Far-left political ideologies and movements Books

Book SynopsisWas there experimental cinema behind the Iron Curtain? What forms did experiments with film take in state-socialist Eastern Europe? Who conducted them, where, how, and why? These are the questions answered in this volume, the first of its kind in any language. Bringing together scholars from different disciplines, the book offers case studies from Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, former East Germany, Hungary, Poland, Romania, and former Yugoslavia. Together, these contributions demonstrate the variety of makers, production contexts, and aesthetic approaches that shaped a surprisingly robust and diverse experimental film output in the region. The book maps out the terrain of our present-day knowledge of cinematic experimentalism in Eastern Europe, suggests directions for further research, and will be of interest to scholars of film and media, art historians, cultural historians of Eastern Europe, and anyone concerned with questions of how alternative cultures emerge and function under repressive political conditions.Trade Review"This is a gem of a collection. It makes a unique and lasting contribution to film history, film studies, and the history of avant-garde/experimental cinema. The thirteen chapters, shepherded by expert curation by the two editors, provide the definitive, thoroughly researched, interconnected, and yet locally specific histories of experimental cinema in the East European countries under Soviet influence in the 1960s-70s, the most prolific period of this kind of filmmaking during the Cold War."– Anikó Imre, University of Southern California, editor of East European Cinemas and A Companion to Eastern European Cinemas "I am extraordinarily impressed by this collection—by its balance of diversity and coherence, the quality of the individual contributions and the “curatorial” work of the editors, the depth of research, and the thoroughness with which it covers its topic. This is a powerhouse collection of scholarship that provides an exceptional introduction to a sadly under-studied and under-represented topic. In both the introduction and the contributions, the editors and authors link their projects to larger questions—historical, theoretical, methodological—in the field, all of which are relevant and indeed at the forefront of current work in cinema and art studies."– Jonathan Walley, Denison University, author of Cinema Expanded: Avant-Garde Film in the Age of Intermedia "It is among the first editions that do not simply concentrate on the history of local experimental filmmaking practices within Eastern Europe but attempt to give an overview of such practices in the aforementioned region. The publication of this book without a doubt can be a crucial step in the research of this field and will be important and inevitable literature for all the scholars focusing on the area." - Bori Máté, Studies in Eastern European Cinema, Sep 2022Table of ContentsAcknowledgments 7 Introduction (Ksenya Gurshtein and Sonja Simonyi) Part I Key Figures 1. The Experimentalism of Gábor Bódy (Gábor Gelencsér) 2. Circles, Lines, and Documentary Designs: Tomislav Gotovac’s Belgrade Trilogy (Greg de Cuir Jr.) 3. From the Workshop of the Film Form to Martial Law: On the Intersecting and Bifurcating Paths of Pawel Kwiek’s and Józef Robakowski’s Cinematographic Work in the 1970s and the 1980s (Lukasz Mojsak) Part II Production, Support, and Distribution 4. Amateur Cinema in Bulgaria (Vladimir Iliev with Katerina Lambrinova) 5. The Polish Educational Film Studio and the Cinema of Wojciech Wiszniewski (Masha Shpolberg) 6. Home Movies and Cinematic Memories: Fixing the Gaze on Vukica Dilas and Tatjana Ivancic (Petra Belc) Part III Viewing Contexts, Theories, and Reception 7. Alone in the Cinemascope (Aleksandar Boskovic) 8. kinema ikon—Experiments in Motion (1970–89) (Ileana L. Selejan) 9. AudioVision: Sound, Music, and Noise in East German Experimental Films (Seth Howes) Part IV Intersection of the Arts 10. Intersections of Art and Film on the Wroclaw Art Scene, 1970–80 (Marika Kuzmicz) 11. Conceptual Artist, Cognitive Film: Miklós Erdély at the Balázs Béla Studio (Ksenya Gurshtein) 12. Works and Words, 1979: Manifesting Eastern European Film and/as Art in Amsterdam (Sonja Simonyi) 13. Wizardry on a Shoestring: Carodej and Experimental Filmmaking in Late Socialist Czechoslovakia (Tomás Glanc) Index

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Book SynopsisThe Chinese Communist Youth League is the largest youth political organization in the world, with over 80 million members. Former Chinese President Hu Jintao was a firm supporter of the League, and believed that it could play a bigger role in winning the hearts and minds of Chinese youth by actively engaging with their interests and demands. Accordingly, he provided the League with a new youth work mandate to increase its capacity for responsiveness under the slogan 'keep the Party assured and the youth satisfied'. This original investigation of the hitherto-unexamined organization uses a combination of interviews, surveys and ethnography to explore how the League implemented Hu's mandate at both local and national levels, exposing the contradictory nature of some of its campaigns. By doing so, it also sheds light on the reasons for Xi Jinping's turn against the League during his first term in office. The Chinese Communist Youth League: Juniority and Responsiveness in a Party Youth Organization develops the original concept of 'juniority' to capture the complex ways that generational power is institutionalized, alienating young people from official political processes, with significant implications for China's political development. The book will be of interest to researchers and students of Chinese politics, as well as to scholars of comparative youth politics and sociology.Trade Review"Konstantinos Tsimonis’s new book is an important contribution to an understudied subject. [...] The volume also includes a very helpful discussion of the declining fortunes of the Youth League under Xi Jinping, who not only viewed the league as a bastion of factionalism – the so-called 'league faction' that provided a base of support for the Hu Jintao and Wen Jiabao administration. [...] Fortunately, we have this excellent book by Tsimonis to enlighten us on why Hu’s reforms were doomed from the start."- Stanley Rosen, University of Southern California, China Information 36 (1) (2022) "Konstantinos D. Tsimonis’ book is an important and timely study that offers a crucial contribution to our understanding of Party-youth relations in contemporary China. [...] the book also addresses youth political organizations’ experience in the former socialist countries and in doing so develops an analytical framework that captures and also goes beyond the peculiarities of the Chinese case." - Sofia Graziani, The China Journal, Vol. 88, July 2022 "This book adds valuable insights into the inner workings of the CYL in various institutions. It adds nuanced analysis on, for instance, the differences between students at elite universities and vocational colleges’ perceptions of and engagement with the CYL (Chapter 3). Tsimonis’ in-depth analysis of the concept of youth and the subordination of youth interests makes this book a valuable contribution to the study of China’s mass organisations and youth as a political subject under authoritarianism. Altogether, Tsimonis’ book is a solid contribution to the study of contemporary China and youth political participation and will undoubtedly be of interest to scholars and students in China studies, youth studies and political science more broadly."- Rebekka Åsnes Sagild, European Journal of East Asian Studies 20 (2021) "This book is overall of great relevance to anyone interested in Chinese youth, and state-society relations in contemporary China more broadly. And while the core of the book centers on the Hu Jintao era, the author develops in the introduction and conclusion exciting observations about the changes that took place under Xi Jinping."