Far-left political ideologies and movements Books

Book SynopsisPart of a definitive English-language edition, prepared in collaboration with the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in Moscow, which contains all the works of Marx and Engels, whether published in their lifetimes or since. The series includes their complete correspondence and newly discovered works.

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Book SynopsisThe History of the Communist Party of Great Britain 1927-41 Volume 3 Noreen Branson This volume covers some of the most turbulent years of the century, spanning a crucial period between the bitter aftermath of the General Strike and the Nazi attack on the Soviet Union.

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Book SynopsisA political biography on the life of Rajani Palme Dutt, one of the leading figures in the Communist Party of Great Britain from the 1920s to the 1960s. The text provides an insight into the mind of a Stalinist, and the twists and turns of communist politics.

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Book SynopsisPart of "The Collected Works" series, this book is the first volume of Karl Marx's famous text on the economies of capitalism, "Capital". The translation is based on the Moore and Aveling translation of 1887, but has been revised and supplemented with extensive notes.

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Book SynopsisHas any major thinker been more poorly understood than Karl Marx? Over the last 150 years, his name has been invoked in connection with everything from unemployment insurance to Hollywood to guerrilla wars. Any number of international movements have claimed his teachings as their inspiration. Time after time, authorities have proclaimed the death of Marx''s theories while new and old audiences continue to draw vital insight from the works of the most important philosopher and economist of the industrial era. Ernst Fischer has crafted a brief, clear, and faithful exposition of Marx''s main premises, with particular emphasis on historical context. This new edition of the English translation of ''Was Marx wirklich sagte'' (1968) includes new contributions by John Bellamy Foster that sharpen Fischer''s focus for today''s readers. Also included are a biographical chronology, extracts from major works of Marx, and Marx''s Method, a valuable essay by the political economist Paul M. Sweezy.Table of ContentsThe dream of the whole man; creative labour; division of labour and alienation; the fetish character of the commodity; classes and the class struggle; historical materialism; value and surplus value; profit and capital; the problem of increasing misery; the theory of revolution; dictatorship of the proletariat, socialism, communism; labour movement and international; the philosophy of practice; Marxism today.

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Book SynopsisThe Zinoviev letter had reached the Foreign Office via the Secret Service. It caused a storm, with accusations that it was a fabrication by White Russians or by British elements hostile to the Labour Government. The author reveals that Zinoviev's letter was not a fabrication, as has been widely believed for almost a hundred years.Trade Review`A compellingly researched re-interpretation of one of the most important documents in the history of inter-war British politics. It significantly changes our narrative of the period and has implications that reverberate far beyond the 1920s' Stephen Taylor, Professor of History at Durham University

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Book SynopsisMarxism has provided the ideological impetus to liberation movements, radical struggles and revolutions across the world. But in the 20th century, the emancipatory and democratic power of its thought has often been distorted and overridden by various Stalinist dictatorships which claimed to be acting in its name. A similar undermining of freedom of thought has been accomplished at an intellectual level; various schools have transformed Marxist thought in line with some of the most fashionable but gentrified forms of contemporary philosophy, shifting the focus from the democratic power of the masses and their ability to challenge the capitalist order to concentrate on superstar thinkers and elite theories.The War Against Marxism traces the war against Marxism which, paradoxically, has been conducted in the name of Marxism itself. As such it provides a fiery philosophical and polemical indictment of so-called Marxists' such as Adorno, Horkheimer, Althusser, Jameson, Eagleton, MoTrade ReviewThis is a beautiful polemic against the Frankfurt School , Critical Theory and many of the most prominent left academics. It is hard hitting and a good antidote to people getting sucked into anti-Marxism via “Marxism” ... This book is an excellent weapon in the fight against the ideological counterrevolution and the re-establishment of Marxism! * A Marxist View of Current Events Blog *Tony McKenna delivers a vibrant collection of essays on an astonishingly wide variety of topics, from Critical Theory to pop culture, dissecting with sometimes fierce but always insightful polemics the output of figures as different as Louis Althusser and Stephen King. Enlightening and entertaining in equal measure, Mckenna’s book is a vigorous and strikingly original defense and revitalization of Marxism as a project of popular empowerment and social transformation. * Ishay Landa, Associate Professor of History, The Open University of Israel, Ra’anana, Israel *Tony McKenna is one of the most erudite but readable authors in contemporary social theory and has a proven track record of producing off-piste but relevant analyses of enduring products of popular culture. This volume consolidates his status as a refreshing voice of both theoretical sophistication and contemporary relevance for our increasingly crisis-torn century. * Sean Ledwith, Lecturer in History and Sociology, York College, UK *This is a book for anyone who’s wondered how the unwavering commitment to human freedom in Marx became the slick repartee of postmodern Marxists. It’s a book for people who’ve come to suspect that the reactionary utterances of some popular, left-wing intellectuals might be tied to the deeper fundamentalism of their initiatives. Prepare to have your idols tested. * Katie Terezakis, Professor of Philosophy, Rochester Institute of Technology, USA *[McKenna] carefully examines the texts of self-purported Marxists and shows in a razor-sharp analysis how the war against Marx’s methodology has been ragging in academia for almost a century now. * Marx and Philosophy Review of Books *This book is refreshing and long overdue. * Counterfire *Table of ContentsAcknowledgements Introduction 1. Why the Founding Fathers of the Frankfurt School should be considered anti-Marxist 2. Planes, Trains and Automobiles: A study of capitalist reification and the possibility of its overcoming 3. Against post-Marxism: How post-Marxism annuls class-based historicism and the possibility of revolutionary praxis 4. Reification and its consequences for modern life 5. Literary Theory and the loss of the historical totality 6. Stephen King’s IT and the proletariat as identical subject-object of the historical process 7. The retreat from class: The theoretical fundaments of Moishe Postone’s critique of Lukács 8. Revolution and counterrevolution in thought Notes Index

