Thoughts on reading Non-Marxist political works alongside Marxist theory? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 20 hours ago by XiJinpingStanAccount@lemmy.ml to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

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So obviously it's good to read Communist works. Lenin, Engels, Marx, Stalin, Mao, etc. But I'm curious how many people have ventured out into other things? I think personally that it can be useful when you are doing a materialist analysis of the real world to have different frameworks to pull from as well. Even if they aren't communist, and at times the methods within are used as tools of oppression by the capitalist class. Some still have useful knowledge and insights, or at the very least aid you in analyzing the way an enemy might think.

Have you/would you see value in reading these sorts of texts?

Some examples: The Art of War, The Arthashastra, The Analects, Meditations, The Prince, Discourses on Livy, The Book of the Five Rings, Common Sense, Candide, etc

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[-] SmokeInFog@midwest.social 0 points 16 hours ago

Apologies, as a non-campist myself I should probably avoid posting on .ml boards. Because this is a .ml channel I read your OP as genuinely asking if people thought reading non-marxist takes and perspectives would be worth your time as a shortcut to you yourself deciding if they were worth your time. I was trying to say "Yes" without saying that in order to understand the strengths and weaknesses of Marxist doctrine (and vice versa) you should absolutely read outside the tankie cannon. When you responded with great examples of why one might read them even if they are the sincerest of tankies confused me, as they are basically a great response to how I originally read your OP.

[-] XiJinpingStanAccount@lemmy.ml 2 points 16 hours ago

I wanted to gauge like how much people read outside the main ML theory. I have dozens of books like this physically on my bookshelf myself. But I've never heard like an ML mention the Art of War when recomending things to read. So was curious what people thought about it. One reason I find it interesting is modern China actually does incorporate a lot of Sun Tzu and Confucian style thinking into how they do things and it works quite well for them, but it's not something I see highlighted often.

this post was submitted on 08 Oct 2026

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