- Jérôme Doyon, Journal of Chinese Political Science (2021) "Overall, this book makes a major contribution to research on youth organisations and the status of youth in contemporary Chinese society. [...] The qualitative data and insights into this organisation will be useful for researchers who are interested in youth politics in China and political apathy among young people in authoritarian states in general." - Zheyu Shang, Europe-Asia Studies, Vol. 74, Iss. 6 "This book is an excellent source for understanding the operation of the CYL under Hu Jintao’s leadership. Most of the other works on this subject are in Chinese, and their authors tend not to use field interviews, but rather to base their research on secondary or official sources." - Wen-Hsuan Tsai, Pacific Affairs, Feb 2023Table of ContentsAcknowledgments List of tables Chapter 1: Introduction Scope and importance of the study The challenge: reversing the legacy of an uneasy relationship Enter Hu Jintao: "Keep the Party Assured and the Youth Satisfied" Beyond dependency: "Youth" as a junior political subject Researching the League Organization of the book Chapter 1 references Chapter 2: "Juniority" and the generational subordination of party youth organizations Circumventing dependency: cadre agency and responsiveness Youth leagues and generational politics Generational subordination and juniority Chapter 2 references Chapter 3: The League on Campus Joining the League Grassroots League Committees and Cadres League Activities on Campus The View from Below: The League's Evaluation by Students Conclusion Chapter 3 references Chapter 4: The League in the workplace Locating "Youth" and the League in the Chinese workplace Deregulated labor and League membership "Building the League through building the Party" The League's activities: between the party committee and the management Serving and representing young employees Conclusion Chapter 4 references Chapter 5: Training Youth Cadres Organizational aspirations and personnel realities The Central League School: training generalist cadres The League School at the grassroots Improving training at the local level Personnel exchange and recognition programs Conclusion Chapter 5 references Chapter 6 - In Search of Responsiveness Youth Work Norms Serving youth in practice Relations with social organizations Conclusion Chapter 6 references Conclusion: From Hu to Xi The League as a dependent and junior organization The League under Xi: factional considerations or a new mission? Juniority beyond the League Conclusion references Bibliography Appendix Index

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Book SynopsisThis book reconstructs the factional-ideological conflicts surrounding socialist transformation and political reform in China that were played out through ‘factional model-making’, a norm-bound mechanism for elites of the Chinese Communist Party to contest the party line publicly. Dazhai, Anhui, Nanjie, Shekou, Shenzhen, Guangdong and Chongqing were cultivated into factional models by party elites before Xi Jinping came to power in 2012. Although factional model-making undermined party discipline, it often did not threaten regime security and even contributed to regime resilience through strengthening collective leadership and other means. This follows that the suppression of factional model-making under Xi might undermine longer-term regime resilience. However, Xi believes that regime security rests on his strongman rule, not any benefits that factional model-making may contribute. It is in this spirit that he grooms Zhejiang into a party model for his policy programme of common prosperity, which is designed to legitimize his vision of socialism.Trade ReviewAn excellent piece of work that analyses elite-level discussion and conflict in the Communist Party of China over several decades, from Mao to present-day. This book is a particularly valuable asset to the scholarship thanks to its outstanding analytical rigor, nuance and dispassionate clarity. Prof David S G Goodman, Director, China Studies Centre, University of Sydney Olivia Cheung has researched and analysed the internal workings of the Chinese party and government elite deeply. This invaluable comparative study shows parallels, and differences, over the last few decades in China, and, with detailed examples both from documents and field research, helps shed much needed light in one of the most important but little understood decision making processes of the modern world. Prof Kerry Brown, Director, Lau China Institute, King’s College London This incisive and insightful book offers a rare and novel window into the world of political jockeying taking place at the elite levels of the Chinese Communist Party, and how particular ideological debates have ended up shaping the course of China’s market reforms. Prof. Patricia Thornton, Associate Professor of Chinese Politics, University of Oxford. An incisive and absorbing overview of faction-making (and breaking) in the PRC, and one that is most timely given Xi Jinping’s quest to end elite CCP factionalism. The book is accessible both to those just beginning their journey into Chinese politics and those who are already drenched in the history and politics of this fascinating country. Dr Robert Weatherley, Affiliated Lecturer in Chinese Politics, University of CambridgeTable of ContentsAcknowledgement Preface Tables Abbreviations Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Learning from Dazhai after the Great Leap Forward: Mutations of Socialism under Mao Zedong Thought, 1964–1978 Chapter 3 Decollectivizing Anhui: The Emergence of Market-oriented Socialism in the Countryside, 1979–1980 Chapter 4 Recollectivizing Nanjie: Building a ‘Small Zone of Communism’ in the Post-Mao Era of Market Reform, 1984–2012 Chapter 5 Shekou and Shenzhen: Blurring the Line between Special Economic Zone and Special Political Zone, 1979–1989 Chapter 6 Guangdong versus Chongqing: Competing Models of Governance in the Run-up to the 18th Party Congress, 2008–2012 Chapter 7 China under Xi Jinping: The End of Factional Model-making and the Pursuit of Common Prosperity in Zhejiang since 2021 Chapter 8 Conclusion Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe uprising which shook France in May 1968 also had a revolutionary effect on the country’s most prominent film journal. Under editors Jean-Louis Comolli and Jean Narboni, Cahiers du cinéma embarked on a militant turn that would govern the journal's work over the next five years. Inspired by Marxist and psychoanalytic theory, the "red years" of Cahiers du cinéma produced a theoretical outpouring that was seminal for the formation of film studies and is still of vital relevance for the contemporary audiovisual landscape. The Red Years of Cahiers du Cinéma (1968-1973) gives an overview of this period in the journal’s history and its aftermath, combining biographical accounts of the critics who wrote for Cahiers in the post 1968 period with theoretical explorations of their key texts.Trade Review"Daniel Fairfax’s book is an impressive work that casts new light on the history of Cahiers du cinéma. Thanks to exhaustive archival research, Fairfax re-establishes the coherent yet complex trajectory of the journal. It is an exemplary study: the outcome of true dedication, astute critical sensibility and a great passion for film." - Francesco Casetti, Yale University "During its 'red years,' the core contributors to Cahiers du cinéma rethought cinema in ways that have had lasting influence for contemporary film studies. This is an extraordinarily comprehensive work that not only yields a tremendous amount of information and theoretical nuance, but also offers new ways of understanding Cahiers in its Marxist phase." - Philip Rosen, Brown University Listen to author Daniel Fairfax in conversation with Annie Berke, the Film Editor of the Los Angeles Review of Books, on the New Books in Film podcast: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2yh5YCxk3ChglwhdSHZYZrTable of ContentsVolume I: Ideology and Politics Acknowledgements A Note on Translations Introduction Part I Theories of Ideology 1. "Cinema/Ideologie/Critique": An Epistemological Break? 