It is abundantly clear that the good ol’ U.S. of A. needs to be totally and irrevocably destroyed; this has been true for 250 years, but now, with a genocidal white nationalist empowered by the most feckless cowards in world history at the helm, the simple truth of that fact seems to be dimly, faintly, tremulously but definitely shining through the cracks of even the most obdurate, knuckleheaded citizen of this moronic, evil country. There are real historical resonances between us and late 19th/early 20th C. Tsarist Russia, I think – an absolutely oblivious political class, insane wealth disparity, cultural and economic collapse on the horizon are the most obvious, but another similarity must be the anxiety and frustration felt by those who, recognizing the evil, cannot see what there is to do about it.

This floundering uncertainty was certainly being felt by the Russian activists and revolutionaries, because ol’ Lenin himself wrote a pretty great (in parts) long essay on the problem, “What Is To Be Done?” The whole point of this pamphlet was that there was a definite crisis looming, in fact they were in one right then, and yet the path forward was not clear, and it was not obvious what actions should be taken by to hasten the radical reshaping of society. Importantly, this pamphlet was written in 1901, a major period of reaction and oppression in tsarist Russia, and a long way from the heady days of 1917-1918. So how does ol’ Vlad answer the question he poses in the title? What, exactly, is to be done?

I’ve written about it before (back when Trump was reelected) but the thing that I like about this essay is that Lenin is very clear-headed – the goal of all revolutionaries is the same, regardless of the conditions around them: degrade the power of the oppressor. The means to achieving this, of course, change depending on the conditions, and the conditions that Lenin faced in the early 20th C and that we are confronting in our own 21st century are the same – we are scattered, disorganized, atomized, while the evil pricks are the ones holding all the power. So, with this in mind, Lenin sez that what is to be done is to increase the political consciousness of socialism among people, pushing the verboten discussion of revolutionary anti-capitalism out of the shadows and into the light of the public sphere. Propagandize! I’m a firm believer that you’ve gotta wear your anti-capitalism on your sleeve, unapologetically and openly. There’s no room for milquetoast appeasement of dumbass centrists or rat-faced neolibs – you have to take the fight to them, because the only thing to do now is to make socialism (in whatever flavor you want) an out-and-proud political identity.

We’ve made baby steps in that direction, but because actual anti-capitalist Leftists have refused to push it, we’re basically letting a few wishy-washy DSA types stand in for actual Left political thought in this country. One reason for that, I think, is because a specter is haunting our public politics; the specter of the dreaded Marxist Study Group. You know the scene (you might’ve even participated in it): a bunch of frustrated people trying to slog their way through Capital, worried about deriving the use-value of a bolt of cloth in labor-hours.

That’s not particularly useful propaganda, I think. Don’t get me wrong, everyone absolutely should read Capital (esp the Third Volume, where all the fun soil science is), but it’s not at all the way to take one’s first steps on the Path to Enlightenment. What’s needed are short, punchy, and fairly direct documents that quickly and clearly make the argument for anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism. So, off the top of my head, I put together a short list of some of my favorite short (or short-ish) essays/pamphlets, with links. If you have any that you love or that you think I missed, let me know – I feel like a nice centralized resource like this is a good thing to have and, in this moment when Trump is baring for all to see the horrors of Capitalism and Imperialism, these documents can be a nice wedge to help crack the shell of people who might not have ever envisioned anything different as being possible!

Anarchism

Capital, Technology, and Proletariat by Miguel Amorós

The Capitalist System by Michail Bakunin

Anarchism: Past and Present by Murray Bookchin

Anarchism: What it Really Stands For by Emma Goldman (Chapter 1 from her volume of collected essays)

Are You an Anarchist? The Answer May Surprise You! by David Graeber

Anarchism: Its Philosophy and Ideals by Peter Kropotkin

An Anarchist Programme by Errico Malatesta

An Anarchist on Anarchism by Elisee Reclus

“Anarchism” by George Woodcock

Marxism

Draft of a Communist Confession of Faith by Frederick Engels

Wage Labor and Capital by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx and Frederick Engels

An Introduction to Marx’s Theory of Alienation by Judy Cox

Revolution

What Is To Be Done? by V.I. Lenin (you should absolutely read Chapter 3, though the first three chapters all together are great…feel free to ignore the long last chapter on Russian newspapers, though)

The Political Socialists by Ricardo Flores Magón

Art and Socialism by William Morris

The Meaning of Socialism by William Morris and the Executive Council of the SDF

Imperialism and the Task of the Proletariat by Anton Pannekoek

The Struggle Against Fascism by Klara Zetkin

Further, Longer Reading (Book length texts, for when you’ve read the above pamphlets and essays!)

What is Communist Anarchism? by Alexander Berkman

Strike! by Jeremy Brecher

The End of Anarchism? by Luigi Galleani

The Conquest of Bread by Peter Kropotkin

The Great French Revolution 1789-1793 by Peter Kropotkin

Imperialism, the Highest Stage of Capitalism by V.I. Lenin

Wobblies and Zapatistas: Conversations on Anarchism, Marxism and Radical History by Staughton Lynd & Andrej Grubacic

The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte by Karl Marx

Critique of the Gotha Program by Karl Marx

The Revolution of Everyday Life by Raoul Vaneigem

The Unknown Revolution 1917-1921 by Volin