Far-left political ideologies and movements Books

Book SynopsisPeter Lamb is a Senior Lecturer of Politics and International Relations at Staffordshire University, UK.Trade ReviewA superb companion to one of history’s few genuinely transformative texts. Lamb takes us from the appearance of the Manifesto in the mid-nineteenth century through to its on-going impact in the age of globalization, and combines this with a sharp analysis of the themes and tropes that made Marx and Engels into household names. This Reader’s Guide will be of interest not only to students, but also to anyone who wants to better understand the Manifesto’s long and lasting impact. * Imre Szeman, Canada Research Chair in Cultural Studies and Professor of English, Film Studies and Sociology University of Alberta, Canada *The Communist Manifesto is – alongside Nietzsche’s Beyond Good and Evil and Darwin’s The Origin of the Species – among the two or three texts essential to a basic understanding of the intellectual history of the 19th century in Europe. Proceeding alongside the text in a patiently expository fashion, but with a continual eye to other writings by Marx which clarify key passages, Peter Lamb’s guide is an excellent place to start for readers with no prior knowledge of the Manifesto or the context in which it was written. * Andrew Pendakis, Assistant Professor of Theory and Rhetoric, Brock University, Canada *At last a full-length commentary on the Manifesto. Peter Lamb guides readers through the text, giving expert comments on points of English translation and contextual background. He updates the work's reception to include critical theory, Hardt and Negri, as well as Žižek. This is a timely work, improving on currently available introductions. * Terrell Carver, Professor of Political Theory, University of Bristol, UK *Lamb explains, with a great deal of success, the major themes and ideas present in the Manifesto. Essentially, the author sets out to give students a look into the world of early Marxist thought ... Overall, I find Lamb’s contribution to be useful in the context of a possible companion to primary texts in undergraduate courses intended to introduce students to political theories ... Instructors who feel as though their current syllabi do not spend enough time explaining Marxism may do well to consider adding Lamb’s book as a recommended reading. -- Garrett Pierman * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *Table of ContentsIntroduction 1. Context 2. Overview of Themes 3. Reading the Text 4. Reception and Influence 5. Notes for Further Reading Index