2. Jean-Louis Comolli and Jean Narboni: Crossed Lives 3. Décalages: "Young Mr. Lincoln de John Ford" 4. "La Vicariance du Pouvoir" and the Battle of Othon 5. "Technique et Ideologie" by Jean-Louis Comolli 6. Afterlives of the Apparatus Part II Engagements with Politics 7. The Radicalization of Cahiers: 1963-1969 8. Cahiers du cinéma and the Rapprochement with the PCF: 1969-1971 9. Cahiers du cinéma’s Turn to Maoism: 1971-1973 10. Cahiers du cinéma and Jean-Luc Godard 11. Cahiers du cinéma in the "Post-gauchiste" Era: 1973-1981 12. Bernard Eisenschitz: Cinema, Communism and History 13. Jean-Louis Comolli: A Theoretical Practice of Political Cinema Volume II: Aesthetics and Ontology Part III Questions of Aesthetics 14. Encounters with Structuralism 15. Beyond Structuralism: Film Form and Écriture 16. Re-reading Classical Cinema 17. The Defense and Critique of Cinematic Modernism 18. Encountering the World Through Cinema 19. The Film Aesthetics of Jacques Aumont 20. Two Ciné-fils: Pascal Kane and Serge Daney Part IV Encounters with Ontology 21. The Bazinian Legacy 22. Jean-Pierre Oudart and Suture 23. Realism and Psychoanalysis in Pierre Baudry 24. Partial Vision: The Theory and Filmmaking of Pascal Bonitzer 25. The Brain is the Screen: Cahiers du cinéma and Gilles Deleuze 26. Film Ontology in the Age of "New" Media Conclusion Index of Names Cited

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Book SynopsisGrowing Up Communist in the Netherlands and Britain: Childhood, Political Activism, and Identity Formation documents communists’ attempts, successful and otherwise, to overcome their isolation and to connect with the major social and political movements of the twentieth century. Communist parties in Britain and the Netherlands emerged from the Second World War expecting to play a significant role in post-war society, due to their domestic anti-fascist activities and to the part played by the Soviet Union in defeating fascism. The Cold War shattered these hopes, and isolated communist parties and their members. By analysing the accounts of communist children, Weesjes highlights their struggle to establish communities and define their identities within the specific cultural, social, and political frameworks of their countries.Trade Review“Excellent – well researched, convincing in its argument, and a valuable contribution to communist (and wider social) history.”– Matthew Worley, Professor of Modern History, University of Reading; Co-founder and editor of Twentieth Century Communism “Elke Weesjes has built on the work of the historians of communism who have charted the study of daily communist lives as they were lived, not as simply an expression of Soviet policies. She skillfully compares the British and Dutch communist movements, specifically the experiences of children growing up in “red” families. Breaking new methodological and historiographical ground, this book captures the subjective experience of mid-twentieth century communist life in these two countries and how this influenced the forms of radicalism that emerged in the 1960s and beyond.”– Paul C. Mishler, Associate Professor of Labor Studies, Indiana University; author of Raising Reds: Young Pioneers, Radical Summer Camps, and Communist Political Culture in the United States 1922-1956 (Columbia University Press, 1999)Table of ContentsAcknowledgements 1 Introduction: Cradle Communists and Oral History Part I 2 Under the Party’s Wing: Communist Youth Organisations 1920-1956 Foundation years Class Against Class and Popular Front The Spanish Civil War The Second World War Promising years: 1945-1948 Isolation: 1948-1956 3 Out of the Shadows: Communist Youth Organisations 1957-1968 The ban-the-bomb movement The politicisation of youth The student movement The anti-Vietnam War movement Old guard vs. new guard 4 Fragmentation and Demise: Communist Youth Organisations 1969-1991 Gender roles, sexuality and the feminist movement The anti-racist movement The gay rights movement The final years Part II 5 From Heroes to Villains: The Second World War and '1956' Resistance and war trauma '1956' 6 Private Spheres: Communist Home Life Politics at home Cultural upbringing Child-rearing mores 7 Public Spheres: Neighbourhood, School and Work School and education Work and careers Anti-communism – MI5 and the BVD Working mothers Money and poverty Summer camps and holidays Friendships and relationships 8 Epilogue: Looking Back 9 Afterword List of Abbreviations Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisThe Lao People’s Democratic Republic is nearly fifty years old, and one of the few surviving one-party socialist states. Nearly five decades on from its revolutionary birth, the Lao population continues to build futures in and around a political landscape that maintains socialist rhetoric on the one hand and capitalist economics on the other. Contemporary Lao politics is marked by the use of cultural heritage as a source of political legitimacy. Researched through long-term detailed ethnography in the former royal capital of Luang Prabang, itself a UNESCO-recognized World Heritage Site since 1995, this book takes a fresh look at issues of legitimacy, heritage, and national identity for different members of the Lao population. It argues that the political system has become sufficiently embedded to avoid imminent risk of collapse but suggests that it is facing new challenges primarily in the form of rising Chinese influence in Laos.Table of ContentsList of Acronyms and Abbreviations Author’s Note Acknowledgements 1 Introduction – Heritage, State, and Politics Being Revolutionary, Being Lao Constructing the People’s Democratic Republic Socialist Ideology – Capitalist Politics Nation State Fragility Cultural Intimacy of/in Laos Heritage With an Agenda Future Building in Laos Rising China The Book Future Directions References 2 Making the Past (Dis)appear: Heritage as Legitimacy in (Re)creating Luang Prabang Luang Prabang and the Creation of Nostalgia Dealing With ‘Difficult Pasts’ at the National Museum Heritage and Almsgiving ‘We Don’t Talk About It Openly’: Timelessness and Silence An Economy of Selective History A Suitably Idealized Past Conclusions: Heritages and Future Directions References 3 Hmong (Forever) on the Margins: Crypto-Separatism and the Making of Ethnic Difference Ethnicity in Laos Dreams of Hmong Statehood and Zomia ‘We Are Hmong’ Difference as Belonging Zomia as a Persistent Alternative Conclusions: Reproducing Societal Inequality? References 4 One World: One Dream: Voices of Pessimism, Strategies of Pragmatism and Facing the Rise of China ‘One World: One Dream’? ‘China Is Developed’ ‘We Will No Longer Have Jobs’ Pessimism With Ambivalence: The New ‘Things of the House’ Final Thoughts – One Belt: Multiple Paths? References 5 Conclusion – Long Live the Revolution? Royal and Revolutionary Heritage Essentializing the State The Dynamics of Authoritarianism Difficult Heritages Difference as (Not) Belonging On China and Changing Laos Final Reflections References Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisUsing the insurrection by the Malayan Communist Party (1948–1960) as an example, this book argues that resorting to violence sped up the decolonisation of British Malaya, begging the question: if a late colonial state was subjective, then how did it claim a sufficiently objective mantle to rule and how did ideological techniques enable this?

