We have to try and understand the world to be able to change it!
It is important that socialists educate ourselves by reading at least a few basic socialist booklets.
Below we have provided a list of booklets that we can recommend to read to gain a basic understanding of the world, our history and how we can help to build a better society.
All these booklets available for free download from the links provided or paper copies can be obtained from Iva Valley Books, for N500 each (2nd Floor, NLC Offices, Abuja). We also have a range of other pamphlets and many other books to buy.
Other socialist publications are available for free down-load from:
https://ivavalleybooks.com/category/iva-valley-free-pamphlets
Introductions to Socialism for Newer Members and Supporters of Socialist Labour:
- Marxism at the Millennium – Tony Cliff (2000)
An introduction to Marxism by a Palestinian Jew who emigrated to Britain and founded the Socialist Workers Party. Written for socialists across the world.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2022/03/29/marxism-at-the-millennium
- Fight for Women’s Rights – Tina Ndi (2012)
Why women and men need to fight for women’s rights. The main demands that Nigerian women have for equality and emancipation. https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/08/21/the-fight-for-womens-rights/
- A Rebel’s Guide to Karl Marx – Mike Gonzalez (2006)
Marx’s ideas developed out of the great mass struggles of the nineteenth century for democracy and working class liberation in Europe.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2021/02/24/a-rebels-guide-to-karl-marx
- A Rebel’s Guide To Lenin By Ian Birchall
A guide to the real Lenin, showing the complexities behind a man often vilified by historians. Ian Birchall guides the reader through an introductory analysis of Lenin’s experiences and achievements, showing his methods and motivations in attempting to create a world in which production was to be for human need rather than profit.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/A-Rebels-guide-to-Lenin-.pdf
- Trotsky: A Rebel’s Guide – Esme Choonara (2007)
Leon Trotsky was the key organiser of the October 1917 Russian revolution and the architect for the Red Army’s victory in the civil war that followed.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/07/17/a-rebels-guide-to-trosky
- A new phase for African liberation – Socialism from below (2003)
Why we need socialism to be the next phase of African liberation. Written especially for Africans, but now a bit dated as written nearly 20 years ago.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/09/04/a-new-phase-of-african-liberation
- Unity and Solidarity- how we can win strikes
The poor majority have suffered major attacks on their living standards in the last few months. The price of petrol tripled, transport costs doubled and officially food inflation was over 30% over the year to the end of September. However, the trades unions have so far failed to provide the necessary robust response to these attacks.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2024/01/03/unity-and-solidarity-how-we-can-win-strikes-2/ - 10 Reasons Why Student Loans are a Scam!
The Government’s answer to escalating tuition fees in tertiary education institutions is its proposal for student loans. This pamphlet shows that this is a scam that will still remove tertiary education from the poor masses.
“The students loan policy is based on a lie which is that Nigeria is too poor to fund public education, but this is not true. Nigeria has enough resources to fund public education if these resources are democratically-planned and managed instead of being stolen by the corrupt capitalist elite.”
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2024/01/03/10-reasons-why-student-loans-are-a-scam
More detailed booklets:
- Mass Strikes In Nigeria: 2000–2016 – Struggling Against Neoliberal Hegemony – Femi Aborisade & Drew Povey (2016)
An account of the first 10 general strikes and other working class struggles after the end of the military era.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/09/18/mass-strikes-in-nigeria-2000-2016/
2. Socialists in The Trade Unions by Alex Callinicos 1995
Why is it that trade union leaders often need to be pushed into leading active strikes to improve the lives of the majority. How socialists need to organise in trade unions. https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/09/28/socialists-in-the-trade-unions/
3. The Struggle for Development – Benjamin Selwyn (2017)
Benjamin challenges the dominant view that human development can only be achieved through continued economic growth and industrialisation. Ben sees development as a process of the organised working class resisting and ultimately going beyond capitalist exploitation.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/11/16/struggle-for-development/
4. The Next Stage of African Liberation will be Socialism by Joseph Choonara & Leo Zeilig 2020
Socialism in Africa will develop from strikes and the daily trade union struggles of workers. Socialists need to provide support and solidarity for these strikes and generalise the experience.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2022/03/29/the-next-stage-of-african-liberation-will-be-socialism/
5. Post Independence Growth, the Lost Decades and Africa Rising: the Economic History of sub-Saharan Africa – Biodun Olamosu & Drew Povey (2014)
An economic history of Africa from the great expectations at independence, through the lost decades of the 1980s and 1990s and into boom of the 2000s fuelled by raising prices of primary products.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/11/06/post-independence-growth-the-lost-decades-and-africa-rising/
For an update on the Nigerian economy in the 21st Century see:
6. Problems of Socialism: The Nigerian Challenge – Eddie Madunagu (1982)
An analysis of the first two decades of Nigerian independence by a leading Nigerian Marxist. He still has an occasional column in the Guardian newspaper.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/11/09/problems-of-socialism
Eddie Madunagu’s articles from the early 2020s are available here:
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2021/05/15/edwin-madunagu-at-75
