Economics for the Socialist Autodidact
Here’s what you should read.
There may come a time in a socialist’s life that, having come to believe “the mode of production of material life conditions the social, political, and intellectual life process in general,” they want to better understand the economic structure of capitalist society. Here are a few suggestions for people who want to get serious but don’t know where to start.
Start in any section you like; they should reinforce one another. If you are starting with no background in economics at all, it may be helpful to start with a basic textbook or two from section (4) before or alongside the visions and history of economics books in (1) and (2). The history books in section (3) are fine for beginners.
1. Marxian and Keynesian visions
Michael Howard and John King (1985) The Political Economy of Karl Marx, New York University Press.
There are many guides to Marx’s Capital, but there are none better than this if you want to get into the economic theory as something to be thought through and debated. Howard and King are sympathetic but also ruthlessly critical, just as Karl would have wanted. Each chapter has a reading list for specific parts of Capital and Marx’s other work, as well as the key debates in the secondary literature. It also covers Marx’s classical predecessors, Smith and Ricardo.
Sorry, but this article is available to subscribers only. Please log in or become a subscriber.