What do I need to read before I can read The Communist Manifesto/understand

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>>9545636
but the Marx-Engels reader and read everything leading up to the Communist Manifesto and then you can read that

>>9545671
But will I really be unable to understand it if I read the Manifesto first? Wasn't it meant to have mass appeal?

>>9545636
A history book

>>9545636
You can read and understand the Manifesto since it was written for proles
Now if you want to read Das Kapital you have to start with the greeks

>>9545636
>Milton
The Manifesto is made for average people, so it is easy to understand. Not much prior knowledge needed.

Das Kapital is an economy textbook. It has little on socialism, and instead focuses on analyzing and critiquing capitalism.

>>9545636
The point of it is to be kind of overly simplistic and stupid, to be easily understood. So you don't need anything, just read it. It's more of a 1-dimensional battle cry than anything with any real depth.

>>9545636
My diary desu

>>9545636
You should have a firm grounding in angsty teenage blog posts.

>>9545636
Nothing, the Communist Manifesto is supposed to be short and accessible.

don't bother

Harry Potter

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>>9545636
Debilitate your brain by reading Hegel.

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>>9545636

Gulag Archipelago

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>>9545636
The Manifesto won't help you understand Marxism, it was just a polemic intended intended to incite a particular group of factory workers. You can start with it if you want but it contains little actual theory, and Marx & Engels said it was already outdated by the time it was published in 1872. If you actually want to understand Marxism, start with:
Principles of Communism
The Three Sources and Component Parts of Marxism
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific
Critique of the Gotha Program
Wage Labour and Capital
Value, Price, and Profit