- System Change Not Climate Change – Martin Empson & others (2019)
How capitalism led to climate change, how we can fight it and the possible alternatives.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/07/10/system-change-not-climate-change/
- Women as workers and reproductive Labour – Rohini Hensman (2011)
Based on the specific experience of trade unionists in India, but most of the lessons are relevant for Nigeria. Can be used by trade unionists, men as well as women, to try and ensure that their trade unions take the issue of women workers seriously.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2021/11/19/working-women-and-reproductive-labour
- We Should All Be Feminists – Chimamanda Adichie (2015)
“Feminist” isn’t an insult, but rather a label that should be embraced by all, men as well as women. Feminism advocates for equity and equality between men and women in all aspects of their lives.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2022/03/29/we-should-all-be-feminist
- Feminism for the 99% – Cinzia Arruzza, Tithi Bhattacharya, and Nancy Fraser (2019)
Taking as its inspiration the new wave of feminist militancy that has erupted globally, this manifesto makes a simple but powerful case: feminism shouldn’t start—or stop—with the drive to have women represented at the top of their professions. It must focus on those at the bottom, and fight for the world they deserve.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2022/03/29/feminism-for-the-99/
- The Women’s Revolution: Russia 1905–1917Judy Cox
The dominant view of the Russian Revolution of 1917 is of a movement led by prominent men like Vladimir Lenin and Leon Trotsky. Despite the demonstrations of female workers for ‘bread and herrings’, which sparked the February Revolution, in most historical accounts of this momentous period, women are too often relegated to the footnotes. Judy Cox argues that women were essential to the success of the revolution and to the development of the Bolshevik Party. With biographical sketches of famous female revolutionaries like Alexandra Kollontai and less well-known figures like Elena Stasova and Larissa Reisner, The Women’s Revolution tells the inspiring story of how Russian women threw off centuries of oppression to strike, organize, liberate themselves and ultimately try to build a new world based on equality and freedom for all.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2023/07/11/the-womens-revolution-russia-1905-1917judy-cox
- China : A Socialist Alternative – Charlie Hore and others
Many Africans have mixed feelings about China. On the one hand China was an underdeveloped peasant economy which transformed itself over a few decades to being the manufacturing centre of the world. On the other hand, China is a major imperialist power which competes with local manufacturing with its cheap imports.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2022/03/29/china-a-socialist-analysis
- Fidel Castro : His Political Origin, Rule And Legacy – Samuel Farber (2019)
For some of the left, there is still considerable misinformation and confusion about the true nature of Cuba’s “really existing socialism”. The lack of democracy is a critical test of how seriously the international left takes its democratic pronouncements.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2021/07/19/fidel-castro-his-political-origin-rule-and-legacy
- Workers, Unions And Global Capitalism : Lessons From India – Rohini Hensman
Using India’s labour movement as a model, Rohini Hensman charts the successes and failures, strengths and weaknesses, of the struggle for workers’ rights and trade union organisation. As Indian products gain wider acceptance in global markets, the disparities in employment conditions and union rights between such regions as the European Union and India’s vast informal sector are exposed.
The book provides an excellent view of capitalism and how trades unions can fight it – in the Global South. Many of the issues Rohini raises from a South Asian vantage point are equally true for Nigeria.
Some Classic works of Marxism:
- The Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx & Fredrick Engels (1848)
First published in 1848, the book offers a detailed critique of capitalism, a spirited defense of communism, and practical suggestions for bringing about a communist society.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2020/12/30/the-communist-manifesto/
- The State and Revolution by Lenin (1917)
Written on the eve of the socialist revolution in Russia by the leader of the Bolsheviks. It describes the role of the state in society, the necessity of proletarian revolution, and the theoretic inadequacies of social democracy in achieving revolution.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2022/03/29/lenin-the-state-and-revolution
- The Prophet and the Proletariat – Islamic Fundamentalism, Class and Revolution – Chris Harman (1994)
Chris Harman charts a careful course through the contradictions of Islamism, revealing its class roots and arguing that when the Islamists are in opposition the socialist attitude should be ‘with the state never, with the Islamists sometimes’.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2021/05/07/the-prophet-and-the-proletariat
- Russia: how the revolution was lost – Chris Harman (1967)
In 1917, Russian workers and peasants overthrew the Tsar and went on to run society without bosses. Women were at the forefront of these events, tearing up the deep-rooted oppression they faced. Ultimately it was defeated and replaced by Stalin’s dictatorship.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2022/03/28/russia-how-the-revolution-was-lost/
- How Europe Underdeveloped Africa – Walter Rodney
Why is it that Africa is less industrially developed than Europe or North America? What was the broad history of Africa before contact with Europeans? What was the impact of the slave trade on Africa and Europe? How did the colonial period affect development across Africa? This classic volume provides answers to all these questions and more.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2021/09/29/how-europe-underdeveloped-africa
The Political Economy of Nigeria
Other books by the following authors are also worth trying to find and read.