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Book SynopsisThis book is a comprehensive synthesis of how the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) has fought on various fronts for survival since the reform refuting the China Collapse thesis by scrutinizing current realities, the proactive strategies adopted by the CCP and the critical role of traditional political culture, and the international environment in shaping state-society dynamics in China. More importantly, the book conducts a deep analysis of the reasons that this authoritarian regime could act responsively and progressively. The CCP possesses strong vigilance and adaptability assets which have helped it survive various crises over the past decades. This book scrutinizes the Chinese cultural environment as well as the political perception and economic interests of major social actors presumed to be forces with potential power to topple the regime. Both the state-dependency resulting from a late developer context and the elements of collectivism and rule by virtue in traditional Trade ReviewChallenging Western scholars and journalists who foresee China's collapse, Sun (Troy Univ.) and Zhang (Florida Institute of Technology) propose that communist leadership has devised a resilient, flexible system through what they call "Comcapitalism," a blend of capitalism and socialism, and "Comfucianism," a graft of traditional values on to Party rule. Coercion remains, but officials "channel mass discontent into constructive activities" that address local issues. Clever, but is it a stable, long-term solution? The authors present empirical data showing that most Chinese are content and patriotic, and they refute the Western modernization theory that economic growth forms a middle class and thus leads to democracy. That scenario, they write, does not fit Chinese history and culture. Sun and Zhang deem factionalism, corruption, and labor and peasant unrest under control. This book was published a little too early to include Xi Jinping's tightening and reemphasis on state-owned enterprises and difficulties with debt, Xinjiang, and Hong Kong. Middle-way communist experiments (e.g., those of Tito and Gorbachev) alternated between loose and tight, never finding stability. This is now possibly China's pattern. The authors' offer a testable proposition: if the Beijing regime endures without systemic upheaval, they will have been proven right. . . Summing Up: Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates through faculty. * CHOICE *“Why has the Chinese Communist Party not collapsed? The answer is simple: because it has gained the trust of the people. Why has it gained the trust of the people? The answer is complex and this book sheds much light; it is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand contemporary Chinese politics.” -- Daniel A. Bell, Shandong University, author of The China Model“Why Communist China Isn’t Collapsing attempts to explain the survival of the Chinese Communist regime. The authors argue that its legitimacy has a solid foundation in terms of Chinese political theory and political culture. As China now faces a deteriorating domestic and international environment, their thesis deserves careful consideration by those concerned with its future.” -- Joseph Y.S. Cheng, City University of Hong Kong“This book is a timely overview of the factors behind China’s remarkable economic success and rise to power that challenges conventional wisdom predicting either the collapse or democratization of China. While drawing on, and often dismissing the relevance of the western academic literature and theories, Sun and Zhang present a detailed insiders’ view of state-society relations that is largely sympathetic to the leadership role of the Chinese Communist Party as a responsive authoritarian regime.” -- Randall Peerenboom, retired professor of law, University of California, Los Angeles, and author of China Modernizes: Threat to the West or Model for the Rest?Table of ContentsChapter 1: IntroductionChapter 2:“Comcapitalism”—The CCP’s Legitimacy Battle on the Political and Economic FrontChapter 3: “Comfucianism”—The CCP’s Fight on the Ideological and Cultural FrontChapter 4: “Blocking, Dredging, and Channeling”—The CCP’s Struggle on the Social FrontChapter 5: Stability at Risk? Party Elites and FactionalismChapter 6: Unexpected Allies—Coopted Capitalists and The Middle Class Chapter 7: The Marginalized Social Class—Workers and PeasantsChapter 8: The Calculated Strategies of Hard Power and Soft TreadChapter 9: International Political Crisis and the CCP’s New OpportunitiesChapter 10: Conclusion

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Book Synopsis“In The Russians are Coming Again, Jeremy Kuzmarov and John Marciano present an excellent and well researched effort to remind liberal America of how awful the Cold War was and how it was based on a cynical exaggeration of a largely fictional `Russian threat.’ Their warning against creating a new Cold War with post-communist Russia is well worth considering.”—David N. Gibbs, University of Arizona, author, First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia Karl Marx famously wrote in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Napoleon that history repeats itself, “first as tragedy, then as farce.” The Cold War waged between the United States and Soviet Union from 1945 until the latter's dissolution in 1991 was a great tragedy, resulting in millions of civilian deaths in proxy wars, and a destructive arms race that diverted money from social spending and nearly led to nuclear annihilation. The New Cold War between the United States and Russia is playing out as farce – a dangerous one at that. The Russians Are Coming, Again is a red flag to restore our historical consciousness about U.S.-Russian relations, and how denying this consciousness is leading to a repetition of past follies. Kuzmarov and Marciano's book is timely and trenchant. The authors argue that the Democrats’ strategy, backed by the corporate media, of demonizing Russia and Putin in order to challenge Trump is not only dangerous, but also, based on the evidence so far, unjustified, misguided, and a major distraction. Grounding their argument in all-but-forgotten U.S.-Russian history, such as the 1918-20 Allied invasion of Soviet Russia, the book delivers a panoramic narrative of the First Cold War, showing it as an all-too avoidable catastrophe run by the imperatives of class rule and political witch-hunts. The distortion of public memory surrounding the First Cold War has set the groundwork for the New Cold War, which the book explains is a key feature, skewing the nation’s politics yet again. This is an important, necessary book, one that, by including accounts of the wisdom and courage of the First Cold War's victims and dissidents, will inspire a fresh generation of radicals in today's new, dangerously farcical times.Trade Review“In The Russians are Coming Again, Jeremy Kuzmarov and John Marciano present an excellent and well researched effort to remind liberal America of how awful the Cold War was and how it was based on a cynical exaggeration of a largely fictional `Russian threat.’ Their warning against creating a new Cold War with post-communist Russia is well worth considering.”—David N. Gibbs, University of Arizona, author, First Do No Harm: Humanitarian Intervention and the Destruction of Yugoslavia

