What's a good place to start with Marx? Aside from the obvious answer of 'The Communist Manifesto', I'm looking for a good collection of Marx's work that gives a good summary of his views without making me read several thousand pages. I've heard the Marx-Engels Reader is a good starting place, but I would have no idea.
Stirner's Critics
start with "Hello, I must be going".
Marx-Engels Reader is fine but I like to recommend "The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte" as the best introduction to Marx. A little more complicated but really much, much more rewarding than the manifesto - I started with the Manifesto and it put me off from Marx but I now consider him one of the greatest and most profound political and economic writers in history.
>>7366934
The German Ideology is a summary of the historical method and approach that underlies the entirety of Marxist study.
>>7367047
The Eighteenth Brumaire is some high level Marx honestly. The multiple different levels he's working with, the strange chronology, the assumption of general knowledge of French conditions, etc..
>>7367059
Definitely go with part one of The German Ideology. It requires some careful reading to not just end up at economics=cause of everything, but it's essential. Remember: productive forces are in the final analysis simply the creative forces of socialized humans.
But really, you're going to have to read Capital at some point. Harvey's guide is good and once you get past the first three chapters, it gets relatively easy--save for Marx going into formulas and stuff at certain points.
Lenin wrote two articles introducing marxist ideas:
>https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1913/mar/x01.htm
>https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1914/granat/index.htm
They're a bit Second-Internationale-y, but it's a good place to start.
Start with Engels. He's more succinct than Marx.
>principles of communism
>socialism scientific and utopian
>ludwig feuerbach and the end of classical german philosophy
Then with marx's basic writings.
>preface to a contribution to the critique of political economy
>wage-labour and capital
>without making me read several thousand pages
Socialism: scientific and utopian is around 100-120ish pages, ludwig feuerbach is less than about 60 pages or so, and wage-labour and capital is a little less than 50. The rest are less than 20 pages long. All can be found free on marxists.org.
>>7367059
The problem I have with the German Ideology is that it was never published in Marx's lifetime, left for "the gnawing criticism of the mice" - and for good reason, the Materialist Conception of History was still unrefined and in its formative stages. As other anon said, don't take it at face value.
>>7368229
>Harvey's guide is good.
No it's not. Harvey's Companion to Capital is just a meme. It's an Althusser's Reading Capital tier meme.
https://critisticuffs.org/texts/david-harvey/
>>7367017
Time flies like an arrow;
fruit flies like a banana.
Why would anyone bother reading that gay ass RELIGION?
Read mein kampf instead if you actually want something enlightening. Dark Enlightenment is the future.
>>7366934
Max Stirner.
It's important to understand what upset Marx to really appreciate his childish reactionary tantrum of an ideology.
>What's a good place to start with Marx?
The Ego and his own :^)
>>7368874
Start with Kant's Critique of Practical Reason
http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/kant-reason/
The preface, introduction, and opening chapters through the "Organic" of Hegel's The Phenomenology of Mind
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=1e4a42e36378df8dd4c0eed54da4a201
The opening chapter of Feuerbach's The Essence of Christianity and his Principles of the Philosophy of the Future
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/feuerbach/works/essence/
https://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/feuerbach/works/future/index.htm
"Contribution to a Critique of Hegel's Philosophy of Right"
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1843/critique-hpr/index.htm
The concluding chapter of the 1844 Manuscripts
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/preface.htm
"Feuerbach," from The German Ideology and the "Theses on Feuerbach."
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/ch01.htm
From Marx's Grundrisse, the Pre-Capitalist Economic Formations
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1857/precapitalist/
The preface and appendix to the Critique of Political Economy are also essential.
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/
Marx's "Critique of the Gotha Programme"
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/index.htm
After this you should be ready to read the 3 volumes of Capital
>>7368631
Please...
You can't shit on Harvey then go on and recommend later Engels and Lenin. If I recommend he reads I. I. Rubin or even Heinrich it's doubtful he'll finish.
>>7368961
>You can't shit on Harvey then go on and recommend later Engels and Lenin.
I recommended Engels and Lenin in the beginning, and "shit on Harvey" as a side. Anti-Engelsism is a stupid meme. Some Marxist-Humanists criticize Engels, Marx's closest and life-long friend, confidant, and collaborator, more than even Marx would have, which I think is ridiculous. Regardless of whether you or like it or not, Second Internationale Marxism had a monumental influence upon how people conceived of Marxism then and now, and will continue to do so. Besides, Marxism isn't just Marx's writings or even the body of thought centered around it, but an intellectual movement with common doctrines tied to a political movement (communism), otherwise no-one would have taken Lasselle seriously, the "Russian Marxists" wouldn't have opposed the Narodniks, protection would be as distrusted as free trade, ultra-left "Marxist" anti-politics wouldn't exist, and so on.
>If I recommend he reads I. I. Rubin or even Heinrich it's doubtful he'll finish.
You should have - if we were recommending Marxism in general, and Capital in particular, especially because of Rubin's influence. You and I both know that just reading Capital Volume 1 will give a one-sided view of Marx's economic theory, but completely understanding Marx isn't the point. Quote: "I'm looking for a good collection of Marx's work that gives a good summary of his views without making me read several thousand pages." Engels gives an overview of basic Marxist thought that only contradicts contrarians that want to reconstruct an "esoteric Marx."
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>>7366934
Here you go, OP.
>>7370177
Laughed far harder than I should
>>7368924
What a silly way to read Marx.
Marx's project can best be thought of as a mostly implicit working through of a materialist view of history (which varies from just a rejection of the Hegelian history as idea to a strong emphasis on productive forces and relations of prosecution) and an incomplete critique of political economy.
Only Capital Vol. 1 really exemplifies that full force of Marx at play. Any real understanding of Marx begins there.
For all of the criticism of Harvey's reading of value-theory, let's be clear: his work is the only one which really asks the reader to focus on the richness of Capital--it's thoughts on temporality, space, consciousness, dialectical interactions, etc.. It's also geared towards just getting one to read through all of Capital.
I love value-theory and consider its great advancement, but it's a terribly un-revolutionary conception of Marx. Heinrich straight up reduces the class struggle of the Working Day to merely the state's military needs deciding on the Factory Acts.
Thankfully class struggle comrades like Aufheben and others make off with the goods and inject revolution.
>>7370485
bump for some drama with this cunt involved.
>>7366934
The answer is the Communist Manifesto. Don't try to sidestep it for no reason, it's your answer
