Far-left political ideologies and movements Books

Book SynopsisPutting the record straight about the last years of Rudolf Hess's lifeTrade ReviewCrisply authoritative first-hand account . . . The odd story of Hess’ imprisonment and death is one of those fascinating footnotes of history and readers will not find a better account of them than this book. -- The Washington Times

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Book SynopsisAmong the major Marxist thinkers of the period of the Russian Revolution, Rosa Luxemburg stands out as one who speaks to our own time. Her legacy grows in relevance as the global character of the capitalist market becomes more apparent and the critique of bureaucratic power more widely accepted within the movement for human liberation. The Rosa Luxemburg Reader will be the definitive one-volume collection of Luxemburg's writings in English translation. Unlike previous publications of her work from the early 1970s, this volume includes substantial extracts from her major economic writings-above all, The Accumulation of Capital (1913)-and from her political writings, including Reform or Revolution (1898), the Junius Pamphlet (1916), and The Russian Revolution (1918). The Reader also includes a number of important texts that have never before been published in English translation, including substantial extracts from her Introduction to Political Economy (1916), and a recently-discovered piece on slavery. With a substantial introduction assessing Luxemburg's work in the light of recent research, The Rosa Luxemburg Reader will be an indispensable resource for scholarship and an inspiration for a new generation of activists.

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Book SynopsisA veteran writer on Russia and the Soviet Union explains why Russia refuses to draw from the lessons of its past and what this portends for the futureTrade Review"A book full of vivid and well-chosen anecdotes."—Financial Times"David Satter has written a book full of vivid and well chosen anecdotes. . . . The use of nostalgia is Satter's field. Russia is not, he believes, able to give itself a chance; in love with their chains, its people cannot face up to the horrors of a past they wish to ignore or romanticize."—John Lloyd, Financial Times"Rich in detail and enthused by civil passion, It Was A Long Time Ago contains many precise, moving and original observations."—Alexander Etkind, Times Literary Supplement"A sweeping study of how the former Soviet Union’s bloody past continues to poison Russia’s present and threatens to strangle the country’s future."—Newsweek"Satter’s reflective, expert analysis of a Russian society in moral and cultural flux after the end of communism provides great food for thought beyond today’s headlines."—Publishers Weekly"This book, its title deliberately inviting a loud shout of ‘No!’ is more vehement than his previous studies of post-Soviet Russia, but just as impeccably argued."—Donald Rayfield, Literary Review"Satter casts fascinating light on the (comparatively cheerful) way in which repression was endured by the citizens of the USSR. . . . An informed and insightful essay – with disturbing implications."—Michael Kerrigan, The Scotsman"A meticulous, sweeping and wrenching history of Russia's burial of Soviet crimes. It is also a sensitive, compelling and convincing exploration of the importance of memory. But it makes a broader contention - that forgetting is a symptom of an illness that Russia contracted before the Soviet era . . . a humane, measured, first-hand, historically and philosophically rooted argument that is hard to refute."—Andrew Gardner, European Voice"Impeccably argued. . . . Satter is a man whom no Russian leader would wish to meet, let alone shake by the hand, but he has their measure."—Donald Rayfield, Literary Review"A meticulous, sweeping and wrenching history of Russia's burial of Soviet crimes . . . [and] a sensitive, compelling and convincing exploration of the importance of memory."—European Voice"Truly illuminating. . . . Satter is both a gifted journalist and a chronicler of intellectual and political currents. . . . Splendidly researched and engagingly written, this book offers invaluable vignettes of various reactions to the still unprocessed remembrance of totalitarian times."—Vladimir Tismaneanu, International Affairs"Highly successful in shedding light on both the nature of the Soviet system and the post-Communist period, this is a lucid, illuminating portrait of the outlook and attitudes of Russians. This book is one of the best I have ever read about the Soviet system and what it left behind."—Paul Hollander, author ofPolitical Will and Personal Belief: The Decline and Fall of Soviet Communism"The central message of this important new book—that Russia cannot reverse its current decline without first coming to terms with the crimes of its Soviet past—is both sobering and absolutely compelling."—Carl Gershman, President of the National Endowment for Democracy"In this penetrating analysis of Russia today, David Satter demonstrates how terror, ideology and mass murder were integrated and institutionalized in the Soviet Union, then dismantled in economic collapse, and are now resurrected in a modern, lighter authoritarian regime, minus the ideology. 'It Never Happened' gives the reader original insights and analysis by a Russian expert par excellence, and one exceptionally well written."—Richard V. Allen, Senior Fellow, Hoover Institution and former National Security Advisor to Ronald Reagan"An insightful, informative and fact-filled book."—Paul Hollander, author of Political Will and Personal Belief: The Decline and Fall of Soviet Communism"Many of our finest journalists have grappled with the moral legacy of Soviet communism. This book is a reminder that no one has stayed with the issue longer, dug deeper, or thought harder about it than David Satter."—Stephen Sestanovich, U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for the former Soviet Union, 1997-2001

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Book SynopsisSocialism has always had internationalist ambitions, but what those ambitions should be and how to rethink them in the 21st century remain open questions. Before his tragic passing in 2020, Michael Brooks talked about a new kind of cosmopolitan socialism that would be appropriate for our time. A How To Guide To Cosmopolitan Socialism builds upon Brooks' vision to argue that we need a left which knows no boundaries and recognizes the fundamental moral equality of all individuals on the planet while securing the material conditions for their flourishing. Only such a sweeping vision can successfully combat the forces of reaction and violence confronting us today.

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Book SynopsisThis edition of letters by Antonio Gramsci vividly evokes the 'great and terrible world' in which he lived, a description he used a number of times in his correspondence. The letters show Gramsci beginning to form the theoretical concepts that come to fuller fruition in the Prison Notebooks, but they also give an essential and rounded picture of Gramsci's development, politically, intellectually and emotionally - the latter especially through letters to his family and wife. Broadly speaking, the letters are of three types: early letters to Gramsci's family; overtly political letters from Turin, Moscow, Vienna, and Rome; and letters to the Schucht sisters, including Jul'ka, whom he married while in Moscow. The political letters constitute a fascinating insight into the period, both with regard to the Communist International and, more often, to Italian politics. The volume also includes the famous letter of 1926 in which Gramsci, writing in the name of the Italian Party's Political Bureau, criticises the Central Committee of the Soviet Communist Party for their handling of internal opposition. The book follows a broadly chronological structure, and includes a general introduction, a guide to the main personalities involved, and additional contextual information for each chapter. It also includes some little-known photographic material.Trade Review'This collection of Gramsci's early correspondence provides new insight into his life and work. Through these letters, we follow the development of Gramsci's own thought and his involvement with the international communist movement. This book will prove an indispensable resource, not only to Gramsci scholars, but to anyone interested in the history of the left more widely.' Mark Fisher, author of Capitalist Realism and Ghosts Of My Life: Writings on Depression, Hauntology and Lost Futures 'This is a meticulous translation of a selection of Gramsci's pre-prison letters with an extensive introduction that places them in their historical context. These letters furnish fascinating new insights into both his personal and political life. Gramsci the man and Gramsci the politician emerge in new depth and detail. The volume is an invaluable asset to anyone interested in better understanding his ideas and his humanity.' Professor Anne Showstack Sassoon, author of Gramsci and Contemporary PoliticsTable of ContentsGeneral introduction 1. School and home in Sardinia 2. University student in Turin 3. Revolutionary Journalist: L'Avanti! and L'Ordine Nuovo 4. Comintern leader in Moscow 5 .Vienna: towards the new PCI leadership 6. Rome I: Political upheaval, family matters 7. Rome II: The last months of freedom Note on the translation Note on main characters

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Book SynopsisA look at the struggle to find alternatives to the failed radical projects of the 20th century.

