I know that the Communist Manifesto is always mentioned in politics, but what, if any, other literature should I read first if I want to understand Communism? I consider myself a Socialist at the moment, but can’t really get behind the statelessness of Anarchism.
The first few books on this list are good starters. Socialism Utopian and Scientific, Principles of communism, state and revolution, and blackshirts and reds would probably be the ones I’d recommend starting out.