Professor Roland Boer, he is afaik the only non-Chinese professor of Marxism in all of China and studies marxism, Chinese socialism, and religious belief and spirituality from a marxist perspective. These are my recommendations for books, with the first one being my all time suggestion for people:
- Socialism with Chinese Characteristics: A Guide for Foreigners
- Red Theology: On the Christian Communist Tradition
- Criticism of Heaven
Most of his books are free on his website or around the internet
People have already covered the major authors so I’m going to give a shout out to Torkil Lauesen.
He had a good interview on RevLeft Radio and an okay one on The Deprogram if you want to get a feel for what he’s like.
Carlos Martinez wrote a book about the collapse of the USSR called The End of the Beginning which honestly should be required reading for any socialist
Vijay Prashad and Michaek Parenti for non fiction, and Kim Stanley Robinson for fiction
Kim Stanley Robinson is an ML? After reading Ministry for the Future I assumed he was a socdem. I did not like that book. It’s been a while since I read it, and from what I remember, it omitted a useful economic analysis and liberation struggle from confronting climate crisis which seemed totally idealistic to me.
I recall reading that he considered himself a Marxist, and he does appear to support revolutionary approach to social change in his books. While Ministry for the Future isn’t perfect, it did some economic analysis showing that capitalism is fundamentally at odds with having a livable future. The whole thesis of the book is that capitalism needs to be abolished, and the book also doesn’t shy away from saying that violence will be necessary to do so. It also talks positively about USSR saying that it had the right idea all along.
He’s a socialist, but not a Marxist-Leninist. Not instinctively hating the USSR is good, but it doesn’t make you an ML. 😛
That’s fair, I do find his open support for revolutionary struggle refreshing though.
Vijay Prashad, Losurdo (recently passed away RIP), Zak Cope, Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, Parenti, John Smith, Roland Boer, Galeano, Paul Cockshott (on certain things), Jin Huiming, Assata shakur, Federici (weirdly not a marxist but does marxist analysis in all her works).
China Miéville is definitely some type of Marxist.
“Iron Council” has railworkers overthrow their bosses and turn a train into a socialist settlement. They travel slowly so they can just take apart the track behind it and lay it again in front of the train where they want to go.
A more serious work would be “October”. It’s
historical fictionnot academic, but it’s a worthwhile introduction if you really don’t want to read a history book.Edited for accuracy
I wouldn’t call October historical fiction. Non academic non-fiction?
You’re right, I used the wrong word there.
🗣️📣 ATTENTION EVERYONE, 2 LIBERALS JUST INFILTRATED THIS THREAD, INSTINCTIVELY DOWNVOTING EVERYTHING THEY SEE RATHER THAN GOING THROUGH WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING
Absolute evildoers.