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Book SynopsisThe life of the complex, ruthless adversary of General Franco, whose life spanned much of Spain’s turbulence in the 20th century.Trade Review‘Enormously engaging … authoritative … fascinating … ‘The Last Stalinist’ is yet another reminder that Paul Preston remains the most reliable historian in the English speaking world for anyone wishing to understand the complicated power struggles between left and right in Spanish politics over the course of the 20th century’ Spectator Praise for ‘The Spanish Holocaust’: ‘A book of extraordinary moral and emotional power, a classic of historical scholarship and a deeply affecting record of man’s inhumanity to man.’ Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times 'A harrowing and moving account of the immense terror and enormous atrocities, especially perpetrated by General Franco's followers, during and after the Spanish Civil War, meticulously researched and superbly written by an outstanding historian.' Ian Kershaw ‘Essential reading for anyone wishing to understand Spain and its recent history…. Preston’s excellent, spine-chilling narrative explains just how deep Franco’s early investment in terror was….this is an invaluable book that does not shrink from even the harshest of truths’ Guardian ‘Preston’s staggeringly detailed powerful and affecting chronicle of the savagery unleashed during the Spanish civil war….is a history of rare moral and emotional power, which alters forever our view of one of the most symbolic conflicts of the last century’ Sunday Times, History Book of the Year

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Book SynopsisThe first volume of The Idea of Communism followed the 2009 London conference called in response to Alain Badiou's 'communist hypothesis', where an all-star cast of radical intellectuals put the idea of communism back on the map.This volume brings together papers from the subsequent 2011 New York conference organized by Verso and continues this critical discussion, highlighting the philosophical and political importance of the communist idea, in a world of financial and social turmoil.Contributors include Alain Badiou, Etienne Balibar, Bruno Bosteels, Susan Buck-Morss, Jodi Dean, Adrian Johnston, François Nicolas, Frank Ruda, Emmanuel Terray and Slavoj Zizek.Trade ReviewDo not be afraid, join us, come back! You've had your anti-communist fun, and you are pardoned for it-time to get serious once again! -- Slavoj Zizek

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[A] fine and undoubtedly enduring study. This affinity of Leninism with Nazism is the argument of Tismaneanu’s book. It is a claim that since 1945, and particularly the Cold War, has generated much controversy. A distinguished book." -- William Pfaff, * New York Review of Books *“This volume achieves the rare distinction of being at once nuanced and impassioned. It is likely to remain a durable contribution to a deeper understanding of the great historical outrages of the past century which were closely linked to the concept and reality of totalitarianism.” -- Paul Hollander, * New Criterion *“An ambitious and challenging rereading of twentieth-century history.” * Times Literary Supplement *“The parallels between communism and fascism have often been noted, fueling endless debates over whether the movements were fundamentally similar or different. The Devil in History . . . presents a genuinely fresh perspective on this topic.” * Foreign Affairs *"A fascinating, brilliant and captivating book. It is a stupendous achievement." * FrontPage Magazine *"The book offers a fascinating read with an incredible wealth of bibliographic sources that will benefit all those interested in the topic. The author has succeeded in giving not only a solid account of the spirituality and history of communist and fascist regimes, but also an outstanding testimony of liberal political and normative thinking." * Cambridge Review of International Affairs *"Vladimir Tismaneanu is the perfect political analyst for today, for he is an expert on both the legacies of Nazism and Communism. In spite of optimistic diagnoses and rampant wishful thinking, these two pathologies are not dead. Vladimir Tismaneanu’s illuminating book is an antidote against new experiments in utopian radicalism and social engineering." * WND *"Many books have been written about the similarities and differences between communism and fascism, both in theory and practice. None, however, matches the insight, analysis, and deep thought found in The Devil in History." * Weekly Standard *"The account provided is particularly strong on separating the critical paradigms of Marxism that emerged in East and West. . . . Getting the record straight here is important and challenges any simplistic notion of Eastern Europe’s conversion to liberalism." * American Historical Review *"Tismaneanu seeks to fulfill the ancient Jewish commandment of remembering and reminding, zachor, lest we forget and it may return. . . . [the book] argues convincingly that a reckoning with the past can be both exorcism and therapy, and insists that there should be no silence or thick line separating the present from the embarrassing past." * Perspectives on Politics *"A fine book" * National Review *“At a time when liberal values are showing their frailty and salvationist mythologies are returning to favour in different places, an absorbing comparative essay is provided on the origins, ravages and ultimate failure of the radical totalitarian movements of the last century: communism and fascism. Vladimir Tismaneanu is an appropriate guide, a polymath steeped in the philosophical, literary and social science texts spawned by defenders, apostates and analysts of this phenomenon.” * International Affairs *“Tismaneanu's real concern is to examine what he calls the ‘maximalist utopian aspirations’ expressed by communist and fascist regimes in Europe to try to understand how it is that systems that set out with a utopian agenda—world revolution or national rebirth—end up constructing murderous dystopias. . . . The core of this perceptive and intelligent analysis is addressed to the more troubling question of how they were possible at all.” * Times Higher Education *“Tismaneanu’s lucid narrative walks us through an intellectual landscape that traces the trajectory of totalitarian thinking back to its origins. . . . a chilling analysis of a century where mankind aimed to reach the promised land through the power of ideas. It shows that thinking of politics as a simple scientific formula that could be solved, once it was followed to its logical conclusion, seriously underestimates the complexities of the human condition.” * Daily Beast *“Mr. Tismaneanu has produced a definitive account of the origins, the appeal, the doctrinal foundations and the political technology of history's two bloodiest political faiths, which, unlike other tyrannies, sought not only to control politics and the economy but to establish permanent state ownership of truth and morality. . . . A powerful indictment of the twin 'utopias in power,' as well as a paean to those who resisted them, this profound and rich book is also a cautionary tale.” * Wall Street Journal *Table of ContentsForeword Prologue: Totalitarian Dictators and Ideological Hubris 1. Utopian Radicalism and Dehumanization 2. Diabolical Pedagogy and the (Il)logic of Stalinism 3. Lenin's Century: Bolshevism, Marxism, and the Russian Tradition 4. Dialectics of Disenchantment: Marxism and Ideological Decay in Leninist Regimes 5. Ideology, Utopia, and Truth: Lessons from Eastern Europe 6. Malaise and Resentment: Threats to Democracy in Post-Communist Societies Conclusions Notes Index

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Book SynopsisA reissue of E. E. Cummings's long-unavailable, yet pointed and moving story of a journey through Soviet Russia.

