Books like Critique of the Gotha Program

Great read, my edition (plain beige colored cover originally printed in the PRC) included letters from Engels after release which are worth checking out if you can find them online. I won't repeat most of Marx's critiques here, but he does a thorough breakdown of each of the points in the Gotha program. Some memorable points for me: 1) Marx repeatedly stresses for a total change of how production is organized, as opposed to the Lassalleans who focus on "fair distribution" of the "proceeds of labor". Aside from the question of what is "fair distribution" and what should we define as the "proceeds of labor", Marx hammers home an important point: "Any distribution whatever of the means of consumption is only a consequence of the distribution of the conditions of production themselves. ... Vulgar socialism (and from it in turn a section of the democrats) has taken over from the bourgeois economists the consideration and treatment of distribution as independent of the mode of production and hence the presentation of socialism as turning principally on distribution". Arguing in the name of socialism based on distribution is a mistake I've made before and I see many still do so. We can recognize the contradiction between the bourgeoisie & proletariat all we want but if we mainly focus on showing how the redistribution of capitalist society would be better, we not only send the wrong msg but also end up along the path of social democracy (and there's obviously the issue of a 'social democrstic' country that relies on redistribution of wealth internally while being an imperialist power) This is Marxism 101 but it helps to see Marx clearly spell it out. 2) Marx is REALLY clear and deliberate in his critique. It's a mistake to simply emulate the style of communist writing in the past, but the quality of Marx's critiques is something to aspire to. He dissects each point of the Gotha program and shows how it's not only incorrect, but horribly defined and vague (making critiquing it that much more annoying). Funny how that remains an issue today too 3) Marx's criticism of the Bourgious concept of "equal rights" is fantastic and goes beyond where many do where they only discuss the issues of 'equal right' between the bourgiosie and proletariat. I can't summarize it with a few quotes so I leave the ending for those who lie and state that Marx believed those who can't work should starve: "In a higher phase of communist society, after the enslaving subordination of the individual to the division of labor, and therewith also the antithesis between mental and physical labor, has vanished; after labor has become not only a means of life but life's prime want; after the productive forces have also increased with the all-around development of the individual, and all the springs of co-operative wealth flow more abundantly – only then can the narrow horizon of bourgeois right be crossed in its entirety and society inscribe on its banners: From each according to his ability, to each according to his needs!"