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Book SynopsisA simple and revolutionary toolbox to help any group create an actual and functioning democracy In this book, Marta Harnecker, with Spanish economist Jose Bartolome, shares some of her wisdom on how communities everywhere can gain empowerment. For, when impoverished people became involved in the planning process, they no longer feel like beggars demanding solutions from the state; they become the creators of their own destiny. Set out in two parts; this book first demonstrates the importance of community participants working outside a hierarchy, to allow as much decentralization as possible. The second part of the book centers on the methodology of this process: the various tasks taken on by participants and how, in planning processes over years, they are carried out.

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Book SynopsisA fascinating reinterpretation of the radical and socialist origins of ecology Twenty years ago, John Bellamy Foster's Marx's Ecology: Materialism and Nature introduced a new understanding of Karl Marx's revolutionary ecological materialism. More than simply a study of Marx, it commenced an intellectual and social history, encompassing thinkers from Epicurus to Darwin, who developed materialist and ecological ideas. Now, with The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology, Foster continues this narrative. In so doing, he uncovers a long history of efforts to unite issues of social justice and environmental sustainability that will help us comprehend and counter today's unprecedented planetary emergencies. The Return of Nature begins with the deaths of Darwin (1882) and Marx (1883) and moves on until the rise of the ecological age in the 1960s and 1970s. Foster explores how socialist analysts and materialist scientists of various stamps, first in Britain, then the United States, from William Morris and Frederick Engels to Joseph Needham, Rachel Carson, and Stephen J. Gould, sought to develop a dialectical naturalism, rooted in a critique of capitalism. In the process, he delivers a far-reaching and fascinating reinterpretation of the radical and socialist origins of ecology. Ultimately, what this book asks for is nothing short of revolution: a long, ecological revolution, aimed at making peace with the planet while meeting collective human needs.

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Book SynopsisBridges the gap between social and environmental critiques of capitalism In the nineteenth century, Karl Marx, inspired by the German chemist Justus von Liebig, argued that capitalism's relation to its natural environment was that of a robbery system, leading to an irreparable rift in the metabolism between humanity and nature. In the twenty-first century, these classical insights into capitalism's degradation of the earth have become the basis of extraordinary advances in critical theory and practice associated with contemporary ecosocialism. In The Robbery of Nature, John Bellamy Foster and Brett Clark, working within this historical tradition, examine capitalism's plundering of nature via commodity production, and how it has led to the current anthropogenic rift in the Earth System.

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Book SynopsisIn this book, Michael Lebowitz deepens the arguments he made in his award-winning, Beyond Capital. Karl Marx, in Capital, focused on capital and the capitalist class that is its embodiment. It is the endless accumulation of capital, its causes and consequences that are central to Marx’s analysis. In taking this approach, Marx tended to obscure not only the centrality of capital’s “immanent drive” and “constant tendency” to divide the working class but also the political economy of the working class (“social production controlled by social foresight”). In Between Capitalism and Community, Lebowitz demonstrates that capitalism contains within itself elements of a different society, one of community. Whereas Marx’s intellectual construct of capitalism treats it as an organic system that reproduces its premises of capital and wage-labor (including a working class that looks upon the requirements of capital “as self-evident natural laws”), Lebowitz argues that the struggle of workers in common and activities based upon solidarity point in the direction of the organic system of community, an alternative system that produces its own premises, communality, and recognition of the needs of others. If we are to escape the ultimate barbarism portended by the existing crisis of the earth system, the subordination of the system of capitalism by that of community is essential. Since the interregnum in which capitalism and community coexist is marked by the interpenetration and mutual deformation of both sides within this whole, however, the path to community cannot emerge spontaneously but requires a revolutionary party that stresses the development of the capacities of people through their protagonism.Trade Review“This book should be mandatory for all economics, political science, and social philosophy classes. Comrades—especially younger ones—will find it immensely helpful for years to come. The sweep of the work is truly impressive; comprehensive and clear on everything essential for understanding the horrors of capitalism and the paths toward a better world. In this period of political madness, Lebowitz's message of political hope could not be timelier.” —Tony Smith, Professor of Philosophy and Political Science, Iowa State University; author, Beyond Liberal Egalitarianism: Marx and Normative Social Theory for the Twenty-First Century