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Book SynopsisA compelling and accessible textbook, by a pre-eminent Marxist literary critic.Trade Review'Invigorating and lucid - a fine introduction to Marxism in general and to Marxist literary criticism. Foley has done a superb job writing a book that is useful both for novices and for teachers who wish to show how literature is inescapably connected to the material world' -- Viet Thanh Nguyen, author of 'The Sympathizer''Widely surveying contemporary critical theory and practice, Barbara Foley's magisterial book demonstrates the crucial significance of Marxism to our historical moment, and it will be a valuable resource for students, critics, and activists for years to come' -- Robert T. Tally Jr., Texas State University'Foley deftly sketches the lineaments of traditional Marxism, then some main interests of traditional criticism, and then shows in readings of literary texts what depth of insight comes from conjoining the two traditions. I warmly recommend this book especially for those who want to change the world as well as interpret it' -- Richard Ohmann, Wesleyan University'This is a book many have longed for. Readers of literature will find Foley's lucid exposition of Marxist criticism an invaluable guide.' -- Rosemary Hennessy, Rice UniversityTable of ContentsAcknowledgements Prologue PART I: MARXISM 1. Historical Materialism Materialism Production Dialectics Class Base and Superstructure Relative Autonomy Mediation Levels of Generality 2. Political Economy Commodities Commodity Fetishism Labor Power and Exploitation Surplus Value Alienation Capital 3. Ideology Three Definitions of Ideology in Marx Dominant Ideology Relative Autonomy and Mediation Revisited Ideology as Smorgasbord Reification Interpellation Hegemony and Alternative Hegemony PART II: LITERATURE 4. Literature and Literary Criticism Defining Literature Fictionality Density Depth Concreteness and Particularity Showing Not Telling Defamiliarization Universality Empathy Individuality Group Identity Formal Unity Autonomy Beauty Greatness 5. Marxist Literary Criticism Rhetoric and Interpellation Ideology Critique Symptomatic Reading Humanism Realism Proletarian Literature and Alternative Hegemony 6. Marxist Pedagogy Alienation Rebellion Nation War Money Race and Racism Gender and Sexuality Nature Mortality Art Notes Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisLonglisted for South Africa's 2022 Sunday Times Non-fiction Award Definitive and gripping narrative history of the Communist Party of South Africa. Renowned historian Tom Lodge has written an immensely readable and compelling sweep of history, spanning continents and the last hundred years, producing the first comprehensive account of the South African Communist Party in all its intricacies. Taking the story back to the party's pre-history in the early 20th century reveals that it was shaped by a range of socialist traditions and that their influence persisted and were decisive. The party's engagement in popular front politics after 1935 has been largely uncharted: this book supplies fresh detail. In the 1940s the author shows how the party became a key actor in the formation of black working-class politics, and hitherto unused archival materials as well as the insights from an increasingly candid genre of autobiographies make possible a much fuller picture of the secret party of 1952 to 1965. Despite its concealment and tiny numbers, its intellectual impact on black South African mainstream politics was considerable. On the exile period, the author examines the activities of the party's recruits and more informal following inside South Africa, as well as the scope and nature of its broader influence. In 1990, a year in which global politics would change fundamentally, South African communists would return to South Africa to begin the work of reconstructing their party as a legal organisation. Throughout its history, the party had been inspired and supported by the reality of existing socialism, state systems embracing half of Europe and Asia, in which the ruling group was at least notionally committed to the building of communist societies. With the fall of Eastern European regimes and the fragmentation of the Soviet Union, one key set of material foundations for the party's programmatic beliefs crumbled and its most important international alliances in the global socialist community in Eastern Europe and Russia would end. Finally, Lodge brings the story up to date, assessing the degree to which communists both inside and outside government have shaped and influenced policy in successive ANC-led administrations, particularly during the popular resistance to apartheid during the 1950s, which was underpinned by the party's systematic organisation in the localities that supplied the ANC with its strongest bases. Jacana: Africa, IndiaTrade ReviewTom Lodge's in-depth, scholarly work is a landmark achievement. -- Jeremy Cronin * Journal of Asian and African Studies *Lodge provides a richly detailed history of the party's vicissitudes and victories; individuals - their ideas, attitudes and activities - are sensitively located within their context ... Without doubt, this book will become a central text for students of communism in South Africa, of the party's links with Russia and the socialist bloc, and of the Communist Party's changing relations with African nationalism - before, during and after three decades of exile. * BBrief *Probably no-one else other than Tom Lodge, who is so thoroughly versed in the details as well as the grand trajectory of the popular struggles against colonialism and apartheid in South Africa could have written what will become the gold standard of histories of the South African Communist Party (SACP). ... Apart from anything else, it is quite simply a gripping read. ... Lodge's ability to combine survey of grand direction, debate with other historians, and intimate detail of the party's ups-and-downs, shifts and survival against odds is truly exemplary. -- Roger Southall * Transformation: Critical Perspectives on Southern Africa *'A master of the historical yarn, Tom Lodge tells the amazing story of the enigmatic, resilient and chameleonic South African Communist Party. Detailed, meticulously researched and a page turner, the book effortlessly navigates the twists and turns of the red road travelled by idealists and realists who found themselves members of a party that sought to build a society run by workers. Why was the party leadership unable or unwilling, over a century of political activity, to fly the red flag consistently high and instead chose to tie the fate of the vanguard of the working class to that of a nationalist movement, the African National Congress? What are the chances of the party realising its supreme goal of a socialist society given the current situation? These are the questions that Lodge deftly and incisively addresses through a close and critical study of all the scholarly sources and his own independent research. This book is arguably the definitive history of the SACP to date. A must-read for all militants, historians and those interested in understanding the continued influence of the party in South African politics.' * Dr Trevor Ngwane, University of Johannesburg *'Red Road is a fascinating and dispassionate history of "the party" and its role in the South African liberation struggle. Lodge tackles the big questions without flinching, while also capturing the nuances of a complex context. He presents a detailed and integrated narrative of a century of struggle, which does not shy away from the many controversies involved.' * Professor Janet Cherry, Nelson Mandela University *A magisterial account, not just of the South African Communist Party, but of a current of thinking and acting that did so much to shape political struggles in South Africa for a century.' * Jonny Steinberg, Yale University *'Lodge provides a richly detailed history of the party's vicissitudes and victories; individuals - their ideas, attitudes and activities - are sensitively located within their context; the text provides a fascinating sociology of the South African left over time. Lodge is adept at making explicit what the key questions and issues are for different periods; and he answers these with analyses and conclusions that are judicious, clearly stated and meticulously argued. Without doubt, this book will become a central text for students of communism in South Africa, of the party's links with Russia and the socialist bloc, and of the Communist Party's changing relations with African nationalism - before, during and after three decades of exile.' * Professor Colin Bundy, Green Templeton College, University of Oxford *Table of ContentsPreface 1. Just like Russia: Revolutionary Socialists in the Cape and the Transvaal, 1890-1921 2. CPSA: Early History, 1921-1926 3. Native Republic, 1927-1932 4. Factions and Fronts, 1932-1939 5. Patriotic Unity: The Communist Party of South Africa during the 1940s 6. Secret Party: South African Communists between 1950 and 1965 7. Out of Africa, 1965-1977 8. Mayibuye iAfrika, 1977-1990 9. Post-Communism and the South African Communist Party