1. Storms on the Niger (Mokwugo Okoye, 1965) Eastern Nigeria Printing Corporation, Enugu
An alternative history of the national liberation struggle in Nigeria, written from the perspective of the working class.
2. A Letter to Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe: A dissent remembered (Mokwugo Okoye, 1979)
Fourth Dimension Pub. Co, 16th Fifth Avenue, City Layout, New Haven., Enugu, 1979
Details the betrayal of the independence struggle by the bourgeois classes.
3. Ethnic Politics in Nigeria (Okwudiba Nnoli, 1978) Fourth Dimension Publishers
Trenchant analysis of the origins of ethnicity and its use in politics
4. Path to Nigerian Development (Okwudiba Nnoli et al, 1981), Codesria, Dakar Senegal (1981)
Introduction to the political economy of Nigeria and working class struggle.
5. Manipulation of Religion in Nigeria (Yusufu Bala Usman, 1987) Vanguard Printers and Publishers, Kaduna
In his conclusion to the 1977 lecture, Usman said: “The real basis of the
manipulation of religion in Nigeria today is the need to obscure from the people of Nigeria a fundamental aspect of our reality: that is the domination of our political economy by a class of intermediaries who are being increasingly exposed. And this is to enable this class to cover themselves with religious and ethnic disguises in order to further entrench division among our people, slow down their awakening,
at any cost; even the unity of our country, for which so much has been sacrificed.”
6. Political Economy of Africa (Claude Ake, 1981) Longman
e-copy available from Iva Valley Books
Examines the historical development of dependence within the international capitalist system, discusses social stratification, cultural factors, social role of women, etc.
7. lmperialism and Underdevelopment in Nigeria – the dialectics of mass poverty (Bade Onimode, 1982) Zed Pres
e-copy available from Iva Valley Books
This book emphasises that Nigeria’s underdevelopment must be understood in its proper historical context of world imperialism or the international capitalist system. An important read for anyone seeking to understand the history of Nigeria’s economic situation from a critical lens even though the book was published in the 1980s and a lot has changed since then.
Nigeria: The Economy and the People – The Political Economy of State Robbery and Its Popular Democratic Negation
Edwin Madunagu, 1984
The tragedy of the Nigerian socialist movement and other essays: With an essay on industrial relations
Edwin Madunagu
Also see: https://socialistlibraryandarchives.org/category/essays/author/edwin-madunagu/
Biography of comrade Ola Oni : a Marxist teacher and activist
Biodun Olamosu, Ibadan : Books Farm House & Publishers, 2018.
Economic Diversification in Nigeria – the politics of building a post-oil economy
Zainab Usman (2022)
A review of the economic developments in Nigeria over the last two decades from the point of view of the ruling class.
Socialist Library and Archives:
An increasingly important resource on Nigerian socialist literature is the Socialist Library and Archives:
https://socialistlibraryandarchives.org
Books We Should Read from Iva Valley Books
Most of the books below are available in paper copies from Iva Valley Books, or as free electronic versions from the links provided.
The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx (Alex Callinicos, 2010)
In this engaging and accessible introduction, Alex Callinicos demonstrates that Marx’s ideas hold an enduring relevance for today’s activists fighting against poverty, inequality, oppression, environmental destruction, and the numerous other injustices of the capitalist system. Alex was born in Zimbabwe, but is based in Britain and a leader member of the Socialist Workers Party.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2024/04/30/the-revolutionary-ideas-of-karl-marx-alex-callinicos
The Point is to Change It (John Molyneux, 2012)
Marx’s ideas are once again vital, in a world wracked by economic crisis and the gap between rich and poor greater than ever. But his philosophy is often misrepresented and mystified, leaving the reader at best confused and at worst with the wrong idea of Marx’s intentions. This small book, aimed primarily at the activist, explains Marx’s ideas in as clear and simple language as possible, using contemporary examples to illustrate concepts and arguments.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2024/04/30/the-point-is-to-change-it-john-molyneux
Lenin for Today (John Molyneux, 2019)
A hundred years after the Russian Revolution, Lenin remains a world historical figure of immense stature – but also a highly contested one. In Lenin for Today, John Molyneux rejects the conventional view that Lenin had a dictatorial attitude to working people and thus paved the way for Stalinism.
