What would you consider required reading for someone who would want to increase his knowledge on Socialism?

Question

I consider my self to be a socialist (please don't criticize me) but I would like to read up.

Answer 1

When I want to learn about a subject I find a few good articles and look at the references  (bibliography).

I then look at those and then see which one's they point to.

I don't know much about your subject - but I do know how to look things up

Answer 2

Alik gives some very good suggestions.  In addition, I would recommend biographies of Lenin and Trotsky to familiarize yourself with the ideological developments of the Bolshevik revolution.  

Equally important is to read criticisms of socialism.  I'm not trying to convert you or anything lol, but it's important to become familiar with the arguments that are used against socialism, in the same sense that it would be smart for a militant atheist to read the bible.  I would recommend works from the Austrian school, because they dealt a lot with socialism on an ideological basis.  Particularly Socialism from von Mises and The Road to Serfdom from Hayek.

Answer 3

The required reading is Karl Marx' 'The Communist Manifesto'. And if you have a lot of time on your hands, read Marx' 'Das Kapital'.

If you're more into good fiction, you should read 'For whom the Bell Tolls' by Hemmingway, 'The Jungle' by Upton Sinclair, and 'Slaughterhouse V' and 'Breakfast of Champions' by Kurt Vonnegut.

You also might wanna read Mao's 'Little Red Book'.

All of this stuff can be found in your local library.

hope that helped.