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Book SynopsisAddressing Spinoza's perennial question: why do the masses fight for their servitude as if it was salvation?, Capitalism and the Limits of Desire examines the ways in which self-love as the care of the self has become intertwined with self-love as the pursuit of pleasure.With ongoing austerity and misery for so many, why does capitalism seem to be so insurmountable, so impossible to move beyond? John Roberts offers a compelling response: it is because we love the love of self that capitalism enables, even though it brings anxiety and self-scrutiny. Capitalism in the form of commodities, and, more importantly, the online platforms through which we express ourselves, has become so much of who we are, of how we define self-love as self-pleasure that it is difficult to imagine ourselves outside of it.Roberts contends that disentangling ourselves from this collapsing of self into capitalism is possible and that understanding the insidious nature of capitalist thinking even when it coTrade ReviewWhy is challenging or overcoming capitalism such a difficult project when its economic, social, and environmental failures are abundantly clear? John Roberts proposes a unique answer, it is because capital has become part of our very conception of ourselves, our self-love. * Jason Read, Professor of Philosophy, University of Southern Maine, USA *John Roberts's Capitalism and the Limits of Desire intervenes at the very core of contemporary debates on the libidinal economy, insisting that we need to work through the complex nexus of economic logic and the production of enjoyment, if we want to effectively organise our resistance against the catastrophic tendencies of capitalism. Roberts also provides us with a much-needed orientation in the multiplicity of classical and contemporary takes on the function of enjoyment and affects in the reproduction of capitalism. * Samo Tomšic, Research Associate in Philosophy, Humboldt University, Berlin, Germany *Table of Contentsprelims acknowledgements Introduction: Chapter 1: Capitalism, jouissance and subjective ruination Chapter 2: Individuation, ‘egoism’ and social reproduction Chapter 3: Self-love, jouissance and desire Chapter 4: Perfectionism, individuation and self-realization Conclusion bibliography index

