I would recommend reading a lot of other theory before starting Kapital. The USSR also wrote a textbook on Political Economy that was designed for students and may be easier to understand. It also talks about things that aren't in Kapital like imperialism, socialism, and feudal and slave societies.
This (scroll down halfway to the economic doctrines section) talks about different economic schools including the petty-bourgeois views of Sismondi and others. You should also read the Principles of Communism.
ProleWiki also has two beginner reading lists for Marxism: 1 2
Kings and Generals literally has a guy from the NED writing their scripts.
There was even an informant (Malinovsky) in the Central Committee at one point.
R/communism has a series of masterposts on these countries. Overall, they all improved standards of living and were way better than feudalism or fascism. The majority of people in the Eastern Bloc say life was better under socialism except in a few countries like Poland and Czechia. The GDR was probably the most successful of the Eastern Bloc countries despite suffering at first from war reparations.
In terms of LGBT rights, the Warsaw Pact countries (besides Romania) were much more progressive than the USSR itself and all decriminalized LGBT relationships in the 1960s.
Flaws include Yugoslavia never collectivizing land, allowing kulaks into the party, and sometimes siding with the USA in foreign policy; Romania’s nationalist deviations and bad abortion policy; Poland’s lack of a domestic revolution and reliance on Soviet occupation for their revolution; and Albania’s isolationism, which caused stagnation even though Hoxha was right in criticizing Khrushchev.
Right now, they’re fighting over whether to go to war with Russia or China or both. Republicans are more anti-China and want to stop funding Ukraine so they can focus on China.
The "biography" link is just Wikipedia
Langley, VA, USA
Saudi Arabia is more democratic than Laos, China, or Korea L毛.
Here is ProleWiki’s article.
It might not be mentioned because, although there were protests in the square, all deaths were in streets near the square instead of in the square itself.
It is about Crimean Tatars, not the Tatars from Tatarstan.
Another View of Stalin has a chapter on it.