Hi, I am from India and over the course of the past year I have become radicalized and am a Marxist-Leninist now, but i have a lot of knowledge gap regarding many aspects of Indian Politics.

I needed some recommendations for books relating to Indian History (Caste, Colonialism, Independence Struggle, Indira Gandhi shenanigans and so on), any recommended authors? Hopefully from a Socialist/Communist or at least leftist perspective.

There are some other topics i would love recommendations for as well: Feminism in India, Trans Struggle (and LGBTQIA+ struggle in India in general), Economic Policies and the like. Thank you for your help!

  • burlemarx@lemmygrad.ml
    0·
    2 months ago

    Hi comrade, I don’t know much about Indian history, aside the poor history I was told in Western books.

    There’s this guy who is Pakistani and has some excellent lectures on Marxism and has a book on Pakistani class structure:

    https://youtube.com/@taimurrahman-english

    I also recommend you seek info on the communist party of India, especially the one that runs Kerala today. Also you should read about the Naxalite struggle, a Maoist movement that is still active today (even though reduced after years of confrontation).

    Communist party of India: https://cpim.org/

  • Saymaz@lemmygrad.ml
    0·
    2 months ago

    A people’s History of India series by Indian Marxist historian Irfan Habib.

    • A People’s History of India 1: Prehistory

    • A People’s History of India 2 – The Indus Civilization

    • A People’s History of India 3 – The Vedic Age

    • A People’s History of India 4:The Age of Iron and the Religious Revolution

    • A People’s History of India 5: Mauryan India

    • A People’s History of India 6 – Post Mauryan India

    • A People’s History of India 7: Society and Culture in Post-Mauryan India

    • A People’s History of India 14: Economic History of India: The Period of the Delhi Sultanate and the Vijayanagara Empire

    • A People’s History of India 20: Technology in Medieval India

    • A People’s History of India 23: The Establishment of British Rule

    • A People’s History of India 25: Indian Economy Under Early British Rule

    • A People’s History of India 28: Indian Economy, 1858–1914

    • A People’s History of India 30: The National Movement

    • A People`s History of India 31: The National Movement, Part 2: The Struggle for Freedom

    • A People`s History of India 36: Man and Environment

    Caste

    • Annihilation of Caste by B. R. Ambedkar
    • Republic of Caste: Thinking Equality in the Time of Neoliberal Hindutva by Anand Teltumbde

    British Colonialism

    • Notes on Indian History 664-1858 by Karl Marx
    • The Anarchy: The Relentless Rise of the East India Company by William Dalrymple
    • Inglorious Empire: What the British Did to India by Shashi Tharoor (Warning: The author’s liberal. You know him.)
    • India in Transition by M.N.Roy
    • Late Victorian Holocausts by Mike Davis
    • Revolutionary Pasts: Communist Internationalism in Colonial India by Ali Raza

    Marxist authors

    • Gandhi vs Lenin by S.A.
    • Why I am an Atheist by Bhagat Singh
    • The Historic Eight Documents by Charu Mazumdar

    Post-1947

    • Nightmarch: Among India’s Revolutionary Guerrillas by Alpa Shah.
    • Walking with the Comrades by Arundhati Roy.
    • The first Naxal: an authorised biography of Kanu Sanyal by Bappaditya Paul
    • India’s First Dictatorship: The Emergency, 1975-1977 by Christophe Jaffrelot, Pratinav Anil
    • The Communist Party of India and the Indian Emergency by David Lockwood (Fuck the CPI snakes!)
    • The Communist Party in Kerala: Six Decades of Struggle and Advance by E. M. S. Namboodiripad.
    • No Free Left: The Futures of Indian Communism by Vijay Prashad.

    Women’s liberation

    • Philosophical Trends in the Feminist Movement by Anuradha Ghandy
    • Scripting the Change: Selected Writings of Anuradha Ghandy
    • Revolutionary Desires: Women, Communism, and Feminism in India by Ania Loomba