By a commentator for Tjen Folket Media.
These days many are forced to stay more inside and in connection with that many revolutionaries would like to study more Marxist theory. Here are some advice and tips for self-studies.
Tjen Folket Media has its own resource site with texts from the classics in Norwegian. [Marx2Mao is a good resource for texts from the classics in English with the exceptions of Gonzalo and the PCP. Translators note]. Here you can find most of the more important works of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. We also have our own resource site with texts written by Norwegian revolutionaries; MLM-theory in Norwegian [The English resource site can be found here. Translators note]. And we have an archive site with thousands of articles.
In addition, we also have a link site with links that leads to revolutionaries in other countries, and also resource sites where one can find Maoist literature in many different languages. In a situation where many both are home, and maybe even quarantined, and otherwise, our own and other sites makes up together a treasure chest for revolutionaries.
Today there is probably many that want to read about Marxist crisis theory, for example here:
Lenin said that, without a revolutionary theory, there is no revolutionary movement. Throughout history, revolutionaries have given everything to spread this theory. Great communist leaders learned other languages solely to translate important works and spread them among the masses in their own countries.
Revolutionaries have taken great risks to smuggle revolutionary literature across the border of their countries where it has been outlawed or been subjected to strict censorship. In other words, all this is of great value.
Text advice
What should one read? A general encouragement to revolutionaries is that one should study much of the revolutionary theory. Furthermore should one study the works over and over again. One should always go back to the classics and the basic questions since one will return with a better understanding and thus acquire knowledge better.
Maoists affirms that Maoism is the third and higher stage of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism. Thus one should approach the classics from a Maoist basis. Those who have defined Maoism is the Communist Party of Peru and chairman Gonzalo, and thus one should start there.
Many experience that when one starts to study Maoism, it is good to read basic introductions written today and in their own mother tongue. It is usually good to start there, at the very least to also read this, rather than beginning with Karl Marx. The form is secondary, it is the content that is crucial. And here nothing can surpass the classics of Marxism.
For those who want to study on their own, I want to recommend the following texts. Not as a complete list, but as a good starting point. When one study Maoism one should also follow recommendations from the classics. In many of these texts, the great communist leaders will affirm which are important, for example when Lenin affirms what Marx’ three greatest discoveries are. On this basis, one can concentrate on these when one study.
Here and now, today, revolutionaries should study the first issue of Røde Fane (Red Flag). Then one should follow the two-line struggle in the international communist movement and one should read documents from the meetings of Maoist parties and organizations in Latin-America and Europe. But without an understanding of Marxism-Leninism-Maoism, one won’t get a good grip around these discussions. And a revolutionary is never finished learning or never “to schooled” to return to the classics and the most basic and important texts within Marxism-Leninism-Maoism.
Recommended texts for self-studies
First of all – this list is not complete and does not emphasis which is more important. There is an attempt to list the texts in a logical order where one can start from the beginning, but it is not like one have to follow the order or that it always is the best.
It is also not the meaning to equate the texts in the lists. Some of them are immortal works by the most advanced communist leaders in history. Other texts are made by Norwegian revolutionaries in an attempt to explain questions for Norwegian readers. They can be easier to read, but content-wise they can not be compared with the immortal classics.
(Be aware that there might be faults in the texts found in the external websites linked to below. Translators note.)
The Foolish Old Man Who Removed the Mountains (Mao)
Serve the People (Mao)
Reform our Study (Mao)
Why Maoism – What is Maoism? (Ragnar Røed)
Grunnkurs i maoisme (by Norwegian revolutionaries)
On Marxism-Leninism-Maoism (by the Communist Party of Peru)
Marxism-Leninism-Maoism Basic Course (by CPI(Maoists)
Manifesto of the Communist Party (Marx and Engels)
The Civil War In France (Marx)
Socialism: Utopian and Scientific (Engels)
The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism (Lenin)
What Is To Be Done? (Lenin)
The State and Revolution (Lenin)
The International Character of the October Revolution (Stalin)
Dialectical and Historical Materialism (Stalin)
The Foundations of Leninism (Stalin)
On Practice (Mao)
On Contradiction (Mao)
Combat Liberalism (Mao)
Formann Mao Tse-Tung om folkekrigen
On Gonzalo Thought (Communist Party of Peru)
Marxism, Mariátegui and The Women’s Movement (Communist Party of Peru)
The Woman Question: selected writings from Marx, Engels, Lenin and Stalin [the Norwegian version of this work also includes writings from Chairman Mao, we could not find an english version that included selections from his work]
The United Front (Dimitrov)
Political Economy (A Textbook issued by the Economics Institute of the Academy of Sciences of the U.S.S.R)
En historikk over Norges Kommunistiske Parti (Arvid G. Hansen)
The Most Important Lessons from the Russian Revolution (Norwegian activist)
Staten (Tjen Folket Media)
Vi skal organisere proletariatet (Ragnar Røed)
Why Boycott the Election (Tjen Folket)
Partier, politikk og marxisme (Tjen Folket Media)
On what socialism is and about socialism in Norway (Norwegian activist)
Moreover, one should study all the documents that make up the basis of party unity in the Communist Party of Peru.
Kjære leser!
Tjen Folket Media trenger din støtte. Vi får selvsagt ingen pressestøtte eller noen hjelp fra rike kapitalister slik som rasistiske “alternative medier”. All vår støtte kommer fra våre lesere og fra den revolusjonære bevegelsen. Vi er dypt takknemlige for dette. Vi overlever ikke uten, og du kan gjøre ditt bidrag ved å støtte oss med det du kan avse.