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Book SynopsisThis book is a tribute to the memory of Victor Zaslavsky (1937-2009), sociologist, emigre from the Soviet Union, Canadian citizen, public intellectual, and keen observer of Eastern Europe. In seventeen essays leading European, American and Russian scholars discuss the theory and the history of totalitarian society with a comparative approach. They revisit and reassess what Zaslavsky considered the most important project in the latter part of his life: the analysis of Eastern European - especially Soviet societies and their difficult "transition" after the fall of communism in 1989-91. The variety of the contributions reflects the diversity of specialists in the volume, but also reveals Zaslavsky's gift: he surrounded himself with talented people from many different fields and disciplines. In line with Zaslavsky's work and scholarly method, the book promotes new theoretical and methodological approaches to the concept of totalitarianism for understanding Soviet and East European societies, and the study of fascist and communist regimes in general.Table of Contents1. T. Piffer and V. Zubok, Introduction Part I: Theory and Debate 2. Peter Baehr, Movement, Formation, and Maintenance in the Soviet Union: Victor Zaslavsky’s Challenge to the Arendtian Theory of Totalitarianism 3. Giovanni Orsina, European Liberalism in the Age of Totalitarianism 4. Vittorio Strada, Totalitarismum ante litteram 5. Vladimir Tismaneanu, Totalitarian Dictators and Ideological Hubris 6. Emilio Gentile, From Facts to Words: From the Party Militia to Fascist Totalitarianism Part II: History and Society 7. Vladimir Pechatnov, Stalin as a Statesman 8. Oleg Khlevniuk, Stalin’s Dictatorship: Priorities, Policies, and Results 9. Andrea Graziosi, The “National Question” in the Soviet Union 10. Inessa Yazhborovskaia, The Katyn Affair 11. David Holloway, Totalitarianism and Science: The Nazi and the Soviet Experience 12. Maria Teresa Giusti, From Fascism to Communism: The Conversion to Communism of a Prisoner of War in the USSR Part III: Beyond Totalitarianism 13. Veljco Vujacic, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and Vasily Grossman: Slavophile and Westernizer Against the Totalitarian Soviet State 14. Antonella d’Amelia, “Without a free word, there are no free men”: Lydia Chukovskaya’s Writings on Terror and Censorship 15. Lev Gudkov, The Transition from Totalitarianism to Authoritarianism in Russia 16. Gail Lapidus, Totalitarianism, Nationalism, and Challenges for Democratic Transition 17. Mark Kramer, Public Memory and the Difficulty of Overcoming the Communist Legacy : Russia and Poland in Comparative Perspective

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Book SynopsisThe collection of well-researched essays assesses the uses and misuses of history 25 years after the collapse of Soviet hegemony in Eastern Europe. As opposed to the revival of national histories that seemed to be the prevailing historiographical approach of the 1990s, the last decade has seen a particular set of narratives equating Nazism and Communism. This provides opportunities to exonerate wartime collaboration, casting the nation as victim even when its government was allied with Germany. While the Jewish Holocaust is acknowledged, its meaning and significance are obfuscated. In their comparative analysis the authors are also interested in new practices of 'Europeanness'. Therefore their presentations of Slovak, Hungarian, Romanian, Bulgarian, Serbian, Bosnian, Croatian and Slovenian post-communist memory politics move beyond the common national myths in order to provide a new insight into transnational interactions and exchanges in Europe in general.The juxtaposition of these politics, the processes in other parts of Europe, the modes of remembering shaped by displacement and the transnational enable a close encounter with the divergences and assess the potential of the formation of common, European memory practices.Trade Review"Of Red Dragons and Evil Spirits proves comparative research to be relevant and exciting. With the overarching aim to contribute to surmounting the ‘bloc division of Europe, which still persists in viewing the East as a monolith’, this edited volume sets about to a) point out divergences in the memory cultures in postsocialist countries, and b) assess the potential to form common European memory practices. It thus analyses the changing mnemonic landscapes on two levels: within Eastern Europe and in Europe as a whole. With nationalist historical revisionism as a common thread running through the bulk of the case studies, the message is in fact one of a shared postcommunist memory culture. The authors identify the road to EU membership as the catalyst of how the attempt to establish a European memory canon failed. In combination, the case studies provide the reader with a nuanced view on ‘all- Europeanness’ when it comes to memory. Even in the absence of a shared European historical narrative, common mnemonic practices have developed over time. In sum, trying to overcome the ‘bloc division of Europe’ this edited volume contains highly relevant insights into the divergences in the memory cultures in postsocialist countries as well as into common European memory practices." * Südosteuropa *"The volume surveys eight national contexts from East Central and Southeastern Europe in an attempt to reconstruct the defining features of the contemporary politics of the past. As the authors suggest, falling short of the hopes and expectations of many in the aforementioned two regions, instead of a process of democratizing the narratives about the past, there is a return to or rather no change in the dominance of nation-centered narratives. Of Dragons and Evil Spirits as a whole has the virtue of addressing some time-specific aspects of contemporary politics of history. Scholars and policy makers may learn important lessons from the cases presented." https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.2307/26571615 -- Réka Krizmanics * Hungarian Historical Review *Table of ContentsContents PREFACE INTRODUCTION "Red Dragon and the Evil Spirits" CHAPTER 1 On the (In)convertibility of National Memory into European Legitimacy: The Bulgarian Case CHAPTER 2 Equalizing Jesus's, Jewish and Croat Suffering-Post-Socialist Politics of History in Croatia CHAPTER 3 Wars of Memory in Post-Communist Romania CHAPTER 4 Reflections on the Principles of the Critical Culture of Memory CHAPTER 5 The Struggle for Legitimacy: Constructing the National History of Slovakia After 1989 CHAPTER 6 Victims and Traditions: Narratives of Hungarian National History After the Age of Extremes CHAPTER 7 Instrumentalization of History in Bosnia and Herzegovina CHAPTER 8 Post-Socialist Historiography Between Democratization and New Exclusivist Politics of History List of contributors Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAlternatives to Democracy in Twentieth-Century Europe: Collectivist Visions of Modernity, examines the historical examples of Soviet Communism, Italian Fascism, German Nazism, and Spanish Anarchism, suggesting that, in spite of their differences, they had some key features in common, in particular their shared hostility to individualism, representative government, laissez faire capitalism, and the decadence they associated with modern culture. But rather than seeking to return to earlier ways of working these movements and regimes sought to design a new future – an alternative future – that would restore the nation to spiritual and political health. The Fascists, for their part, specifically promoted palingenesis, which is to say the spiritual rebirth of the nation. The book closes with a long epilogue, in which I defend liberal democracy, highlighting its strengths and advantages. In this chapter, the author identifies five key choke points, which would-be authoritarians typically seek to control, subvert, or instrumentalize: electoral rules, the judiciary, the media, hate speech, and surveillance, and look at the cases of Viktor Orbán’s Hungary, Jarosław Kaczyński’s Poland, and Donald Trump’s United States.Trade Review"This is a timely moment to step back from the presentation of contemporary politics and take a historical approach to past challenges to liberal democracy in the twentieth century, which is precisely what Sabrina P. Ramet does in this eloquently written history of alternatives to democracy. She identifies four principal rival visions to that of liberal democracy: German National Socialism, Italian Fascism, Soviet Communism, and Spanish Anarcho-Syndicalism. Ramet's book is an extremely learned and interesting book that will be read with great benefit by anyone interested in the intellectual history of liberal democracy and its adversaries." * Politics, Religion & Ideology *"Alternatives to Democracy is at its core a transnational work of comparative twentieth-century history philosophically rooted in the immediate contexts of the late 2000s and the 2010s. The ideas underpinning the central thesis of this book are thus explored through two interconnected analyses. The first, comprising most of the book’s content, identifies and deconstructs four forms of collectivist ideology that dominated the political landscape of twentieth-century Europe: Soviet communism, Italian and German fascism, and the more incongruous choice of interwar Spanish anarchism. Despite widely differing socioeconomic objectives and geopolitical aspirations (or lack thereof), each of these ideological movements positioned itself as a distinct alternative to liberal democracy, defined by Ramet as a political commitment to ‘the rule of law, individual rights, toleration, respect for the harm principle, basic human equality, and the neutrality of state in matters of religion’. In the context of the early twentieth century however, collectivist alternatives to liberal democracy were able to command widespread support within the countries in which their adherents came to power, granting them a mandate for reshaping society to better reflect their core ‘moral values’: fundamental goods ‘such as freedom, equality, or human rights or, in the case of the Nazis, the rights of race’. Alternatives to Democracy follows Ramet’s quintessential style in terms of both its scope and ambition. This latest offering represents a fresh interpretation of modernity’s competing political visions." * Europe-Asia Studies *Table of ContentsChapter 1. Rival Visions of Alternative Modernity: An Introduction Chapter 2. An Evolving Vision of an Alternative Modernity: Soviet Communism Chapter 3. The Quest for an Alternative Modernity: Fascism and Nazism, Part I Chapter 4. The Quest for an Alternative Modernity: Fascism and Nazism, Part II Chapter 5. The Quest for Freedom and Solidarity: Anarchism in Spain Epilogue: In Defense of Liberal Democracy—and a Warning

