What are some good books or media for gaining a better understanding of leftist history and tactics?

[Pedro de San Patricio]

Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals was brought to my attention in another thread. I looked it up and immediately decided it'd be the next book I buy. I also decided to begin an informal research into the current leftist networks, ideology, and TTPs. I just want to understand how the movement works - who's in control, what their endgame is, and exactly how they plan to get there. I've already done a similar thing with Islamic extremism so I have a pretty good handle what I'll be doing and how to do it. What are some keystone leftist works? Which do you recommend starting with? Could I have it in my dorm without a reasonable fear of it being found during inspection, misinterpreted, and cause my loyalty to the United States to be questioned?

Obviously I have no love nor loyalty for any anti-American ideology or organization but it's pretty important that I maintain a completely unquestionable record. I've done well at keeping my nose clean so far, aside from the whole "argued Israel and Islamic theology with a shari'ah jurist and part time terrorist for two months" thing. The last thing I need is all the shit that would come from having The Communist Manifesto under my bed, you know?

 

[Liminal]

Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals was brought to my attention in another thread. I looked it up and immediately decided it'd be the next book I buy. I also decided to begin an informal research into the current leftist networks, ideology, and TTPs. I just want to understand how the movement works - who's in control, what their endgame is, and exactly how they plan to get there. I've already done a similar thing with Islamic extremism so I have a pretty good handle what I'll be doing and how to do it. What are some keystone leftist works? Which do you recommend starting with? Could I have it in my dorm without a reasonable fear of it being found during inspection, misinterpreted, and cause my loyalty to the United States to be questioned?

Obviously I have no love nor loyalty for any anti-American ideology or organization but it's pretty important that I maintain a completely unquestionable record. I've done well at keeping my nose clean so far, aside from the whole "argued Israel and Islamic theology with a shari'ah jurist and part time terrorist for two months" thing. The last thing I need is all the shit that would come from having The Communist Manifesto under my bed, you know?

Saul who?

 

[Pedro de San Patricio]

Apparently he was the greatest community organizer I'd never heard of.

 

[2aguy]

Apparently he was the greatest community organizer I'd never heard of.

He trained Hilary Clinton and his minions trained bark obama.......

 

[PaintMyHouse]

Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals was brought to my attention in another thread. I looked it up and immediately decided it'd be the next book I buy. I also decided to begin an informal research into the current leftist networks, ideology, and TTPs. I just want to understand how the movement works - who's in control, what their endgame is, and exactly how they plan to get there. I've already done a similar thing with Islamic extremism so I have a pretty good handle what I'll be doing and how to do it. What are some keystone leftist works? Which do you recommend starting with? Could I have it in my dorm without a reasonable fear of it being found during inspection, misinterpreted, and cause my loyalty to the United States to be questioned?

Obviously I have no love nor loyalty for any anti-American ideology or organization but it's pretty important that I maintain a completely unquestionable record. I've done well at keeping my nose clean so far, aside from the whole "argued Israel and Islamic theology with a shari'ah jurist and part time terrorist for two months" thing. The last thing I need is all the shit that would come from having The Communist Manifesto under my bed, you know?

If you really want to wake your ass up, read Democracy for the Few, Manufacturing Consent, The Corporation, A People's History of the United States, and the Power Game. Get through those five and your life will never be the same, and you won't be either.

And don't worry about Alinsky, he doesn't matter a fucking damn to anyone but Rush and Fox. Until they came along no one but his students had ever heard of him.

 

[HenryBHough]

Read and understood, then properly implemented, many of Alinsky's techniques can also be applied to bring down totalitarian, even "liberal", regimes. It's a good read and very useful if you believe your ends are worth applying the means.

 

[-S-]

Leftist history in the USA, or in general? If USA, read a couple books on the Lincoln administration. He started a lot of what modern conservatives consider "federal overreach". He used the federal government like it was never used before. If I remember correctly, he was the first to institute a federal income tax.

Another two administrations' histories to research would be Theodore Roosevelt's and FDR's. FDR is an obvious one, since it laid the foundation for today's American progressive ideals, but TR was also very left of center on a lot of issues. Read about his business regulation plans, his personal economic belief set, and his third party run for a third presidential term around the year 1912. He was the Progressive ( or Bull Moose) Party's candidate. He was one of the first American leaders to present (and probably the first candidate to run on) the idea of Social Security, though in those early days he called it Social Insurance. He also was a huge supporter of the 'living wage' and ran on that as well.

I'm sure there are others in our history that changed the country with radical leftist ideals for their time, but those are the three that I've researched for my own enjoyment.