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Book SynopsisMarxist economic thought has had a long and distinguished history in Japan, dating back to the First World War. When interest in Marxist theory was virtually nonexistent in the United States, rival schools of thought in Japan emerged, and brilliant debates took place on Marx’s Capital and on capitalism as it was developing in Japan. Forty years ago, Makoto Itoh’s Value and Crisis began to chronicle these Japanese contributions to Marxist theory, discussing in particular views on Marx’s theories of value and crisis, and problems of Marx’s theory of market value. Now, in a second edition of his book, Itoh deepens his study Marx’s theories of value and crisis, as an essential reference point from which to analyze the multiple crises that have arisen during the past four decades of neoliberalism. One contribution of the original Value and Crisis was to bridge Japan and the world in the field of Marxian political economy. Itoh’s second edition demonstrates an even wider-ranging familiarity with major schools of Marxist thought, summarizing and assessing viewpoints of such theorists as Hilferding, Bauer, Kautsky, Bukharin, Luxemburg, Grossman, Sweezy, the Japanese Marxist Kozo Uno, together with the relevant parts of Capital and a section on the 1930’s Great Depression. Given today’s current emergencies of world capitalism and socialism, says Itoh, we need to work together to resolve new global problems, articulating new issues of Marx’s theories of value and crisis. The promise of Marx’s theories has not waned. If anything – given the failure of Soviet-style socialism and the catastrophe of neoliberalism – it grows daily.Trade ReviewThis is one of the most important books in Marxist political economy of the last several decades. With exemplary clarity, Makoto Itoh has built a bridge between the Uno tradition of Japan and the Marxism of Europe and the USA. Fresh material on crisis and the transformation of contemporary capitalism ensure that this new edition will be vital to Marxism in years to come. —Costas Lapavitsas, Professor of Economics at SOAS, University of London; author, The Left Case Against the EU and Profiting Without Producing

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Book SynopsisWashington Bullets is written in the best traditions of Marxist journalism and history-writing. It is a book of fluent and readable stories, full of detail about U.S. imperialism, but never letting the minutiae obscure the larger political point. It is a book that could easily have been a song of despair—a lament of lost causes; it is, after all, a roll call of butchers and assassins; of plots against people’s movements and governments; of the assassinations of socialists, Marxists, communists all over the Third World by the country where liberty is a statue. Despite all this, Washington Bullets is a book about possibilities, about hope, about genuine heroes. One such is Thomas Sankara of Burkina Faso—also assassinated—who said: “You cannot carry out fundamental change without a certain amount of madness. In this case, it comes from nonconformity, the courage to turn your back on the old formulas, the courage to invent the future. It took the madmen of yesterday for us to be able to act with extreme clarity today. I want to be one of those madmen. We must dare to invent the future.” Washington Bullets is a book infused with this madness, the madness that dares to invent the future.Trade ReviewThis book brings to mind the infinite instances in which Washington Bullets have shattered hope. — Evo Morales Ayma, former President of Bolivia // Like his hero Eduardo Galeano, Vijay Prashad makes the telling of the truth lovable; not an easy trick to pull off, he does it effortlessly. — Roger Waters, Pink Floyd

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