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Book SynopsisOld Gods, New Enigmas is the highly-anticipated book by the best-selling author of City of Quartz and Planet of Slums. Mike Davis spent years working factory jobs and sitting behind the wheel of an eighteen wheeler before his profile as one of the world's leading urbanists emerged with the publication of his sober, if dystopian survey of Los Angeles. Since then, he's developed a reputation not only for his caustic analysis of ecological catastrophe and colonial history, but as a stylist without peer.Old Gods, New Enigmas is Davis's book-length engagement with Karl Marx, marking the 200th anniversary of Marx's birth and exploring Davis's thinking on history, labor, capitalism, and revolution - themes ever present the early work from this leading radical thinker. This will be his first book on Marxism itself.In a time of ubiquitous disgust with political and economic elites, explores the question of revolutionary agency-what social forces and conditions do we need to transform the current order?-and the situation of the world's working classes from the US to Europe to China. Even the most preliminary tasks are daunting. A new theory of revolution needs to return to the big issues in classical socialist thought, such as clarifying "proletarian agency", before turning to the urgent questions of our time: global warming, the social and economic gutting of the rustbelt, and the city's demographic eclipse of the countryside. What does revolution look like after the end of history?Trade ReviewIn this collection of essays, Davis searches Karl Marx's ouvre for a revolutionary paradigm capable of addressing present-day economic inequality and climate change...While the esoteric case studies and historical summaries will appeal primarily to readers already familiar with Marx, the book also offers the simple pleasure of watching Davis's nimble mind at work. * New Yorker *Davis resuscitates myriad overlooked works of political and environmental history and theory in this insightful collection. * Publishers Weekly *The heterogeneity of Davis's latest book Old Gods, New Enigmas reflects his decades of accumulated interests...a formidable intellectual, and this collection contains many gems. -- Troy Vettese * Boston Review *

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Book SynopsisWhat does the development of a truly robust contemporary theory of domination require? Ashley J. Bohrer argues that it is only by considering all of the dimensions of race, gender, sexuality, and class within the structures of capitalism and imperialism that we can understand power relations as we find them nowadays. Bohrer explains how many of the purported incompatibilities between Marxism and intersectionality arise more from miscommunication rather than a fundamental conceptual antagonism. As the first monograph entirely devoted to this issue, "Marxism and Intersectionality" serves as a tool to activists and academics working against multiple systems of domination, exploitation, and oppression.Trade Review"The contributions of Bohrer [offer] the starting point for productive debate: serious about the matter, solidary in dealing with it." Vincent Streichhahn, Femina Politica, 1 (2020), translated from German "Ashley Bohrers "Marxism and Intersectionality" is indispensable reading for socialists trying to understand how class, race and gender mesh." -- Peter Drucker, Rampant, 24.03.2020

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Book SynopsisAn innovative Marxist analysis of the new managerial class.Trade Review'Every serious student of political economy will want to read Gerard Dumenil and Dominique Levy's masterful synthesis of Marxist method, contemporary Econo-physics, and their own theoretical and empirical work on the emergence of neoliberal managerial forms of capitalism on a global scale' -- Duncan K. Foley, Leo Model Professor of Economics, New School for Social ResearchTable of ContentsList of Figures List of Tables Introduction 1. An overview PART I: MODES OF PRODUCTION AND CLASSES 2. Patterns of income distribution 3. Marx’s theory of history 4. Managers in Marx’s analysis 5. Sociality and class societies 6. Managerialism and managerial capitalism 7. A wealth of alternative interpretations 8. Hybridization as analytical challenge PART II: TWELVE DECADES OF MANAGERIAL CAPITALISM 9. Varying trends of inequality 10. The sequence of social orders 11. Class and imperial power structures 12. The politics of social change 13. Tendencies, crises, and struggles PART III: PAST ATTEMPTS AT THE INFLECTION OF HISTORICAL DYNAMICS 14. Utopian capitalism in bourgeois revolutions 15. Utopian socialism and anarchism 16. Self-proclaimed scientific socialism PART IV: PROSPECTS FOR HUMAN EMANCIPATION WITHIN AND BEYOND MANAGERIALISMS 17. The economics and politics of managerialisms 18. The potential of popular struggle Notes Index

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Book SynopsisThe political ambitions of the movement behind Bernie Sanders have never been limited to winning the White House. Since Bernie first entered the presidential primaries in 2016, his supporters have worked to organize a revolution intended to encourage the active participation of millions of ordinary people in political life. That revolution is already underway, as evidenced by the massive growth of the Democratic Socialists of America, the teachers Bernie motivated to lead strikes across red and blue states, and the rising new generation of radicals in Congress-led by AOC and Ilhan Omar-inspired by his example.In Bigger than Bernie, activist writers Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht give us an intimate map of this emerging movement to remake American politics top to bottom, profiling the grassroots organizers who are building something bigger, and more ambitious, than the career of any one candidate. As participants themselves, Day and Uetricht provide a serious analysis of the prospects for long-term change, offering a strategy for making "political revolution" more than just a campaign slogan. They provide a road map for how to entrench democratic socialism in the halls of power and in our own lives.Bigger than Bernie offers unmatched insights into the people behind the most unique campaign in modern American history and a clear-eyed sense of how the movement can sustain itself for the long haul.Trade ReviewMeagan Day and Micah Uetricht are two of the most brilliant and courageous intellectuals organically grounded in the marvelous militancy of the Sanders Movement. This indispensable book is a powerful, pioneering analysis of these new radical times, and a compelling vision of where it all might be going. -- Cornel West, author of Races MattersHannah Arendt said we should 'think what we are doing.' And that is what Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht have done here. Their book not only examines all that democratic socialists have achieved in the past few years but also gives an exhilarating account of what we'll be doing in the coming years. Anyone who thinks, with dread or relief, that the work comes to an end after Election Day in 2020 will think again. As Day and Uetricht show, the fight for democratic socialism has only just begun, and I'm going to keep coming back to them and their book in order to understand where and how it goes in the future. -- Corey Robin, author of The Enigma of Clarence ThomasBigger Than Bernie is a comprehensive and necessary read for those longing for a more humane country, and as someone who has been up close in many of our current fights for justice, I can attest to the power of its analysis. The authors champion non-reformist reforms that arise from and propoel social movements, and provide an essential roadmap for achieving permanent change. An energizing and instructive account that brings socialism into the present tense. -- RoseAnn DeMoro, former head of National Nurses UnitedPart history lesson, part guide book; this is a love letter to the everyday people and movements who transformed this country and who continue to declare that our lives have meaning, and our future is worth fighting for. Bigger than Bernie, isn't about the man who's spent the majority of his political career on the fringes. It's about fighters. It's about thinkers. It's about love. It's about US. -- Phillip Agnew, Co-founder of the Dream DefendersAn indispensable guide to 21st century socialism from the view of clear eyed, sharp witted, smart, funny authors who lay bare the past failures of angry, narrow sectarianism, and offer a bold, dynamic vision for using the Sanders moment to build a stronger left. These authors, like the magazine they write for, give me hope! -- Jane McAlevey, author of A Collective BargainBigger Than Bernie offers an important contribution to the urgent debates about rebuilding the American Left. Leading members of the Democratic Socialists of America, Megan Day and Micah Uetricht link that process to the improbable emergence of Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign and his insistence on "Not me, Us." Day and Uetricht put flesh on Sanders's call for a "political revolution" which they see as not only critical to the success of Sanders' campaign, but the revitalization of class struggle politics and organizing in the U.S. Buy, read, discuss and debate this book! -- Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor, author of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation

