Alyss’s Comments (group member since Dec 09, 2021)

Alyss’s comments from the Reading with Comrades group.

Briona, I haven’t read The Communist Manifesto but lots of people say it’s short and accessible. See if you can find an ebook online and give it a try. There are also many reading lists of articles, essays and books. I chose The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx from this list. I found a pdf online and it’s pretty easy going so far. https://www.haymarketbooks.org/blogs/...

What did you guys think of The Years of Rice and Salt? I read most of it last summer (about the time you all were reading it, oddly). I came for the alternate history, but found that the author was really here for the buddhist philosophy. It was interesting, but didn't keep my interest as much as a good character driven history would have.

I found the elements about Chinese colonization of the west coast of North America and the rise of the Haudenosaunee Confederation especially interesting. I think speculation about what indigenous North American people would/could have achieved without the genocide inflicted by European colonization is a really interesting line of thinking and I think Robinson did a good job of showing their culture as complex and humane.

I do wonder about his theme that technological advancement, colonization and large scale war are inevitable to be interesting questions though. The Chinese and Indian influences make the warfare different, but not less destructive than European war. Is that kind of human development really inevitable?

Like I said, I didn't finish it all the way through so possibly the ending showed some elements I missed. What did you all think?

Hi all, I'm Alyss, a middle school science teacher from Portland OR. I use she/they pronouns. Living in the capitalist hellhole that is the post-Trump, still-COVID United States it's hard to think that labels are terribly helpful. I recently said I identify as anarchist, communist, anti-capitalist, leftist, Quaker, Democratic Socialist, Democrat, liberal, whatever else depending on who's asking and why. All I know is we set up a system that is anti-life and dismantling capitalism is the only way forward. Anyway, I read a lot of fantasy and am excited to read more theory and history this year. For a audio-learning experience, I highly recommend the Witch, Please podcast. They apply graduate level theoretical frameworks to the Harry Potter series. They're critical, feminist, smart as hell and it's the theory education I wish I had found earlier in life :)

Hi all, I'm going to be reading The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx by Alex Callinicos. There's a PDF version available on Libcom.org, so that's cool :)