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Book SynopsisThe thirteen authors of this collective work undertook to articulate matter-of-fact critiques of the dominant narrative about communism in Poland while offering new analyses of the concept, and also examining the manifestations of anticommunism. Approaching communist ideas and practices, programs and their implementations, as an inseparable whole, they examine the issues of emancipation, upward social mobility, and changes in the cultural canon. The authors refuse to treat communism in Poland in simplistic categories of totalitarianism, absolute evil and Soviet colonization, and similarly refuse to equate communism and fascism. Nor do they adopt the neoliberal view of communism as a project doomed to failure. While wholly exempt from nostalgia, these essays show that beyond oppression and bad governance, communism was also a regime in which people pursued a variety of goals and sincerely attempted to build a better world for themselves. The book is interdisciplinary and applies the tools of social history, intellectual history, political philosophy, anthropology, literature, cultural studies, and gender studies to provide a nuanced view of the communist regimes in east-central Europe.Trade Review"This edited collection, which reads like a multi-authored monograph, crowns the efforts of 13 contributors; the contributors are cultural and social historians, philosophers, and literary scholars, Reassessing Communism is a welcome contribution to the field of communism studies and an important voice against contemporary tendencies in Poland that try to reduce the four decades of People’s Poland to ideology-driven cliches, one-sided narratives, and non-reflective and anti-intellectual historicism." https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00085006.2022.2101733 -- Mikołaj Kunicki * Canadian Slavonic Papers *"Much of interest is proposed in this extensive volume, which draws attention to notions of continuing intellectual and perhaps practical importance." https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/slavic-review/article/reassessing-communism-concepts-culture-and-society-in-poland-19441989-ed-katarzyna-chmielewska-agnieszka-mrozik-and-grzegorz-wolowiec-central-european-university-press-budapest-2021-vii-418-pp-notes-bibliography-index-10500-hard-bound/9C9053ADD6E79CD9243A118AF5303A49 -- Anthony Kemp-Welch * Slavic Review *Table of ContentsList of Acronyms Introduction: Communism Studies in Central and Eastern Europe: A New Approach Katarzyna Chmielewska, Agnieszka Mrozik, and Grzegorz Wołowiec Part One: Critiques of the Dominant Narrative 1. The Red and the Brown: On the Nationalist Legitimation of Communism in Poland Once Again Grzegorz Wołowiec 2. Communist (Auto)biographies: Teresa Torańska’s Them: Stalin’s Polish Puppets and the Contemporary Paradigms of Understanding the Past Anna Artwińska Part Two: New Analyses of Communism 3. Legitimation of Communism: To Build and to Demolish Katarzyna Chmielewska 4. Eroticism and Power Tomasz Żukowski 5. “’Cause a Girl Is People”: Projects and Policies of Women’s Emancipation in Postwar Poland Agnieszka Mrozik 6. An Adventure in the Steelworks and in Mariensztat: Family and Emancipation of Women in 1950s Polish Cinema Aránzazu Calderón Puerta 7. The “Adolescent Sphinx”: (Post-)Thaw Novels for Girls Eliza Szybowicz 8. “Here I Stand, I Cannot Do Otherwise”: Around An Open Letter to the Party and the Notion of Revisionism in Discourse About the Political Opposition in 1960s Poland Bartłomiej Starnawski 9. Socialist Education Ideals and Models of Patriotism: Some of the Problems of Polish Pedagogics and the Education Policy of the People’s Republic of Poland in the 1970s Anna Sobieska Part Three: New Analyses of Anti-Communism 10. The Waning of Communism in the People’s Republic of Poland: The Case of Discourse on Intelligentsia Anna Zawadzka 11. The Thought of Stanisław Brzozowski in Polish Academic Writing and Journalism in the Years 1945–1974: Currents, Parallels, Polemics Paweł Rams 12. Around Jerzy Andrzejewski’s Miazga, Kazimierz Brandys’ Nierzeczywistość, and Polish Leftist Thought of the Late 1960s and Early 1970s Kajetan Mojsak 13. Scheming as a Business: “Communism” in the Language of the 1980s Opposition; The Example of The Little Conspirator Krzysztof Gajewski List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisWhy has communism’s humanist quest for freedom and social justice without exception resulted in the reign of terror and lies? The authors of this collective volume address this urgent question covering the one hundred years since Lenin’s coup brought the first communist regime to power in St. Petersburg, Russia in November 1917. The first part of the volume is dedicated to the varieties of communist fantasies of salvation, and the remaining three consider how communist experiments over many different times and regions attempted to manage economics, politics, as well as society and culture. Although each communist project was adapted to the situation of the country where it operated, the studies in this volume find that because of its ideological nature, communism had a consistent penchant for totalitarianism in all of its manifestations. This book is also concerned with the future. As the world witnesses a new wave of ideological authoritarianism and collectivistic projects, the authors of the nineteen essays suggest lessons from their analyses of communism’s past to help better resist totalitarian projects in the future.Table of ContentsIntroduction: Why a 20th Century Exercise in the 21st Century Vladimir Tismaneanu and Jordan Luber Part One: Fantasies of Salvation German Communism, the Jews and Israel: From the Antifascism of World War II to the Undeclared Wars of the Cold War Jeffrey Herf Euphoria to Decay: Post-Marxist Revision’s Mortal Threat to Communism Vladimir Tismaneanu Getting off the Red Tram of Socialism Mykola Riabchuk The Rise, Demise, and Pernicious Long-Term Impact of Soviet Communist Ideology in Russia Mark Kramer Part Two: Economics The Comparative Assessment of Communist and Post-Communist System Performance and Human Wellbeing: Challenges and Insights from In-depth Case Study Approaches Paul Dragos Aligica and Vlad Tarko Communist Economy: The Verdict of History Steven Rosefielde Looking Back at the Soviet Economic Experience Peter Rutland Incentives, Coercion, and Redistribution: Why Industrial Central Plan Economies Performed Worse Than Western Market Economies and Better Than Less Developed Economies Michael S. Bernstam The Rise and Fall of the Planned Economy and Its Long-Lasting Effects on Transition Serguey Braguinsky Part Three: Politics Romancing a Millenarian State: From Petrograd to Raqqa Leon Aron Stalin, Tito, Djilas, and the Dialectical Quarrels of Post-war Europe Marius Stan China’s Enduring Leninist Toolkit: Perspectives on CCP Organization and Ideology Margaret M. Pearson Reductio ad Reganum: Reflections on Communism’s Enduring Ideological Invulnerability Venelin I. Ganev Ideology and Violence in Communist Venezuela Jordan Luber Part Four: Society and Culture Communist Rhetoric as Official Practices of Discourse: Making Epideictic Arguments on Authority and National Identity Noemi Marin Selective Repression and Democratic Opposition in Post-Totalitarian Hungary András Bozóki Lost in Protochronia: Ideological Dada in Ceaușescu’s Romania Mircea Mihăieș The Road to Liberation Theology: Experiments at the Intersection of Confessional & Secular Religion Piotr H. Kosicki Philosophical Lessons from the Bolshevik Experiment Marci Shore List of Contributors Index

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Book SynopsisThis volume discusses the changing role of the village level Chinese Communist Party secretaries in the countryside. Rural reforms since 1978, especially the dismantling of the rural commune in the early 1980s, have reshaped the social, economic and political landscapes of rural China. Economic reforms have led to gradual erosion of the power of the party secretaries, reduced their income advantages, and at the same time increased the complexity and difficulty of their tasks. The issue of incentive has emerged for talented people to remain party secretaries. The political implications, according to the author, are a gradual transformation of the nature of the CCP and its turning from a “vanguard party” to a “rearguard party” that manages things from the sidelines and in an ad hoc fashion.Table of ContentsOut of the cultural revolution; party secretaries in the countryside; the CCP through the next millennium?