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Book Synopsis...Clifford is a talented storyteller who has met some of Hong Kong's quirkier personalities. -- Peter Baehr, Times Literary SupplementTrade ReviewPowerful, comprehensive and poignant, this book offers a truthful and balanced overview of events in Hong Kong over the past three decades or more. As someone who has lived and breathed much of what Mark Clifford writes, I identify with it and endorse it totally. If you want to understand Hong Kong, the Chinese Communist Party and the threat to freedom itself, you must make it a top priority to read this book -- Benedict Rogers, co-founder and Chief Executive of Hong Kong WatchGripping and powerfully written … Tells us much about the growing threat China's top leaders pose to global freedoms … Clifford pulls in the reader through a vivid account of Hong Kong's history and on-the-ground reporting on the students, business tycoons and politicians central to this disturbing drama … He taps into his deep experience running Hong Kong's top English language newspaper, directing the business association representing the region's most powerful companies, his close contacts with senior Hong Kong officials, and his crucial role as a director for Hong Kong's once most independent media company, whose destruction is central to this modern tragedy. Clifford, who has spent most of his adult life in Hong Kong, is uniquely suited to tell this sad story ... A must-read account on the ongoing destruction of Hong Kong and why it matters to the world -- Dexter Roberts, author of The Myth of Chinese CapitalismMark Clifford has written a riveting and passionate account of China's attack on Hong Kong and its broader implications. Today Hong Kong, Tomorrow the World parts the curtains on what every informed citizen should know and be thinking about -- Jeffrey E. Garten, Dean Emeritus, Yale School of ManagementThe world has usually viewed Hong Kong as either a last gasp of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century European colonialism or, more recently, as a buzzing beehive of modern capitalism. Neither image captures the surprising phenomenon that Mark Clifford details in this masterly study. Hong Kong has now become a front line in the worldwide quest for human freedom. Pursuit of it has spouted like a geyser from Hong Kong wellsprings that are located neither in national pride nor in appetite for lucre but in human nature itself – in the desire to be master of one's own life. The Communist Party of China's repression of Hong Kong is both fierce and unscrupulous, and the world ignores this stand-off at its peril. As Václav Havel has taught us, an assault on human dignity anywhere is an assault on it everywhere -- Perry Link, author of An Anatomy of Chinese

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Book SynopsisWalter Benjamin is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic intellectual figures of this century. Not only was he a thinker who made an enormous impact with his critical and philosophical writings, he shattered disciplinary and stylistic conventions. This collection, introduced by Susan Sontag, contains the most representative and illuminating selection of his work over a twenty-year period, and thus does full justice to the richness and the multi-dimensional nature of his thought. Included in these pages are aphorisms and townscapes, esoteric meditation and reminiscences of childhood, and reflections on language, psychology, aesthetics and politics.Trade ReviewThe most important German aesthetician and literary critic of this century -- George SteinerBenjamin was one of the unclassifiable ones ... whose work neither fits the existing order nor introduces a new genre. -- Hannah ArendtBenjamin was the interlocutor of all the demons and angels of storytelling. And this is why he knew its endless secrets. Listen to him. -- John BergerA complex and brilliant writer * J. M. Coetzee *

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"2019 War on the Rocks Holiday Reading List"

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Book SynopsisMao Zedong remains one of the most controversial figures in modern world history. This ''living legacy'' is the subject of intense, ongoing debate both within China and throughout the rest of the world. Here, volume 1 of the only biography of Mao written with full access to the Chinese Communist Party Archives to date is presented in English translation. This volume, the first of three undertaken by the historians of the Party Literature Research Office of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, covers Mao''s career in the pre-revolutionary period, 18931949. As an extended official account of Mao, and Mao''s thought, this work offers a unique source through which to view the Chinese Communist Party''s portrayal of the transformative events of the twentieth century and Mao''s pivotal role therein.Table of ContentsPreface; Introduction Tim Cheek; 1. Leaving home; 2. The college student; 3. Baptized by the great tide of the May Fourth Movement; 4. Man of action in the early years of party building; 5. Work inside the Guomindang; 6. March towards the Peasant Movement; 7. The thunder of an uprising; 8. Ascent to Jinggang mountains; 9. Opening base areas in South Jiangxi and West Fujian; 10. Opposing bookism; 11. The Red Army attacks not Nanchang but Ji'an; 12. Smashing three 'encirclement and suppression' campaigns; 13. Chairman of the Chinese Soviet Government (I); 14. Chairman of the Chinese Soviet Government (II); 15. The long march; 16. Laying a foundation in the Northwest; 17. Before and after the Xi'an incident; 18. Summing up historical experience; 19. Outbreak of the nationwide War of Resistance against Japanese aggression; 20. Guiding armed resistance behind enemy lines and 'on protracted war'; 21. From the September meeting to the Sixth Plenary Session; 22. The struggle against friction; 23. The theory of new democracy; 24. Before and after the Southern Anhui incident; 25. Building up the border region and surmounting difficulties; 26. The rectification Movement (I); 27. The rectification Movement (II); 28. Proposal for a coalition government; 29. Struggling for final victory in the War of Resistance; 30. Chongqing Negotiations; 31. Peace or war?; 32. After the outbreak of a Nationwide Civil War; 33. Greeting the new high tide of the Chinese Revolution; 34. Going over to the strategic offensive; 35. Eastwards to Xibaipo; 36. Eve of the decisive battle; 37. In the days of the Great Decisive Battle (I); 38. In the days of the Great Decisive Battle (II); 39. Carrying the revolution through to the end; 40. Preparing the founding of new China.

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Book SynopsisWithout doubt the most important work on literary criticism that has emerged out of the tradition of Marxist philosophy and social theory since the 19th century.Trade Review'Terry Eagleton is that rare bird among literary critics - a real writer.' - Colin McCabe, The Guardian`Marxism and Literary Criticism is amazingly comprehensive for its brief format. Eagleton has been able to sum up the main areas of Marxist criticism in the West today.' - Times Literary Supplement

