Socialism: Utopian and Scientific

This book, more so than the Communist Manifesto, gives you a quick, down and dirty, no frills breakdown of what socialism really is. The Communist Manifesto is another must read, but I would start with Engels here as the Communist Manifesto deals more with class struggle, and I think the Communist Manifesto will make more sense if you have a good understanding of socialism before you read it. Additionally, while both Marx and Engels are great thinkers and writers, I think the flow of Engels' work is more reader-friendly.

In a way I've never read before, Engels lays out Capitalism in all its glory (and contradictions). Though you may not agree with his socialist solution, the preceding sections give good insight into issues of our society that cannot be denied. I paired it with reading section of Das Kapital, and found it very useful in understanding my philosophical position.

This work is a very basic intro to dialectical materialism and historical materialism. It should be looked at again with fresh eyes, as the utter catastrophe for humanity that CAPITALISM is has become obvious for all. Too many people today are not using a scientific methodology to look at historical experience and today's reality. Venus Project? "Socially responsible corporations?" -- it was all tried before, and summed up brilliantly in this pamplet. Robert Owens came up against the fact that the STATE (the government, it's courts, police and all its armed forces) is not a neutral body standing above classes, but in fact is controlled and serves the dominate class of society, which today continues to be the capitalist class (and many have documented who the individuals are in these classes in the US and other countries today.) The fact that today, the economy of the world is dominated by finance capital and monopolies that spread across the world (while still rooted in individual nations and protected by national armies, CIA's, etc)is a natural and inevitable product of the workings of the "free market" competition of capital. I recommend also looking at Lenin's "Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism" and Bob Avakian's "Communism and Jeffersonian Democracy" for some other basic explanations of why these Utopian schemes are doomed to failure, and why proletarian revolution can enable us to embark on the road out of this. Also see Raymond Lotta's work on both today's economic crisis and the historical experience of socialism.

Interesting. I read somewhere that Engels was actually the better writer of the Marx/Engels team. Does that make Engels the Garfunkel, or Simon? I don't know. But this was fun to read and interesting. So much passion.