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Book SynopsisHistory has proved that communism failed at many levels during the first global competition between the capitalist and socialist camps during the Cold War. As a result, the socialist camp was dissolved. China is one of the few communist countries to survive in the twenty-first century. The Chinese economy was on the verge of collapse in the 1970s but began to take off in the early 1980s, guided by the China model. China became the world's second largest economy in 2010 and has quickly expanded its enormous global market and political influence. The second global competition between the capitalist countries and China has started. The second global competition is in fact between the China model and the Washington Consensus. Will Western hegemonies end as the result of the second global competition? Will China be able to rewrite the international rules? Will the Chinese communist political system collapse during the competition? What should the West do to the China model? This book will explore the implications of the China model in the context of the second global competition and argues that the downturn of the China model and China's global expansion are the two sides of the same coin. The China model is losing its power but not broken. China would be able to become even stronger, if it could reshape the philosophical foundation of the China model. The future of Western hegemony will depend on how the West understands the China model and deals with it. This book addresses these aspects and more.

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Book SynopsisHistorians have not convincingly explained modern capitalism's two major economic crises, the Great Depression of the 1930s, and the Global Financial Crisis (GFC) of 2008-2009. Accounting for Crises offers a new explanation, why both began and were more severe in the USA ('America'), based on an accounting interpretation of Marx's theory of crises. It explains their origins in capitalists' control of accumulation, which reveals important overlooked roles for Irving Fisher's accounting theory. This theory, by allowing discretion in accounts, in the context of falling rates of profit, encouraged 'swindling', overstating reported profits, and understating their risk, which facilitated and aggravated both crises. Framed by Fisher's theory, during the 1920s American accounting theorists justified discretion, which Creating the 'Big Mess' (the companion volume) concluded it management used to conservatively smooth earnings. Accounting for Crises shows that Fisher's theory , also underlays the popular new theory of investment that justified valuing shares using reported earnings, which encouraged their manipulation and legitimized 'speculation'. This, it argues, underlays America's exceptional late-1920s stock market boom, the 1929 Great Crash, and the depth and length of its Great Depression. Prominently associated with the boom, Fisher became unpopular after the crash, his name disappearing from public debate. Nevertheless, the book concludes, his theory hindered economic recovery, weakened 1930s reforms, undermined accounting regulation from the late-1930s, and following his rehabilitation from the late-1950s, underlies the Financial Accounting Standards Board's conceptual framework, which by allowing off-balance-sheet accounting for securitization-SPEs, fostered the 2007 'credit crunch' that triggered the 2008-2009 Global Financial Crisis (GFC).

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Book SynopsisThe Communist Women's Movement (CWM), virtually unknown today, was the world's first truly international revolutionary organisation of women. Formed in 1920, the CWM mapped out a programme for women's emancipation; participated in struggles for women's rights; and worked to advance women's participation in the Communist movement.The present volume, part of a series on the Communist International in Lenin's time, contains proceedings and resolutions of CWM conferences, along with reports on its work around the world. Most of the contents here are published in English for the first time, with almost half appearing for the first time in any language.Table of ContentsPrefaceEditorial Introduction Daria DyakonovaAbout This EditionList of AbbreviationsPrologue 1 The Tasks of the Working Women’s Movement in the Soviet Republic 2 Resolution on the Need to Draw Women Workers into the Struggle for Socialism, First Congress of Communist International, 1919First International Conference of Communist Women 30 July–3 August 192030 JULY 1920, EVENING. Opening CeremonyGreetings by Bukharin. Messages to Zetkin and Kollontai. Greetings by Levi; Wolfstein; Ströhmer; Balabanova; Newbold; Linderot; greetings from Turkey and Poland; Münzenberg; Gopner. Appeal to Polish working women.31 JULY 1920, 12:00 NOON. The Third International and Working WomenReport by Yaroslavsky. Discussion: Roy; Karymova; Wolfstein. Manifesto to the Working Women of the World.31 JULY 1920, 7:00 P.M. Delegate and Country ReportsWolfstein (Germany); Ströhmer (Austria); Linderot (Sweden); Kovács (Hungary); Newbold (Britain); Rosmer (France).1 AUGUST 1920, 12:00 NOON. Delegate and Country Reports (Continued)Balabanova (Italy); Maksimov (Bulgaria); Kazhukhanen (Finland); Nielsen (Denmark); Tumu (Latvia); Biti (Lithuania); Roy (Mexico); Dvorkina (Turkestan). Written reports: Norway; China; Korea; Iran; India; the Caucasus. The Situation of Working Women and Peasant Women in Soviet Russia: (a) report on economic and civil rights by Armand; (b) report on liberation from domestic bondage by Nikolaeva. Report on the RCP’s methods of work among women by Armand.1 AUGUST 1920, 7:00 P.M. Women’s Section of the CominternReport on theses of Russian delegation by Armand. Discussion on theses. Conference closing.Appendix: List of DelegatesGuidelines for the Communist Women’s MovementSecond International Conference of Communist Women 9–15 June 1921Conference Call9 JUNE 1921, EVENING SESSION. Inauguration of ConferenceConvening by Kollontai. Greetings by Thalheimer; Kalinin; Lozovsky; Gusev; Zetkin; Bukharin; Tskhakaia; Colliard; Podchufarova; Bloor; Chernyshova; Musabekova; Nam Man-ch’un; Kollontai.11 JUNE 1921, MORNING SESSION. International Women’s SecretariatZetkin convening. Election of committees. Agenda and rules. Message from Germany. Report on International Women’s Secretariat by Kollontai. Zetkin protest. Report on strengthening international ties by Zetkin.11 JUNE 1921, EVENING SESSION. Discussion on International Women’s SecretariatBraunthal; Bloch; Nikolaeva; Lilina; Colliard; Roland-Holst; Linderot; Csirs; Zorina; Areshian; Křenová; Moirova; Vinogradskaia. Kollontai summary.12 JUNE 1921, MORNING SESSION. Forms and Methods of WorkGliński greetings. Report on forms and methods of Communist work among women by Kollontai.13 JUNE 1921, MORNING SESSION. Discussion on Forms and Methods of WorkGreetings from Iran. Discussion on report: Volnaia; Kiiskinen; Smidovich; Golta; Zetkin; Mildner; Bloor; Nikolaeva; Krupskaia.13 JUNE 1921, EVENING SESSION. Discussion on Forms and Methods of Work (Continued)Reply to Zetkin protest. Continued discussion on report: Maimunkova; Smythe; Joska; Nam Man-ch’un; Areshian; Wertheim; Faber; Kudelli; Yanson. Kollontai summary.14 JUNE 1921, MORNING SESSION. Women in the Revolutionary StruggleReport on participation of women in the struggle for power and the dictatorship