I'm interested in learning more about the history of the far-left and what the different "factions" (e.g. Marxists, Leninist, Bolsheviks, Maoists, etc) believe in and how they're different from each other. I imagine this is a pretty broad topic and there's probably not one book that covers everything, but any books on any of the belief systems would be helpful. I would also guess that the Communist Manifesto is a good starting point?
Thanks in advance.
"The Global Revolution" by Silvio Pons. "European Communism" by Ronald Kowalski. Both are thorough and comprehensive reads, and feature a lot of the theoretical underpinnings of the movement.
The Communist Manifesto is a must before starting if you haven't already read it. I'd also highly recommend Eric Hobsbawm's "Age of Revolutions" and "Age of Extremes" as a brilliant social history of Europe from the French Revolution to the collapse of the Soviet Union (his other works "Age of Capital" and" Age of Empire" are great as well, but less necessary as far as a background history of social development from the Enlightenment through the contemporary era as the context to study the development of Socialism and Communism as a philosophical and political movement).
The period from 1789 to 1991 was as interesting, impactful and paradigm shifting an Era as any other in Western History - ranking alongside the Era of 44BCE to the Crisis of the Third Century. I hope you find it as fascinating as I do, and should you find any other good reads please do share.