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though i recommend listening to audiobooks
(lemmy.ml)
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this post was submitted on 08 Jul 2024
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In spirit of the post, Wage Labor and Capital, Value, Price and Profit, and Critique of the Gotha Programme are the easiest to digest works by Marx, and the most applicable to general leftism. All are short reads too, each can be completed in around an hour.
Engels has some great works too, and his works are generally grouped in with Marx's because they worked together closely, but I kept it to strictly Marx.
People should read Value Price and Profit because Marx proved that inflation is just companies raising prices, thoroughly debunks all the lies about causes of inflation that economists have been using to protect profits since before even his time.
All solid suggestions.
Wrt critique of the Gotha programme, it's interesting to me that Marx was such a critic of Lassalle, so much so that Engels actually apologized for Marx's harsh criticisms of the social democrat. Marx had called Lassalle a would be petty dictator or something like that. Except he was right, Lassalle was secretly plotting with von Bismarck on a plan to unify Germany under a bourgeois led social democracy, which von Bismarck could later seize absolute control over. Marx didn't know about this conspiracy, he just reasoned it out.
WLaC is also good, because it describes the role of Capital itself within Capitalism as it relates to Workers, and thus allows Capitalists to exploit them.
CotGP is added because it clears up a ton of misconceptions people who have not read Marx yet consider themselves leftists have about Marx and what he advocated for, practically. He essentially dismantles a weak Socialist/Social Democrat plan and explains the transition to Communism. He even adds on just how lengthy a process reaching higher-stage Communism will be.
Edit for your edit:
Yep, it's always cool to see logical analysis lead to correct conclusions that later make themselves apparent. It's funny how often Marx ended up being correct even on limited information simply due to strong analysis.
Yeah I read WL&C after a failed attempt at reading Capital (I had never read much Marx other than the manifesto at that point) and realized I needed to understand his economics first, as I felt completely out of my depth. Turns out reading Capital v1, the first few chapters are just like that! But I'm glad I read WL&C, like you said its short and gave me something to chew on for a year or so before diving back into the big book.
I edited my comment above about CotGP. All solid recommendations, for exactly the reasons you state.