Repost from an glory Anon:
ook Suggestions
An anon in the last thread asked about Marxist literature in reference to material to strategize against/understand the SJW. Another anon compiled a pretty good list of reading material from liberal/right/far-right authors so hopefully they repost it here. Anyways as someone who could be defined politically as a 'Marxist' (don't let me lose you here) I hoped maybe I could help here.
First up, here's a critic of the Frankfurt School (also known around here as 'Cultural Marxism') by David North who is self-defined as a Trotskyist. Luckily he does not touch too much on Trotskyism in this essay but instead focuses heavily on the Frankfurt School and ripes apart some of the criticisms of Marxism set forth by Alex Steiner (a Cultural Marxist). Basically, Steiner was a member of an American Trotskyist party of which David North is the chairman of, but upon leaving wrote a criticism of the party accusing it of not 'getting with the times' so to speak. North's reply in summery is that the ideology Steiner advocates is not Marxism at all and breaks down some of his central arguments. A good bit of the essay deals with internal issues of the party and can probably be skipped.
link: https://www.wsws.org/en/media/documents/legacy/FrankfurtSchool.pdf
Next up, by the same author is "The Frankfurt School, Postmodernism, and the Politics of The Psuedo-Left". I was not able to find a pdf of the full text, but if anyone can please do share. However, I was able to find a pdf of the forward which is worth a read on its own. In this text, particularly the forward, North references again to Steiner as his 'case-study' of psuedo-leftism but expands further to include more examples. At the very end of the forward he defines psuedo-leftism in detail classifying them as those on the left who: utilize populist slogans to promote the affluent middle-class; reject historical materialism (and therefore Marxism); embrace subjective idealism, existentialism, and postmodernism; denies class struggle in favor of populism in the struggle against capitalism; promotes identity politics, therefore seeking greater access to social privilege rather than dismantling it (bolded since I know you guys are familiar with this one); legitimizes neo-colonialism under the guise of 'human rights'.
Anyways, link to that: https://www.wsws.org/en/media/documents/2015/07/28/foreword.pdf
Finally, I've included some works from Slavoj Zizek, with whom you may or may not be familier. For those who aren't, he's become somewhat of a meme among leftists, but as much of a celebrity he's become I don't think his work should be taken lightly. Most of his ideas are borrowed from other Critical Theorists, but it's his ability to synthesis these ideas that I like about him. The book I recommend by him is Living In The End Time since it contains a good amount of critic of liberalism as well as other modern mainstream ideologies. The book attempts to explain the human response to current economic crisises using the stages of grief as a framework. Zizek can be dense as hell in his writing, but he's definitely worth attempting to understand.
Speaking of Zizek, here's a good lecture he's given on the subject of 'Tolerance' as a political ideology. Perhaps this is more relevant reading than his other book on the subject of Gamergate. Here he attempts to illustrate the failings of Liberalism and how a focus on so-called 'tolerance' is ultimately detrimental to both leftism and society as a whole. I think this lecture links together well with David North's definition of 'pseudo-leftism' since Zizek goes into some detail about how 'tolerance' can be used to justify imperialism/colonialism.
Link: http://www.lacan.com/zizek-inquiry.html
Anyways, I'll attempt to dig up some more material about the Frankfurt School since Cultural Marxism is always a hot topic in these threads. There's definitely more Marxist/Leftist criticisms of the Frankfurt School that I haven't read, so I'll try to find ones relevant to our current objectives. Specifically I want to find works relating to counter-strategy, so I will post them here when I find the time. I'd definitely be interested in other book/essay/lecture suggestions if anyone has them.