr  34. hair colour: rn black with brownish/orangeish/reddish/pinkish/blondish ends bc the magenta has faded  35. long or short hair: looong

36. do you have a crush on someone: sighs forever. yes. tho someone help me get over her bc she’s unattainable 

37. what do you like about yourself: i think i’m nice. i’m pretty funny. idk what else 38. want any piercings: no i’m good with my one in each ear 39. blood type: no idea 40. nicknames: i have some with my first name but i don’t share my first name online :0 41. relationship status: single, terrified to mingle 42. sign: aries 43. pronouns: she/her 44. fave tv show: ooh i’d say rn brooklyn nine-nine what a good one. but like of all time probably full house bc i used to watch it every single day growing up 45. tattoos: i don’t have any but i want to get “girl almighty” on me somewhere. so so bad. and also a tiny heart. 46. right or left handed: right 47: ever had surgery: no 48. piercings: just the one in each ear 49. sport: no 50. vacation: when i went to ocean city for a weekend with my best friends <3, ah our first time traveling together with no supervision i felt so cool 51. trainers: i wear skechers is that what this is asking me

— more general

52. eating: grapes and strawberries 53. drinking: nothing 54. i’m about to watch: a 1980 soviet film called Moscow Does Not Believe in Tears for my russian history class 55. waiting for: my motivation to return from war 56. want: to drop out of university. and also a girlfriend 57. get married: only if it is to a woman i love and not whatever man my parents inevitably set me up with 58. career: pediatrician but i will cry for a living. someone pls pay me for crying. i’m so good at it

— which is better

59. hugs or kisses: i don’t do physical affection so i rly don’t have attachment to either 60. lips or eyes: eyes 61. shorter or taller: taller 62. older or younger: older or my age  63. nice arms or stomach: i don’t rly pay attention to those 64. hookup or relationships: relationship 65. troublemaker or hesitant: i wanna say hesitant but i’m hesitant so would i want a troublemaker but then what if they cause too much trouble

— have you ever

66. kissed a stranger: no  67. drank hard liquor: no 68. turned someone down: yes 69. sex on first date: no 70: broken someone’s heart: i think i have yikes 71. had your heart broken: yeah 72. been arrested: no 73. cried when someone died: yes 74. fallen for a friend: ugh

— do you believe in

75. yourself: depends. believe in my ability to cry? yes. anything else? no 76. miracles: i don’t know tbh 77. love at first sight: does it make me naive to say yes 78. santa claus: yes but he owes me 21 years worth of gifts 79. angels: yes

— misc

80. eye colour: brown 81. best friend’s name: marissa 82. favourite movie: i have so many tbh but one of them is The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement 83. favourite actor: lol Chris Pine and can u believe i just named a movie with him in it too. listen. idk. he’s so talented???? and pretty whatever don’t @ me. have y’all seen wonder woman bc i always knew he was an amazing actor but GOD he did SO good in that movie

84. favourite cartoon: avatar the last airbender and phineas and ferb 85. favourite teacher’s name: my first grade teacher mrs. castro :( she was the sweetest teacher i love her and miss her

tagging: @moonchair @amazingphiw @dxntasies @domesticbanting no pressure to do this!