Instead, as global capitalism staggers from crisis to crisis and careers towards climate catastrophe, he argues that Lenin’s main ideas – on international workers’ revolution, opposing imperialism and war, overthrowing the state, the need for party organisation and the fight against oppression – remain vital and relevant today.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2024/05/02/lenin-for-today-john-molyneux-2019
What is the real Marxist tradition? (John Molyneux, 1983)
The years since Karl Marx’s death have seen the emergence of movements, organizations and governments declaring themselves to be “Marxist.” How can we make sense of this development? This short book is an attempt to untangle these “Marxisms,” to establish criteria for evaluating claims to stand within the Marxist tradition, to examine the conflicting claims of Social Democracy, Stalinism, and the liberation movements of the Third World and to answer the question, “What is the real Marxist tradition?”
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2024/05/02/what-is-the-real-marxist-tradition-john-molyneux-1983
Unravelling Capitalism (Joseph Choonara, 2017)
Recent years have seen a renewed interest in the ideas of Karl Marx, capitalism’s greatest critic. In this second edition of Unravelling Capitalism, Joseph Choonara brings up to date his introduction to Marx’s approach in order to outline how Marx’s ideas can be applied to the days. Joseph was born in South Africa and is now a leading a leader member of the Socialist Workers Party in Britain.
https://ivavalleybooks.com/2024/04/30/unravelling-capitalism-joseph-choonara
Naija Marxisms and Naija Marxisms: Revolutionary Thought In Nigeria (Adams Mayer, 2016)
Since the 1940s, Marxist thought has developed considerably in Nigeria. Long gone are the days when Marxism meant imported pamphlets and a rootless foreign ideology. The history of “Naija” or Nigerian Marxism is also that of the country’s labor movement, its feminist movement, its social thought, and its political economy. Drawn from three years of research in Nigeria and elsewhere, Naija Marxisms breaks new ground in tracing the historical trajectories of leftist movements since the 1940s. Adam Mayer explores the international context of Nigerian Marxism and provides core chapters on key thinkers.
African struggles today: social movements since independence (Peter Dwyer and Leo Zeilig, 2012)
These leading Africa scholars investigate the social forces driving the democratic transformation of postcolonial states across southern Africa. Extensive research and interviews with civil society organizers in Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zambia, Malawi, Namibia, and Swaziland inform this analysis of the challenges faced by non-governmental organizations in relating both to the attendant inequality of globalization and to grassroots struggles for social justice.
Routledge Handbook Of Marxism And Post-Marxism
Alex Callinicos, Stathis Kouvelakis and Lucia Pradella (eds) (2021)
This handbook explores the development of Marxism and Post-Marxism, setting them in dialogue against a truly global backdrop. Transcending the disciplinary boundaries between philosophy, economics, politics and history, an international range of expert contributors guide the reader through the main varieties and preoccupations of Marxism and Post-Marxism. Through a series of framing and illustrative essays, readers will explore these traditions, starting from Marx and Engels themselves, through the thinkers of the Second and Third Internationals (Rosa Luxemburg, Lenin and Trotsky, among others), the Tricontinental, and Subaltern and Post-Colonial Studies, to more contemporary figures such as Huey Newton, Fredric Jameson, Judith Butler, Immanuel Wallerstein and Samir Amin.
https://singlelogin.re/book/11740373/37a148/routledge-handbook-of-marxism-and-postmarxism.html
There are also a lot of good free articles from the quarterly journal, International Socialism, from the Socialist Workers Party in Britain: http://isj.org.uk/
There are also a range of pamphlets from the SWP in Britain from:
https://socialistworker.co.uk/pamphlets
The following two websites also contain a lot of useful material:
ROAPE offers an agenda of radical political economy that is not only critique but also explores the possibilities of an alternative in the continental projects and movements that have attempted (or are attempting) to build one. We believe that we remain at the cutting edge of debates on African political economy through our continued focus on the agrarian question, rural immiseration dramatised by the food sovereignty debates, the shifting dynamics of popular protest, the transformation of imperialism on the continent, the role of national and international elites and a critical analysis of failed projects for radical change on the continent.
Afrique en lutte
Africa in Struggle is a collective of individuals open to all who aim to be a tool for struggle and information against capitalism and imperialism in Africa.
Most posts are in French, but an increasing number are in English.
https://www.afriquesenlutte.org
Video Resources
There are also a lot of useful videos available for free on the Internet. For a couple of examples see:
Talks from the British Socialist Workers Party:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7auUxUTXzdM see SWP TV
A guide to reading Karl Marx’s great work Capital:
https://davidharvey.org/reading-capital/