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Book SynopsisAndrew Kornbluth offers the first account of the August Trials, Poland’s halting judicial reckoning with wartime collaboration. As evidence of popular participation in the Holocaust mounted, the government, judiciary, and citizenry turned the trials into a vehicle for salvaging a heroic vision of the past.Trade ReviewKornbluth’s forensic examination of August trials documents, only recently made available for scrutiny, confirms that the Jedwabne pogrom was not an isolated event…As a result of actions taken by Germans and Poles during this period, 90 per cent of Poland’s 3.5 million Jewish population was exterminated. Kornbluth’s detailing of cases makes difficult reading. -- Mark Glanville * Jewish Chronicle *Pioneering…Kornbluth examines the decree, its consequences and iterations, and its functioning in the complex realities of postwar Poland—both then and, by implication, today. Then, as now, the government largely sought to underscore crimes against Poles and to minimize crimes against Jews…Kornbluth shows brilliantly how, when those actually found guilty and sentenced for crimes against Jews challenged the verdicts, the description of facts would be totally changed between the original trial and the appeals trial, exonerating the perpetrators and strengthening the legend of Polish innocence. -- Konstanty Gebert * Moment *This is an excellent study and an important contribution to the ongoing discussion about collaboration, retribution, and justice in postwar Poland…A must read for anyone interested in the long-term consequences of crimes committed on the ‘margins of the Holocaust.’ -- Anna Cichopek-Gajraj * Antisemitism Studies *Excellent…Complicating the dominant Polish myth of heroic resistance, The August Trials provides a rich, sobering account of how Poles perpetrated and then evaded responsibility for many heinous Holocaust crimes. -- Catherine Epstein * Canadian Journal of History *The narratives Kornbluth has pieced together from interrogation and trial transcripts are extraordinary, telling stories that prompt anger, outrage, and reflection. This impressive work is unprecedented in providing an understanding of Poland’s legal reckoning with World War II. The results bear comparison with and lessons for ongoing attempts to master violent pasts around the world. -- Samuel Moyn, author of The Last Utopia: Human Rights in HistoryA brilliant and courageous book. The story Kornbluth exposes is deeply tragic, for it shows that in World War II Poland heroic resistance to the Nazis was accompanied by the treacherous collaboration of those who betrayed Jewish fellow citizens. After the war, despite thousands of trials of collaborators, Polish Communists asserted the wartime innocence of all Poles, cobbling together a usable past that exonerated their compatriots. History is a heavy burden in this tale, but facing it boldly is the most important first step in lifting that burden. -- Ronald Grigor Suny, author of Stalin: Passage to RevolutionA pathbreaking, vital, and engaging work. Kornbluth’s engrossing account of the possibilities and impossibilities of justice in postwar Poland allows us to see into the dynamics of Holocaust violence and memory in revealing new ways. -- James Loeffler, author of Rooted Cosmopolitans: Jews and Human Rights in the Twentieth CenturyHow did Poland’s Communists gain traction in the most anti-Communist society in Europe? In this landmark study, Kornbluth gives an unsettling answer: it was by fostering the corrosive myth that Poland was the one society in occupied Europe to avoid complicity with the Nazis. He revises not only our view of Communist Poland, but of the history of the Holocaust in Poland. -- John Connelly, author of From Enemy to Brother: The Revolution in Catholic Teaching on the Jews, 1933–1965Kornbluth’s superbly readable book takes as its focus a largely neglected aspect of the legal response to the Holocaust: the postwar Polish trials of Poles who committed crimes against their Jewish compatriots. This sensitive, groundbreaking study offers an important and sophisticated meditation on the limits of justice and the lure of myth-making when it comes to a nation’s reckoning with a history of collective crimes. -- Lawrence Douglas, author of The Right Wrong Man: John Demjanjuk and the Last Great Nazi War Crimes Trial

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Book SynopsisA unique people's history of football, providing a global and diverse perspective from its origins to the present dayTrade Review'A fascinating journey through the game's history. While so much of today's attention is on the highest end of the sport- the money and the glory associated with today's biggest stars- football has always been about so much more: a vehicle of expression, of example and of change. A People's History of Football tells the stories of how, why and when.' -- Shaka Hislop, former footballer, anti-racist educator and broadcaster'Correia takes us around the world to examine how soccer has produced the kind of political energy that can change minds and even topple governments. But despite his global jaunt into many corners of the soccer world, there is nothing superficial here. This book is about the politics of passion and they sing from every page.' -- Dave Zirin, Sports Editor, 'The Nation''Often we lose sight of the real history of football, the time before the Premier League and state-owned football clubs. There are fans, players and teams that built the game and truly harnessed it as not just a sport but a force for good and a way to build long lasting communities. That history needs to be told, archived and remembered. This is an essential history of the people’s game.' -- Flo Lloyd-Hughes, freelance sportswriter and broadcaster'A wide-ranging and well-researched look at how the masses have attempted to protect and reclaim their sport from the classes, all over the world. An essential read for football fans everywhere.' -- Juliet Jacques, writer, filmmaker and Clapton CFC player'Soccer fans and players everywhere, in the stands or the pitch, recognize in their chests' pounding the collective heart of a heartless world. With the rise of popularity of the MLS in the United States, America's historically apolitical sports culture has been suddenly ruptured with the protests and tifos of dozens of radical-left fan clubs. A rich and superbly-researched materialist account of how soccer emerged from feudal origins to become the most popular, and most political modern sport.' -- A.M. Gittlitz, author, 'I Want to Believe: Posadism, UFOs and Apocalypse Communism''An enjoyable highlights reel of stories from Barcelona to Brazil that show why football can still legitimately be seen as the people’s game' -- Houman Barekat, ‘Irish Times’'Epic ... there is much to learn and enjoy in this book' -- 'Times Literary Supplement'Table of ContentsIntroduction: Football grounds, grounds of struggle Part I: Defend: Working class resistance to the bourgeois order 1. Kicking off: Riotous balls and social control 2. Normalising bodies, shaping minds: The birth of an industrial sport 3. The people's game: Football as a cultural trait of the working class 4. The Munitionnettes: The saga of the first women football players in Britain 5. Class against class: Working-class football in France, an extension of the field of struggle Part II: Attack: Assault on dictatorships 6. 'A small way of saying "no"': Italy, the USSR, Spain: stadiums under totalitarian regimes 7. Ball at the feet against the iron fist: Football's resistance to Nazi domination 8. 'Corinthian democracy': Football and self-organisation against the Brazilian dictatorship 9. On the front line, Tahrir Square: Ultras Ahlawy fans at the heart of the 2011 revolution in Egypt Part III: Dribble: Outmanoeuvring colonialism 10. The Algerian Independence Eleven: A liberation struggle in football boots 11. When Palestine occupies the pitch: Football as a political weapon in the hands of the Palestinians 12. Dribbling the ball, a decolonial art: Afro-Brazilian identities and indigenous resistance in football 13. Sending colonialism off: Football and emancipation struggles in sub-Saharan Africa Part IV: Support: Collective passions and popular cultures 14. 'You'll Never Walk Alone': Hooliganism and subcultures in British stands 15. The twelfth man: The Italian ultras movement: from political militancy to supporter autonomy 16. 'God and the devil': Maradona, between popular passion and fan cult 17. 'We are lovers, not fighters': Istanbul's ultras and Turkish power Part V: Outflank: Facing the football industry: fight and reinvent 18. Football for footballers!: From May'68 to the fans' revolt 19. Tackling sexism: Women's football against the French sporting patriarchy 20. "Here it's about punk football": Fan-owned clubs in England 21. Play on the left wing: Hamburg’s FC Sankt Pauli or the pirates of the football business 22. Wild balls, balls on the margins: Street football wrong-foots at the institutional game Postscript to the English edition Endnotes Acknowledgments Index

