Reading List and Other Resources

Welcome to the RSP Reading List! While obviously we don’t agree with every single idea present in every single text, we believe that these texts have important ideas to learn about to make yourself a better Communist. Check out our glossary for specific terms.

Last updated April 17th, 2026.

Articles

These are short articles, good for specific questions, and generally introductory material.

Why Socialism? - Albert Einstein

Einstein argues that capitalism has developed to the point that it is wasting human potential and that a transition to socialism would ensure that everyone is provided for.

Western Marxism Loves Purity and Martyrdom, But Not Real Revolution - Jones Manoel

This article argues that Marxism in the West is influenced by Christian purity-martyrdom culture, which results in a rejection of “impure” socialist projects such as the USSR, China, etc.

Masses, Elites, and Rebels: The Theory of “Brainwashing” (2022) - Roderic Day

This article argues against seeing people as “stupid” or “brainwashed,” and rather asks communists to consider why people really believe the things they do.

THE TYRANNY of STRUCTURELESSNESS - Jo Freeman

Written during the height of the feminist movement during the New Left era, this essay argues that “structurelessness” or “horizontalism” has negative effects on the movement because it permits an informal hierarchy to operate under unclear rules rather than a formal hierarchy which operates under rules known to everyone.

The Problem of Recognition in Transitional States, or Sympathy for the Monster (2024) - Nia Frome

An essay that compares Marxism in the West and Marxism in the East with queer theory and transgender studies and answers the question, “Why are there so many trans tankies?”

Transgender Liberation: A Marxist View (1992) - Leslie Feinberg

This essay is a landmark pamphlet by Leslie Feinberg, a revolutionary communist and transgender rights activist, that argues for the struggle for gender liberation as fundamentally intertwined with the fight against capitalism.

Really Existing Fascism (2021) - Roderic Day

This essay argues that liberalism and fascism have far more in common as ideologies than communism and fascism.

Where do Tanks come from? ☭ - Dash the Internet Marxist

This essay explains why anarchism categorically cannot lead to social revolution and why “authoritarianism” is necessary to defend the proletariat against its enemies.

Philosophy and Class Struggle - Dialego

A pamphlet written in the context of apartheid South Africa which explains the need for people who want to overthrow the current system to also be Marxists.

Books

These are all books that we have found important, published more recently, and thus will be more generally approachable to a beginner audience.

Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism - Michael Parenti

If you’re new to communism and worried about the historical notoriety of “communist regimes,” this is a good book to read. While it has some inaccuracies with regards to its characterization of China, it is a good beginner’s text to re-orient yourself away from a bourgeois world-view and towards a proletarian Communist outlook.

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement - Angela Y. Davis

This book is a collection of interviews, speeches, and essays in which revolutionary communist activist Angela Y. Davis connects contemporary movements for racial justice, from Ferguson to Palestine, within a global framework of resistance to imperialism and capitalism. It, like all of her writings, is a perfect fit for people new to the socialist movement.

Stalin: The History and Critique of a Black Legend - Domenico Losurdo

The most effective propaganda is in the form of information taken out of context. This book restores context to discussions of Stalin and the USSR, which have been demonized in popular and academic history as to demonize communism in general.

Settlers: The Mythology of the White Proletariat - J. Sakai

This book explains why white people in the USA, as a group, are generally uninterested in communist revolution through the framework of settler-colonialism, as well as explaining the repeated betrayals of the nonwhite working class by white working people.

Labor Aristocracy: Mass Base of Social Democracy - H. W. Edwards

This book takes Lenin’s framework of the labor aristocracy, applies it to the USAmerican and Western European proletariat, and explains why Social Democratic parties have always been on the side of imperialism and why the labor aristocratic proletariat consistently betrays its fellow proletariat.

Curriculum of the Basic Principles of Marxism-Leninism: Part 1 and Part 2 - Translated by Luna Nguyen

This is a textbook used by college students in Vietnam. It is a textbook tailored towards non-specialists, parts three and four to be translated in the future.

Revolutionary Suicide - Huey P. Newton

This book is the classic autobiographical account of Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party, tracing his political development from a functionally illiterate teenager in Oakland to a revolutionary Marxist-Leninist leader. Newton’s core organizing philosophy around survival programs, community self defense, and resisting the carceral state is just as a relevant now as it was back then.

Assata: An Autobiography - Assata Shakur

This book was written by the legendary Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur after her escape from captivity to take political asylum in Cuba. She speaks about her time in jail, the political persecution against her and other Black revolutionaries, and her childhood and radicalization into a Communist and internationalist.

How Europe Underdeveloped Africa - Walter Rodney

This book explains in approachable language how European colonialism and the slave trade affected the peoples of Africa and their resulting political and economic development, arguing that in general, European prosperity came from exploitation of numerous colonies around the world.

USU Handbooks

The Study Group - J. Katsfoter

This is a guide for how to form a Marxist study group.

Constructive Struggle - J. Katsfoter

This is a guide for how to conduct political struggle.

Classic Theory

These are older works of Marxism, so many of them are writing in a less-familiar context. Still, these are considered timeless works of theory for a reason!

Manifesto of the Communist Party - Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels

A pamphlet written for the Communist League published in 1848 which explains the goals of communists.

The Principles of Communism - Friedrich Engels

A pamphlet styled as a Frequently Asked Questions section for communism, written by Engels in 1847.

Wage Labour and Capital - Karl Marx

Much shorter than Capital, this explains how workers are exploited under capitalism no matter how well they are paid.

Capital Vol I, II, III - Karl Marx

Marx’s foundational text which examines the operations of capitalism and its shortcomings. You should definitely read this in a group setting.

Foundations of Leninism - Joseph Stalin

This text is considered to be the “official” codification of Marxism-Leninism as practiced in the USSR.

Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung - Mao Zedong

Also commonly known as the “Little Red Book,” this is a useful and handy collection of selected statements taken from Mao’s speeches and writings. It covers everything from the mass line to party structure to imperialism.