of the proletariat by Lilina. Report on the economic position of women by Sturm. Discussion on reports: Wertheim; Volnaia; Ströhmer; Geffke.15 JUNE 1921, MORNING SESSION. The Fight for Women’s EqualityReport on fight for political equality by Zetkin. Discussion on report: Smythe; Stal’; Moirova; Lilina; Podchufarova; Kaligna; Montagnana; Roland-Holst; Linderot; Leiciague; Bloch; Joska; Ströhmer; Sturm. Zetkin summary.15 JUNE 1921, EVENING SESSION. Greetings by Trotsky; Women of the East; Conference ClosingTrotsky greetings. Voting on resolutions. Motion on International Women’s Day. Credentials Commission report by Stal’. Greetings to Lenin and Zinoviev. Greetings from Eastern women: Tarijanova; Kaboulbaeva; Koussoumbaeva; Baisbekova. Closing of conference.List of DelegatesResolutions of Second Conference Greetings to the Heroes of the Struggle and the Martyrs of the White Terror Resolution on International Ties between Communist Women and the International Communist Women’s Secretariat Resolution on Forms and Methods of Communist Work among Women Theses on Methods and Forms of Work of Communist Parties among Women Trade-Union Work The Participation of Women in the Struggle for the Capture and Consolidation of Proletarian Political Power and for the Proletarian Dictatorship The Integration of Women into the Struggle for the Proletarian Dictatorship Equal Political Rights for Women in Law and in Practice Manifesto to Working Women of the Whole World Appeal to the Working Women of All CountriesWomen’s Correspondents Conferences, 1922The First Conference of International Women’s Correspondents (25–26 January 1922)Report from Die Kommunistische FraueninternationaleFirst Correspondents Conference Resolutions and Appeals International Women’s Day and the United Front of the Proletariat Resolution on International Communist Women’s DayThe Second Conference of International Women’s Correspondents (24–25 October 1922)Report from Die Kommunistische FraueninternationaleSecond Correspondents Conference Theses and Resolutions Resolution on the Organisational Report of the International Women’s Secretariat Resolution on Work in the Trade Unions Resolution on Work in the Cooperatives Resolution on International Workers’ Aid for Soviet RussiaNear East Women’s Conference, 1921The Communist Women’s Conference for the Near East in Tiflis (12 December 1921)Report from Die Kommunistische FraueninternationaleResolution of the Tiflis ConferenceForms and Methods of Communist Work among Women of the Near EastThe Communist Women’s Movement around the World 1 Germany 2 Czechoslovakia 3 France 4 Bulgaria 5 Dutch East Indies 6 Soviet RussiaChronologyGlossaryBibliographyIndex

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Book SynopsisGlobal Marx coheres a collective assessment of Marx's account of capital's domination, through his critique of disciplinary languages, investigation of political structures and analysis of specific political spaces within the world market. His discourse appears here as global not only because global is the geography of the world market but also because Marx redefined the relationships between the spaces on which capital exerts its command. Global Marx proves that Marx's texts do not identify any global working class, nor a centre of power to be conquered, but show that – within and against the world market – there is a social movement that is irreducible to any identity or to a single space from whose perspective one can write a universal history of class struggle. Contributors are: Luca Basso, Michele Basso, Matteo Battistini, Eleonora Cappuccilli, Michele Cento, Luca Cobbe, Isabella Consolati, Niccolò Cuppini, Roberta Ferrari, Michele Filippini, Giorgio Grappi, Maurizio Merlo, Mario Piccinini, Fabio Raimondi, Maurizio Ricciardi, Paola Rudan, and Federico Tomasello.Table of ContentsPrefaceAbbreviationNotes on Contributorspart 1Disciplines and Structures: Time, History, Mutations1 On Possession and Property Marx, Gans and the Law  Michele Basso2 Breaking the Chain of Time Marx and the French Historians  Isabella Consolati3 The Social Object Marx, the Economists, the Mercantile Society  Maurizio Merlo4 The Artificial Nature and the Genetic History of Capital Marx and the Modern Theory of Colonisation  Paola Rudan5 The Feminine Ferment Marx and the Critique of Patriarchy  Eleonora Cappuccilli and Roberta Ferrari6 The City as a Time-Machine Marx and Urban Transformations  Niccolò Cuppini7 Marx Technology and Anthropology  Fabio Raimondipart 2Spaces and World: States, Revolutions, Social Movement8 Germany as an Anachronism Marx, Social Science and the State  Maurizio Ricciardi9 In the Anarchic State of Capital Marx and the Suspended History of Latin America  Michele Cento10 The Colonial Lever and the Social Movement in General Marx and Ireland  Luca Cobbe11 The French Revolutions and the Future of Politics Marx and France  Federico Tomasello12 The Nation within Capital’s Political Relations Marx and Italy  Michele Filippini13 From the Commune to Communism? Marx and Russia  Luca Basso14 ‘A Sea of Revolution’ Marx, India and China  Giorgio Grappi15 Between Slavery and Free Labour Marx, the American Civil War and Emancipation as a Global Issue  Matteo Battistini16 England as the Metropolis of Capital Marx, the International and the Working Class  Mario PiccininiWorks of Karl Marx and Friedrich EngelsReferencesIndex

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Book SynopsisAn essential record from the Second International, expertly curated by Under the Socialist Banner editor Mike Taber.At its height, the Second International (1889-1916) represented the majority of organized workers in the world, and the largest of its affiliated parties counted over a million members. Its congresses drew delegates from across the globe, and its major victories—like the eight-hour work day—have long outlasted the organization itself. In this important collection of debates and resolutions from the Second International, Reform, Revolution, and Opportunism captures the International’s vibrancy and gives a snapshot of its strengths, weaknesses, and contradictions. Socialist militants turned to the Second International to deliberate on how best to combat the latest deprivations and excesses of capitalism, which was stretching beyond national boundaries for the first time. These new issues and the debates about how to respond to them—surging immigration; what to say about colonialism; how to relate to burgeoning struggles for women’s rights; the drive to intern-imperialist war—remain deeply contested over a hundred years later. Taken together with Under the Socialist Banner, Reform Revolution, and Opportunism offers a rounded view of the Second International and its legacy, showing it to be a living, breathing movement with crucial insights for contemporary radicals.Trade Review“Through this engaging volume, Taber has provided a tremendous resource to the socialist movement and historians of the Second International.”—Eric Blanc, author of Revolutionary Social Democracy: Working-Class Politics Across the Russian Empire, 1892-1917“Debates in the European congresses of the Second International from 1900 to 1910 might seem a long way from the Bolshevik revolution in 1917. Yet the Bolsheviks themselves self-identified very strongly as the Russian representatives of ‘revolutionary Social Democracy’ in contrast to international ‘opportunism’. They insisted that the collapse of the Second International in 1914 was (in Lenin’s words) ‘the collapse of opportunism’ – not the collapse of revolutionary Social Democracy. Mike Taber’s invaluable presentation of the clash between the two wings of the Second International on vital issues such as war, colonialism and women’s suffrage is therefore essential reading for all who seek to understand the outlook of the Bolsheviks and their revolutionary tactics in 1917.”