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Book SynopsisHenry Neville (16201694), writes David Womersley in his Introduction, was an experienced political actor who united a practitioners sense of possibility with literary flair and imagination as he struggled to achieve headway for his republican commitments in the deceptive waters of late Stuart monarchy. Educated at Oxford, Neville made an extended visit to Italy in 164344, where he formed long-standing connections in Florence and studied the institutions of republican Venice. In 1649 he entered the House of Commons with the support of Algernon Sidney (who was his second cousin). Over the next few years, Neville wrote pamphlets against the usurpation of the army and the threat of Cromwellian dictatorship, and as the Restoration approached, he was a leading member of James Harringtons Rota Club. In late 1667 or early 1668, after he had returned to England from a second trip to Italy, Neville wrote the first of the two works on which his reputation now rests. The Isle of Pines (1668) is at initial glance a slight, even salacious, shipwreck fantasy in which a fictional Elizabethan castaway, George Pines, and four female co-survivors populate a luxuriant tropical island with a thriving community that eventually numbers almost two thousand. Like Harrington before him, Neville plays with the island trope and flirts with political implication, although it is unclear quite how serious and profound these implications are intended to be. Neville pursues similar republican themes more fully and directly in his major work of 1680, Plato Redivivus. Often read as a moderate adaptation of Harringtonian principles to the realities of a monarchical system that was now again entrenched, the treatise is notable for its insistence on kingship as a trust from the people, on the duty of kings to relegate their own interests beneath those of their subjects, and on constitutional sanctions such as annual parliaments as necessary checks on royal power. Mixed monarchy and limited monarchy are emphatic terms throughout the work. However, Nevilles critique of late Stuart monarchy relies more on the kind of cosmopolitan republicanism to which he had been exposed in his Italian travels than it does on more familiar home-grown concepts such as ancient constitutionalism. The only scholarly edition of Henry Nevilles most important writings, the Liberty Fund edition is constructed on a solid textual foundation, offering for the first time a thorough annotation of both texts.

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Book SynopsisTrade ReviewLucid translations into idiomatic English. They are clearer than the original German version! Our students struggle with Marx and they will appreciate a more 'user-friendly' translation. --John Brunn, Chabot College

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Book SynopsisIn this innovative reading, the development of the Malayan Communist Party (MCP) is explored in the context of an emerging nationalism in Southeast Asia, the interplay of overseas Chinese networks and the Comintern. Based on extensive new archival material, Anna Belogurova shows how the MCP was shaped by the historical contingencies of anti-imperialism in Southeast Asia, long-term Chinese migration trends, networks, identity, and the organizational practices of the Comintern.This is the story of how a group of left-leaning Chinese migrant intellectuals engaged with global forces to create a relevant and lasting Malayan national identity, providing fresh international perspectives on the history of Malaysia, Chinese communism, the Cold War, and decolonization.Trade Review'Bringing to light previously untapped sources, The Nanyang Revolution breaks new ground in analyzing the history of the Malayan Communist Party and its vision of a Malayan nation. Belogurova's exploration of the internationalism-nationalism relationship and of Comintern attitudes towards overseas Chinese represents a major contribution to our understanding of communism as a global movement.' Barbara Watson Andaya, University of Hawai'i'This innovative and deeply researched study of the Malayan Communist Party offers a fresh and imaginative exploration of the interplay of nationalism and internationalism, indigenization and internationalization across a space that stretches from Southeast Asia to Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.' S. A. Smith, All Souls College, Oxford'This book tells a compelling story of diaspora politics of displacement, bringing into focus the significance of the maritime networks in the making of China's modern revolutions, nationalist as well as communist. It's an achievement that remaps the spatial dynamics of the transformation of modern China.' Wen-hsin Yeh, University of California, at Berkeley''Nanyang' was the savage front of the international revolutionary movement. Anna Eduardovna Belogurova provides a clear, overarching view of the relationship between ideas of the Chinese-oriented 'Minzu' and the reality of internationalism proposed by the Comintern.' Ishikawa Yoshihiro, Kyoto University'… this volume makes a valuable contribution to the fields of the modern histories of China and Southeast Asia, the history of world communism, of state building and modernization, and studies of anti-colonialism and nationalism. It will be a useful source for scholars and students of Chinese history, social and political history, the Chinese diaspora, and of studies of the Comintern, internationalism, migration, and the communist revolution in Southeast Asia.' Qian Zhu, China and AsiaTable of ContentsPart I. Revolution in the Nanyang: 1. Prologue: a Durian for Sun Yatsen; 2. The global world of Chinese networks in the 1920s: The Chinese Revolution and the liberation of the oppressed Minzu; 3. The Nanyang Revolution and the Malayan nation, 1929–1930: nations, migrants, words; Part II. The Comintern, the MCP, and Chinese Networks, 1930–1935: 4. The MCP as a hybrid communist party: structure, discourse, and activity, 1930–1934; 5. The Comintern, Malaya, and Chinese networks, 1930–1936; Part III. The GMD, the MCP, and the Nation: Minzu Cultivated, Minzu Lost: 6. Minzu cultivated, 1928–1940; 7. Language, power, and the MCP's lost nation, 1939–1940; 8. Epilogue.

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Book SynopsisThis book provides the most comprehensive study of the 'core' of the Chinese Communist Party's leadership and meticulously analyses its cultural, philosophical, and ideological origins. It introduces a new direction of research and offers an alternative conceptual approach for the study of the 'core' leader and the CCP elite politics.Trade Review'This insightful and incisive volume by Xuezhi Guo (Guilford College) seeks to examine the role of the Chinese Communist Party's chief, the mechanism in regulating the interaction between the 'core' leader and the rest of the party elite, dynamics of the changes, and the potential implications.' S. K. Ma, Choice'Xuezhi Guo's new book is an exceptionally valuable addition to the literature on elite politics in China. It presents readers with an insightful analysis of political leadership by way of an eclectic approach that represents the best of theoretically informed area studies research. Guo's study is engaging, dispassionate, and convincing … Xuezhi Guo's meticulous and thought-provoking work remains a key reference for years to come.' Robert Dayley, Pacific Affairs'… the book is particularly useful for scholars, students and professionals who are interested in who's who and their factional affiliation in Chinese politics.' Chi Zhang, DemocratizationTable of ContentsIntroduction; Part I. Theories, Culture, History, and Instititions: 1. Research models, leadership politics, and succession; 2. Structural context in Chinese elite politics; 3. Traditional political thought and imperial legacy; 4. Ideology, organization, and party norms; Part II. The Politics and Practice of the 'Core' Leader: 5. Political groupings: commonalities, factions, and cliques; 6. Politics of the 'core' leader from Mao to XI; 7. The 'core' leader and elite politics in practice; Conclusion.

