Introduction to Marxism

Everything that really matters about a society is determined by how it maintains itself in existence, because it is what people have to do to survive that determines their relationship with nature and each other. Therefore the decisive thing for a society at any time is what the means of production are.

When the means of production change, people's ways of life have to change, and the way individuals relate to each others has to change. Thus, the organisation of classes changes.

As long as control of the means of production are in the hands of a small section of society, rather than the whole of it, a deep-seated conflict of class interests is inevitable. For this reason, the whole of history up to now is a history of class struggles.

This will continue until the means of production are taken over by society as a whole - thereby abolishing classes in the Marxist sense - and held in common ownership for the common interest.

The establishment of this new kind of society, i.e. communism, will inaugurate a whole new era of human history which will be different in kind from the past.

However, since no ruling class can be expected to voluntarily give up its ownership of the means of production (with all the wealth, power, privilege and prestige that it confers), the forceful overthrow of the existing system is likely to be the only way in which communism can be established.

Many writers before us have already produced excellent introductory texts to explain Marxism in more detail. We have provided below a list of topics and good introductory texts for them, along with the backgrounds of the author so you are aware of any pre-existing political positions they hold. 

Useful Texts

Introductions

These texts contain simplifications of Marxist theory, which will not be able to capture the full scale of Marx or Engels' original works, but can be helpful primers to aid with digesting their full scale texts.

How Marxism Works, Chris Harman - Introduction to Marxism by a member of the British SWP (a Trotskyist organisation), written 1979.

Compendium of Karl Marx's Capital, Carlo Cafiero - Summary of Marxist economics, written by an Italian anarcho-communist in 1879 and approved by Marx.

Fundamentals

These fundamental texts, whilst they can be challenging to read, are the cornerstones Marxism.

Capital - A Critique of Political Economy (Volume 1), Karl Marx - The bible of Marxist Economics.

The Origin of the Family, Private Property and the State, Frederick Engels - Another crucial work of early Marxism.

Critique of the Gotha Programme, Karl Marx - The draft programme of the United Workers' Party of Germany.

Pre-Marxism

Marxism was built in the context of existing philosophical and economic debate, as well as on previous theory. These are a few important works that can help you understand this context and what preceded Marxist theory.

Phenomenology of Spirit, Hegel - Hegel synthesised the basic philosophical tools that Marx used to invent dialectical materialism. They can also be widely applied today to help revise and modernise Marxist assumptions.

The Conquest of Bread, Peter Kropotkin - A landmark text in anarchist theory.

Pre-Revolutionary Marxists

There was rigorous debate on the practical application of Marxist theory in the run up to and during the October revolution. Here are some of the most important works.

What is to be Done? Burning Questions of Our Movement, Vladimir Lenin - Skeleton plan for the future socialist state written by Lenin in 1902.

The State and Revolution, Vladimir Lenin 

The Accumulation of Capital, Rosa Luxemburg

Post-Soviet Marxism

Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative?, Mark Fisher - Critique of neoliberal ideology.

The Revolution Betrayed, Leon Trotsky - Cornerstone of Trotskyist analysis, written 1936.

Jean Baudrillard: Symbolic Exchange An A to Z of Theory, Andy McLaverty-Robinson - Jean Baudrillard is responsible for some of the most intriguing developments in post-war Marxist theory. This set of articles is a summary of Baudrillard's theory.