—Lars T. Lih, author of Lenin Rediscovered “These excerpts from the debates at some of the most important congresses of the Second International allows us to see as never before how socialists of the time responded to such crucial issues as supporting anti-colonial struggles and women’s rights while opposing militarism and restrictions on immigration—the very issues being so heatedly debated today.”—Peter Hudis, general editor, The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg“This book is a treasure chest for every socialist seeking to understand the history of their movement. Bringing together documents from 1900 to 1910, Mike Taber shows us how socialists more than a century ago analyzed and debated key questions of their time. He also shows us that these are urgent questions for our times: war and militarism; colonialism; immigration; gender rights; and strategies for working class power. Revolution, Reform, and Opportunism is an invaluable contribution to the history of the socialist movement and Taber does a superb job of illuminating the context of these debates and showing us why they matter today.”—David McNally, author of Blood and Money“Mike Taber offers clear and compelling translations of pivotal debates in the Second International around colonialism, immigration, women’s suffrage, militarism, and political tactics during the first decade of the twentieth century. The debates reflect tensions between some socialists’ racist, nationalist, and misogynistic prejudices and others’ internationalism and desire for the liberation of both working men and working women. The selections in this book illuminate the roots of the 1914 split in the Second International and are relevant to struggles in our time.” —Barbara C. Allen, editor of The Workers’ Opposition in the Russian Communist Party: Documents, 1919-30“Many activists of today face challenges bedeviling socialists a hundred years ago: What should be the relationship between reform and revolution? To what extent should socialists adapt to existing power structures in the quest to ease the impact of multiple crises – and to what extent should they instead redouble their efforts to end the system generating such crises? Mike Taber draws together transcripts of rich and sharp debates from the mass-based Socialist International from 1900 to 1910 – a clash of analyses and proposals offering insights to those of our own time who want to change the world.”—Paul Le Blanc, editorial board member, The Complete Works of Rosa Luxemburg“In bringing together the key debates of the Second International in the first decade of the 20th century, Mike Taber reveals the extraordinary nature of this movement. It is a fascinating and compelling read…Some of the challenges within the Second International are still with us today. This book gives us a chance to reappraise our history and its relevance for today.”—Anne McShane, Historian of the Soviet Women’s Movement“Mike Taber provides yet another illuminating collection of documents, adroitly introduced and carefully compiled. Reform, Revolution, and Opportunism breathes contemporary life into the seemingly timeless clash of revolutionary and reformist sensibilities. Vexing matters such as war and militarism, colonialism and immigration, women's rights and strategic engagement with bourgeois states, remain contentious today. Taber skillfully shows how a mass socialist movement once vigorously debated and disagreed about how to approach these matters.”—Bryan D. Palmer, author of James P. Cannon and the Emergence of Trotskyism in the United States, 1928-1938“This book is a must-read. It provides a long-overdue wake-up call for the Marxist left, which almost universally dismisses the experience of the Second International as inherently opportunist, with the failures, betrayals and collapse of August 1914 supposedly written into this body's DNA. This book underscores just how flawed such an understanding is. The Second International was no monolithic or immutable entity sleepwalking into support for imperialist butchery, but a hotbed of factional struggle waged by the forces of ‘revolutionary social democracy’ – Russian Bolshevism included – against the opportunist cancer that eventually killed it off. As Taber shows, the leading lights of the revolutionary Marxist tradition never renounced the best aspects of the International's political legacy, but fought for its basic principles to be upheld in the face of the renegade, careerist and nationalist 'socialists' who betrayed them.”—Ben Lewis, Founder of Marxism Translated “Over a century ago, socialists wrestled with many of the same questions and conflicts as we do today: how to understand and respond to intra-imperialist war, immigration from capitalism's periphery to core, colonialism and solidarity with and from the colonized world, women's rights and women's roles in movements for liberation. By including primary source documents as well as speeches from socialists, including Rosa Luxemburg, Clara Zetkin, August Bebel, Karl Kautsky, Daniel De Leon and others, one feels the presence of live movements being made and re-made in the crucible of fiery debate and struggle. Accompanied by Taber's lucid historical context, this selection of speeches and resolutions from the heyday of early 20th century socialism to its fracturing over World War I and re-forming during the Bolshevik Revolution is a necessary read both for activists as well as scholars of these early battles against capitalism. Taber has offered 21st century socialists – if not a guide to the present – a helpful selection of examples of what earlier generations have exclaimed aloud, as in our world – still riven by war, imperialism, sexism, racism, class exploitation – the struggles and the movements for liberation must find their own answers and paths forward.”—Benjamin Balthaser, author of Anti-Imperialist Modernism and Dedication“Mike Taber has made yet another major contribution—this time by resurrecting some of the earliest socialist debates on crucial issues that continue to challenge us today. This is a fascinating read and a valuable resource for contemporary activists.”—Tom Twiss, author of Trotsky and the Problem of Soviet Bureaucracy“The ‘experience of socialists a century ago can provide valuable lessons and examples’ for socialists today because the emergence of the revolutionary trends within the Second International before 1914 anticipated those that arose in the aftermath of the October Revolution, as expressed in the formation of the Third International, writes Mike Taber. Whether Second International debates, in fact, contain invaluable, politically relevant lessons for communist activists today – or are of purely historical interest – is itself a matter of debate. Fortunately, Taber's documentary collection will help readers decide for themselves.”—John Marot, author of The October Revolution in Prospect and Retrospect: Interventions in Russian and Soviet History

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