Reading List

Intro Short Readings

Want to learn more about democratic socialism? Here are some short perspectives that we like.

Hello there. In the DSA New Orleans Political Education Committee, we’ve put together a list of introductory resources about democratic socialism and adjacent topics. You don’t have to read all of this to be a socialist. You don’t have to read any of it to be a socialist. But you may be curious. If you are curious, and you’d like to learn more, here are some good places to start.

Democratic Socialism

• • Resistance Rising: Socialist Strategy in the Age of Political Revolution (bit.ly/SocStrategy)

• • Towards Freedom: Democratic Socialist Theory and Practice (bit.ly/TowardsFreedom)

• • Hope in a Dark Era: In the Face of Barbarism, Thousands Turn to Democratic Socialism (bit.ly/SocialismOrBarbarism)

• • We Fight for Socialism over Barbarism (bit.ly/WeFightForSocialism)

• • Where We Stand: Building the Next Left (bit.ly/DSAStatement1995)

• A Brief History of the American Left (bit.ly/HistAmerLeft)

Queer Socialism

• • Common Ground: The Queerness of Welfare Policy (bit.ly/QueerWelfarePolicy)

• Queer Reflections (bit.ly/QueerReflections)

Socialist Feminism

• • The Socialist Feminism Project (bit.ly/SocFemProject)

• • “Democracy and Care Unbound: On Feminism’s Abiding Political Relevance” (bit.ly/CareUnbound)

• • The Combahee River Collective Statement (bit.ly/CombaheeRiverStatement)

• More Reading: Socialist Feminist Reading List (bit.ly/SocFemReadingList)

Healthcare for All

• • Socialism and Medicare For All (bit.ly/SocialismMedicareForAll)

• • The Case for Single Payer (bit.ly/Case4SinglePayer)

• A Plan to Win Universal Healthcare (bit.ly/WinUniversalHealthCare)

Disability and Accessibility

• Disability and Socialism (https://solidarity-us.org/p2732/)
• Sick Woman Theory by Johanna Hedva (http://www.maskmagazine.com/not-again/struggle/sick-woman-theory)
• The 1977 Disability Rights Protest That Broke Records and Changed Laws (https://www.atlasobscura.com/articles/504-sit-in-san-francisco-1977-disability-rights-advocacy)

Economic Justice

• • The Economic Justice Agenda (bit.ly/DSAEconJustice)

• A Social and Economic Bill of Rights (bit.ly/EconomicBillOfRights)

Race & Socialism

• • Toward a Socialist Theory of Racism (bit.ly/CWSocTheoryRacism)

• • The Politics of Race (bit.ly/PoliticsOfRace)

• Justice for Undocumented Immigrants (bit.ly/Justlmmigration)

Organizing Tactics

• • Secrets of a Successful Organizer (bit.ly/OrganizerSecrets)

• • Organizing for A Socialist Future (bit.ly/Organizing4TheFuture)

• • VCU DSA Organizing Clinic (bit.ly/VCUDSAOrganizing)

• DSA Organizing Blog (bit.ly/DSABlog)

Longer Reads

Here are some longer reads and other media about socialism that we like. Like the others, you don’t have to read these. But we think that if you are interested in socialism, you might like these too.

• The ABCs of Socialism (bit.ly/ABCsOfSocialism)

Marxism Classics

• • Communist Party Manifesto – Marx & Engels (bit.ly/CommunistManifesto)

• • The Three Sources & Three Component Parts of Marxism – Lenin (bit.ly/3SourcesAnd3Components)

• • Transitional Program – Trotsky (bit.ly/TransitionalProgram)

• • State & Revolution – Lenin (bit.ly/StateAndRevolution)

• • Wage Labor & Capital – Marx (bit.ly/LaborAndCapital)

• Karl Marx – Selected Writings (bit.ly/MarxSelectedReadings)

Anarchism

• • Anarchist Communism – An Introduction (Libcom) (bit.ly/AnarchistCommunism)

• • Introduction to Anarchist Communism (Anarchist Federation) (bit.ly/IntroAnarchistCommunism)

• Anarchism Reading Guide: (bit.ly/AnarchismReadingGuide)

Municipalism

• Municipalism: A Reading List (bit.ly/MunicipalismReadingList)

Biography

• The Autobiography of Mother Jones (bit.ly/MotherJonesBio)

Labor Organizing

• How to Jump-Start Your Union (bit.ly/JumpStartYourUnion)

Books

• • The “S” Word: A Short History of an American Tradition… Socialism (bit.ly/Verso-The-S-Word)

• • Capitalist Realism: Is There No Alternative? (bit.ly/CapitalistRealism)

• • Rebel Cities: From the Right to the City to the Urban Revolution (bit.ly/RebelCities)

• • Jackson Rising: The Struggle for Economic Democracy and Black Self-Determination in Jackson, Mississippi (bit.ly/JacksonRising)

• Inventing the Future Postcapitalism and a World Without Work (bit.ly/VersoInventingTheFuture)

Periodicals

• • http://www.dsausa.org/democratic_left/

• • https://www.jacobinmag.com/

• https://catalyst-journal.com/

Video

• • Thanks, Capitalism! (bit.ly/ThanksCapitalism)

• • Debunked: Socialism Has Never Worked (bit.ly/DebunkedSocialismDoesntWork)

• • DSA SF Red Talks Archive: bit.ly/RedTalksSF

• The Problem of Capital Income (bit.ly/CapitalIncome)

Podcasts

• Discourse Collective:
  • • Leftist Lingo (bit.ly/LeftistLingo)
  • • Labor Theory of Value (bit.ly/LaborTheoryOfValue)
  • Wage, Labor, and Capital (bit.ly/WageLaborAndCapital)