Today I thought I'd explore the left's fascination with books. As anyone who's spent time around socialists will know, their proudest possession is their library. It makes sense: most of us claim to reject consumerism, and most of us can't afford nice cars and fancy suits anyway. But books are a source of knowledge, a weapon in the class struggle. Socialist groups spend much of their time distributing literature. We need books. Therefore it's OK to accumulate hundreds of them.

The Selected Works of Enver Hoxha, for Earl Browder's autobiography? Worst trade ever!"

New socialists collect the classics: 'The Communist Manifesto', obviously; Lenin's 'State and Revolution'; Trotsky's 'My Life'. Later, book collections become increasingly diverse and eclectic, focusing on historical periods and eminent Marxists. And after a while, the truly discriminating socialist looks for publications from other left groups and traditions. This is because:

a) they're pieces of history of our tradition, written by people who in another era would have identified with some of our values. They're a testament to the tremendous energy of the left

b) or they're by people who called themselves socialist but stood for the very top-down, bureaucratic and in some cases murderous traditions I've denounced in this blog. In which case, they're good for ironic humour

c) most of these traditions are dead or nearly so (Stalinism and Maoism), so finding their books becomes a form of kitschy archival research e.g. the Soviet Union's Progress Publishers, or China's Foreign Language Press

d) their aesthetics are radically different from most books. E.g. Progress Books with their institutional green covers and the spine title that runs in the opposite direction.

e) occasionally you do find interesting, edifying books. But that's not really the point.

Lenin's Collected Works - what every socialist aspires to

Marxist intellectuals not being incredibly common, this book fetish is largely unknown to booksellers. A few enterprising petit-bourgeois have cottoned on and started charging $15 for old editions of Engels, but on the whole they're still cheap. And hard to find. A combination of factors - the fabled 'death' of Marxism after the fall of the USSR; the very real problem that, without a USSR, no one makes Soviet books anymore; and the obscure nature of small socialist groups - means socialists can spend much time scouring used bookstores and yard sales in an unsuccessful literature hunt.

Which makes it all the more exhilirating when one does find something. Every year, the university I work for holds a book sale, run by the Ladies Auxiliary, steely-eyed, blue haired members of the class of 1950. They have very particular ideas about what's a decent book to sell, and what isn't. Last Wednesday, they put out three giant, five foot high recycling bins, full of books. Not only were they not selling them, they didn't think they could give them away. These books were to be picked up by the recycling services, and shredded.

This filled me with dread. I hate seeing books thrown out. So I started rummaging through. Immediately I came upon 4 histories of the Chinese Revolution. This piqued my interest, and I dug further, my hands getting filthy, my nostrils filling with dust. I came up with over a dozen chestnuts, listed below. The highlight has to be the ode to Great Leader Kim Il Sung, resplendent in a bright green hardover. Followed closely by the 1975 Maoist reprint of the 1935 American Communist Party organizing manual.

The Smolny's having a book sale! I wonder if Kamenev could fill in for me at the Executive Committee this afternoon?

I was shocked the book ladies would throw this stuff out. It's classic stuff - not exactly politically useful, but so satisfying to have, like a giant veggie burger and wedge fries. And I was overjoyed that I had saved them from being pulped into the next issue of the National Post. Will I read them? Um... quite possibly. I once heard a grad student say "Buying books in a labour of love; reading them is just a labour." However, the labour of finding them - and having them admired by one's peers - is what makes it all worthwhile. Really.

Books I found:
- Chinese Communist Party
The Eleventh National Congress of the Communist Party of China (documents)
- Jalee, Pierre
The Third World in World Economy
- Journal of Contemporary Asia Special Issue: Development and Underdevelopment, Vol. 7, No.1
- Benston, Margaret
The Political Economy of Women's Liberation
- Frank, Andre Gunder
On the Mechanisms of Imperialism: The Case of Brazil
- North, Joseph, Ed.
New Masses: An Anthology of the Rebel Thirties
- Lefebvre, Henri
The Sociology of Marx
- Hinton, William
Fanshen: A Documentary of Revolution in a Chinese Village
- Zwelling, Marc
The Strike Breakers: The Report of the Strikebreaking Committee of the Ontario Federation of Labour and the Labour Council of Metropolitan Toronto
- Howard, Roger
Mao Tse-tung and the Chinese People
- Hill, E.F.
Looking Backward: Looking Forward… Revolutionary Socialist Politics against Trade Union and Parliamentary Politics
- Saul, John S.
Canada and Mozambique
- Compilation Group for the "History of Modern China" Series
The Yi Ho Tuan Movement of 1900
- Keesing's Research Report
The Cultural Revolution in China
- Miliband, Ralph
The State in Capitalist Society: The Analysis of the Western System of Power
- Le Comite Des Cent
Pour un Quebec Socialiste: Manifeste du Mouvement pour un Quebec socialiste, independent, democratique et pour l'egalite entre les hommes et les femmes.
- Lowenthal, Abraham F.
The Dominican Intervention 1965
- Barnet, Richard J.
Intervention and Revolution: America's Confrontation with Insurgent Movements Around the World
- Peters, J.
The Communist Party: A Manual on Organization
- Mukherjee, T.B.
The Social, Economic and Political Ideas of the Great President Kim Il Sung