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Book SynopsisThis is an ambitious comparative study of regime consolidation in the ''revolutionary'' People''s Republic of China and the ''conservative'' Republic of China (Taiwan) in the years following the communist victory against the nationalists on the Chinese mainland in 1949.Julia C. Strauss argues that accounting for these two variants of the Chinese state solely in terms of their divergent ideology and institutions fails to recognise their similarities and their relative successes.Both, after all, emerged from a common background of Leninist party organization amid civil war and foreign invasion. However, by the mid-1950s they were on clearly different trajectories of state-building and development. Focusing on Sunan and Taiwan, Strauss considers state personnel, the use of terror and land reform to explore the evolution of these revolutionary and conservative regimes between 1949 and 1954. In so doing, she sheds important new light on twentieth-century political change in East Asia, deepeTrade Review'A meticulously researched and elegantly presented study of state consolidation in mainland China and Taiwan. By shrinking the mainland geographic focus to Sunan, where the social roots of the communists were relatively weak, Strauss exploits rich archival data and builds analytical leverage to illuminate commonalities and differences in strategies of the two states as outsiders after 1949.' Melanie Manion, Duke University, North Carolina'Historians have long recognized that for all their mutual hostility and apparent ideological opposition, the two regimes on either side of the Taiwan Strait after 1949 actually had much in common. In this provocative and impressively researched work, Julia C. Strauss treats this parallelism as a kind of natural experiment in state consolidation, which she analyzes to produce more general insight into how new states pursue their agendas.' Michael Szonyi, Harvard University, Massachusetts'Strauss (Univ. of London) has authored a fascinating comparison of two variants of the Chinese party-state in the mid-20th century.' S. C. Hart, Choice'Overall, an excellent book, well worth the attention that it will receive from both historians of modern China and political scientists interested in state formation.' Carl Minzner, Journal of Chinese Political ScienceTable of ContentsIntroduction. Modalities of state building and institution building: bureaucracies, campaigns, and performance; 1. Virtue and talent in making Chinese states: heroes and technocrats in Sunan and Taiwan, 1949–1954; 2. Comparative terror in regime consolidation: Sunan and Taiwan, 1949–1954; 3. Performing terror: lenience, legality, and the dramaturgy of the consolidating state; 4. Repertoires of land reform campaigns in Sunan and Taiwan, 1950–1954; 5. Theatres of land reform: bureaucracy, campaign, and the show, 1950–1954; Conclusion; Appendix: list of interviewees; Documentary collections, reports, and periodicals.

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Book SynopsisThe collapse of the communist monopoly across Central and Southeastern Europe in 1989/1990 initiated a process of rapid political, economic, and cultural change. While Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia, and Serbia went on to suffer three and a half years of war, all the states of the region have confronted challenges as they dismantled communist institutions and drafted new laws, in some cases ignoring their own laws. Indeed, in certain countries, local politicians have done their best to corrupt the media and the economy, with recent years seeing some states move in an illiberal direction. Throughout the region, however, there has been a strong interest in enjoying the benefits of membership of the European Union and NATO. In this updated second edition, regional specialists comprehensively analyze the post-communist trajectories of the states of Central and Southeastern Europe, encompassing democratization, privatization, corruption, and war. It will appeal to students and scholars, whetheTrade Review'The second edition of this useful collection of essays provides context for the persistent challenges to what in 1989 was advertised as the 'transition' of Central and Eastern Europe from Communism to liberal democracy and European integration. Contributors take a sober view of populism and the stubborn corrosive of corruption and provide specific suggestions on how governments, activists, and European institutions might overcome the disorientation that has afflicted them since at least the financial crisis of 2008. It helps the reader understand that 'progress' is only one of multiple plausible futures for the region.' David Kanin, The Johns Hopkins University'This second edition of the Ramet-Hassenstab book is an extraordinary and timely contribution to rethink the long itinerary of post-socialist Europe from the 'Great Transformation' of 1989 to the current events. Shedding new light to the impact of reforms and societal transformations, this highly recommended book offers an updated and unique analysis of a world under deep transformation, where still corruption, freedom constraints of media, reforms stagnation, and attractive 'illiberal democracy' perspectives are playing a crucial role within a broader, European context, which is increasingly under growing disorder. Stefano Bianchini, University of Bologna, Forlì'With the European Union finally taking note of the illiberal trends in some newer members, this updated volume is a timely look at the mixed outcomes from the post-Communist transitions. Bringing together the insights and analyses of noted specialists from North America and Europe, Ramet and Hassenstab have again grappled superbly with understanding the challenges to democratic resilience, economic reform, and regional security in an era of rising populism, Russian resurgence, and fragile institutions.' Robert F. Goeckel, State University of New York, Geneseo'This book shall be of use and importance to students, analysts and policymakers interested in any country of the region, and in the different experiences of these neighboring countries.' Senada Zatagić, Insight Turkey'Where this textbook really shines and comes into its own is in the level and depth of analysis undertaken by each author, something that is often not seen in a textbook of this nature. This one serves as an excellent introductory text for students taking their first steps into the history and politics of the region and will probably find itself on many recommended reading lists. At the same time, the book also serves as a useful reference for more knowledgeable readers who want to reacquaint themselves with the region before delving deeper into the literature. All readers will benefit from the strong empirical account of the region's development accompanied by expert analysis at the theoretical level.' Jonathan Millins, Europe-Asia StudiesTable of ContentsPart I. Introduction: 1. The challenge of transformation since 1989: an introduction Sabrina P. Ramet and Christine M. Hassenstab; 2. Post-socialist models of rule in Central and Southeastern Europe Sabrina P. Ramet and F. Peter Wagner; Part II. Issues: 3. Media, journalism, and the third wave of democratization in former Communist countries Peter Gross; 4. Economic reforms and the burdens of transition Karl Kaser; 5. The war of Yugoslav succession Marko Attila Hoare; Part III. Central Europe: 6. Poland since 1989: muddling through, wall to wall Konstanty Gebert; 7. Building democratic values in the Czech Republic since 1989 Carol Skalnik Leff; 8. Slovakia since 1989 Erika Harris and Karen Henderson; 9. Two faces of Hungary: from democratization to democratic backsliding András Bozóki and Eszter Simon; Part IV. Yugoslav Successor States: 10. Slovenia since 1989 Danica Fink-Hafner; 11. Politics in Croatia since 1990 Sabrina P. Ramet and Ivo Goldstein; 12. Serbia and Montenegro since 1989 Sabrina P. Ramet; 13. Bosnia and Herzegovina since 1991 Florian Bieber; 14. Macedonia/North Macedonia since 1989 Zachary T. Irwin; 15. Kosova: from resisting expulsion to building on independence Frances Trix; Part V. Southeastern Europe: 16. Romania: in the shadow of the past Lavinia Stan; 17. Bulgaria since 1989 Maria Spirova and Radostina Sharenkova-Toshkova; 18. Albania since 1989: the Hoxhaist Legacy Bernd J. Fischer; Part VI. Present and Future Challenges: 19. Regional security and regional relations Rick Fawn; 20. The European Union and democratization in Central and Southeastern Europe since 1989 Ulrich Sedelmeier; 21. Conclusion – adapting to the twenty-first century: lessons, progress, and regression Aurel Braun.

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Book SynopsisThis book describes some of the key characters involved and their deeds. The second part is about some leaders of Imperial Russia. It seems clear that had there not been a world war, Russia under the Romanoffs could have successfully competed with America in the development of its economy, industry and education. Capital punishment was abolished in Imperial Russia under Empress Elisabeth and for 300 years only 1,650 people were executed, more than half were criminals and less than 500 where political prisoners, who were mostly sent to death by military courts.

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