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Anupam Guha
@Anupam_Guha
, 16 tweets, 6 min read Read on Twitter
My definitive book list (and other visual and reading material) for political education of the novice leftist.

1. Start with something simple. This video is a good description of jargon used in the left sphere, so you know what these words are

1/n
2. A very concise (and in parts incorrect) video summary of Marx's political theory from a non-Marxist, i.e. liberal-capitalist, perspective, still very useful for beginners before you start with the actual reading

2/n
3. Two small books

a) a very US centric description of democratic-socialism, ABC of Socialism. Small book, will take you a short time to digest s3.jacobinmag.com/issues/jacobin…

b) The Principles of Communism, a dated document but still useful marxists.org/archive/marx/w…
4. Now you know enough background to read the communist manifesto. Remember, it is an imperfect document written by young men in historical conditions very different from ours. Read it with that context in mind.

marxists.org/archive/marx/w…

4/n
5. Now you are well grounded in the basics of leftist thought. A bit of history will be useful. Here is a video on the 'Paris Commune', the first historical instance of a Worker's State. And why it didn't succeed.



5/n
6. Talking about history, you are Indians, and young political workers, so read a letter Bhagat Singh addressed to young political workers of India.

marxists.org/archive/bhagat…

6/n
7. At this point, you have a lot of context. So some serious reading. The textbook "What is Marxism?" from Emile Burns. A bit dated material but useful

marxists.org/archive/burns-…

7/n
8. Read the first volume of Das Capital. Is some hard work but this is needed, and you will manage. Then reread it.

marxists.org/archive/marx/w…

8/n
9. Among the tendencies of left thought, I am closest to Luxemburgism. This thread has a link to her archive and the books you may want to read.

10. On caste, a good compendium is Republic of Caste, by Anand Teltumbde. It has a chapter "The Caste and Class Dialectic " which explains differences in Ambedkarite and Marxist understanding of caste, and how these tendencies can help each other.

amazon.in/Republic-Caste…

10/n
11. Again on caste, a strong left thinker is B T Ranadive. Read this essay.

anticaste.in/b-t-ranadive-c…

11/n
12. At this point you are armed with more political education than most of your fellow cadre. Keep at it though!

One comedic Youtube channel, which will be useful to understand Western comrades, also quite educational is @ContraPoints

example video:
13. The last video hints at how fascism is becoming popular. This is a global phenomenon. It is important to understand your enemy. Some ideas of Trotsky will be most useful on this.

Read What is Fascism and How to Fight It, by Trotsky.

marxists.org/archive/trotsk…

13/n
14. Now would be a good point to do reading on socialist-feminism. Kollontai and Clara Zetkin are good entry points

marxists.org/archive/kollon…
marxists.org/archive/zetkin/

14/n
15. And to end it, Lenin is important as well. Read these definitely.

marxists.org/archive/lenin/…
marxists.org/archive/lenin/…

And do keep reading you will realise Leftists are not a monolith and disagree on major points, but overall these works are useful guides to shape your own ideas
Your serious reading will be formed from your own convictions and instincts. But do try to read both broad and deep.

And once you have read, translate these ideas for your friends. Hope this thread has been useful!

Fin.
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More from @Anupam_Guha see all

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Anupam Guha
@Anupam_Guha
Ram Guha's recent article is bad, don't read it, and if you've read it don't bother quote tweeting it to critique it

One point though, the fellow doesn't know what basic terms mean. Will just comment on the last bit where he asks communists to become 'democratic socialists'
Thing is, these are two different socialist lines with different praxis, and one cannot opportunistically become the other. That is not how politics work. I have no problems with actual democratic socialists (by which it is generally meant electoral democratic socialists)
He probably has no idea what communism means, or how difficult it is internally to reconcile even two similar lines. Let alone wholesale abandon them. Can be done, but the way he cavalierly writes that without caveats it is probable he doesn't know what he is talking about
Read 5 tweets
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Anupam Guha
@Anupam_Guha
There are those in the Indian progressive constellation who characterise the first war of Independence reductively as a feudal/Brahminical project.

They are wrong. As Marx correctly observed, the Mutiny was not reactionary though parts of it was. It was revolutionary.

1/n
Mangal Pandey's propaganda of the deed today, on 29 March 1857 and the actual start of the rebellion in Meerut in May has a gap of a month and more. Volumes can be written about what happened in that gap.

2/n
Was the first mutiny itself based on anxieties which had religeous/caste basis? In parts. But in parts it was based on the widespread material oppression by the colonial machinery. It wasn't a merely plot of disgruntled soldiers but a spontaneous uprising

3/n
Read 15 tweets
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Anupam Guha
@Anupam_Guha
The valley between the discourse of "ethical technology" and how companies operate in reality is unbridgeable, because that discourse is almost completely appropriated by capitalists who have no desire to reform let alone dismantle extraction.

Why am I writing truisms at 3am?
As a corporate employee, as a socialist looking at the political-economy of AI, and as an AI scientist, there is an epistemological gap between these three worlds. With respect to automation these worlds want things which are fundamentally incompatible.

The wonks do not get that
We can keep talking about profound sounding banalities of bias and transparency, but till we acknowledge the elephant in the room, power, and how that concentrated power affects humans we will keep playing the solutionist game.

I'm afraid there can be no ethical AI in capitalism
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