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Book SynopsisGeoffrey Swain is Honorary Professor Emeritus and former Nove Chair in Russian and East European Studies at the University of Glasgow, UK. He is the author of several books, including A Short History of the Russian Revolution (Bloomsbury, 2017).Charlotte Alston is Professor in History at Northumbria University, UK. She is the author of several books, including Tolstoy and his Disciples (2013).Michael C. Hickey is Professor of History at Bloomsburg University of Pennsylvania, USA. He is the editor of Competing Voices from the Russian Revolution (2011), a 2011 CHOICE Outstanding Academic Title and Winner of the 2012 ALA RUSA Outstanding Reference Work Award.Boris Kolonitskii is Professor of History at European University at St. Petersburg, Russia and Head Research Fellow at the St. Petersburg Institute of History of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Russia. He is the co-author, along with Orlando Figes, of Trade ReviewSpanning high politics, identity, art, culture, and political parties, this is a first-rate investigation into a broad range of topics concerning the Russian Revolution. Anyone with a special interest in the Russian Revolution will find much of use in this volume. * George Gilbert, Lecturer in Modern Russian History, University of Southampton, UK *This is one of the few books on the Russian Revolution that offers new thoughts and research. An outstanding distillation of the latest findings. * Robert Service, Emeritus Professor of Russian History, Oxford University, UK *This volume assembles an international team of scholars to provide an essential reference on the Russian Revolution. Its well-chosen topics capture the rich historiographical tradition of Russian Revolution studies, while incorporating new findings and suggestions for future research. * Diane P. Koenker, Director and Professor of Russian and Soviet History, UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies , UK *Table of ContentsEditors’ Introduction Part 1 - Political Crises 1. Public Organisations and the Crisis in the Duma Peter Waldron (University of East Anglia, UK) 2. The February Revolution, Above and Below Tsuyoshi Hasegawa (University of California, Santa Barbara, USA) 3. Liberalism and the Rule of Law Ian D. Thatcher (University of Ulster, UK) 4. The October Seizure of Power Sally Boniece (Frostburg University, USA) 5. The Soviet Government’s First Year Lara Douds (University of Northumbria, UK) Part 2 - Politicians and Parties 6. Kerensky Boris Kolonitskii (European University at St. Petersburg, Russia) 7. Chernov and the SRs Hannu Immonen (Research Fellow Emeritus at the Academy of Finland, Finland) 8. The Internationalist Parties of the Radical Left Lutz Häfner (University of Bielefeld, Germany) 9. The Anarchists Dmitrii Ivanov (European University at St. Petersburg, Russia) 10. Lenin and the Bolsheviks Barbara Allen (La Salle University, USA) Part 3 - Regions and Peoples 11. The Revolution on the Volga Sarah Badcock (University of Nottingham, UK) 12. The Revolution on the Western Borderlands Michael Hickey (Bloomsburg University, USA) 13. The Revolution in Ukraine Nataliya Kibita (University of Edinburgh, UK) 14. The Revolution in Turkestan Gero Fedtke (University of Jena, Germany) 15. The Revolution and the Provincial Press Dennis Dierks and Franziska Schedewie (both University of Jena, Germany) Part 4 - Social Groups 16. Soldiers and the Russian Revolution Konstantin Tarasov (European University at St. Petersburg, Russia) 17. Workers and the Russian Revolution Nikolai Mikhailov (Academy of Sciences, St. Petersburg, Russia) 18. Peasants and the Russian Revolution Peter Fraunholtz (Northeastern University, USA) 19. The Lower Middle Strata Daniel Orlovsky (Southern Methodist University, USA) 20. The Revolution and Russia’s Former Elites Matthew Rendle (University of Exeter, UK) Part 5 - Identities 21. Women and the Russian Revolution Rochelle Goldberg Ruthchild (Brandeis University, USA) 22. Masculinity and the Russian Revolution Siobhan Hearne (University of Durham, UK) 23. The Impact of the Russian Revolution on Children and Youngsters Elizabeth White (University of the West of England, UK) Part 6 - Broader Perspectives 24. The Impact of the Revolution on Russia’s Infrastructure Tony Heywood (University of Aberdeen, UK) 25. The Revolution and Russia’s Cultural Life Felicitas Fischer von Weikersthal (University of Heidelberg, Germany) 26. The Hope for World Revolution Geoffrey Swain (University of Glasgow, UK) Part 7 - Civil War 27. Civil War: an Overview Evan Mawdsley (University of Glasgow, UK) 28. The Red Home Front Murray Frame (University of Dundee, UK) 29. The White Home Front Nikolaus Katzer (German Historical Institute, Russia) 30. The Fate of the Revolution by 1921 Charlotte Alston (Northumbria University, UK) Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisA revised version of The South African Communist Party in Exile. What is covered here is the story of the SACP during the exile years until its unbanning in 1990, the 1990-94 negotiated transition, and the immediate period after the 1994 first democratic elections, which brought into being post-apartheid South Africa.Trade Review"The SACP strives to be the leading political force of the South African working class whose interests it promotes in the struggle to advance, deepen and defend the national democratic revolution and to achieve socialism." - The South African Communist Party Constitution

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Book SynopsisIs this the right book for me?Marx: A Complete Introduction will familiarize you with the revolutionary thinking of this significant man. It will take you through all the essential concepts - from class struggle to dialectical materialism. Expressing Marx''s sometimes complex ideas in simple terms, and backed up with references to his own texts, this book gives you everything you need to know. Marx: A Complete Introduction includes:Chapter 1: Marx''s early lifeEurope at the time of MarxThe early life of MarxUniversity lifeLife as a journalistThe Communist ManifestoExileChapter 2: Marx''s later lifeThe move to LondonFamily life in LondonMarx and EngelsWork in LondonDas KapitalThe InternationalThe later yearsChapter 3: Marx and philosophyA brief history of philosophyWhich philosophers influenced Marx?Ancient Greek philosophersEuropean philosophyUtopian Socialis

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Book SynopsisOranges Are Not the Only Fruit meets Goodbye Lenin.''I hadn''t expected the Berlin Wall to be clean and white and smooth. It looked more like the edge of the swimming baths than the edge of the Cold War. On the grass of No-man''s Land, fat rabbits ate and strolled about as if they''d never been hunted and nothing could disturb them. This was their land and they ruled it, and there were three parts to Berlin: East, West and Rabbit.''It is 1978, Jess is thirteen and she already has a reputation - as the daughter of the only communist in town. But then, it''s in the blood. The Mitchells have been in the Party since the Party began. Jess and her mother Eleanor struggle to sell socialism to Tamworth - a sleepy Midlands town that just doesn''t want to know.So when Eleanor is invited to spend a summer teaching in East Germany, she and Jess leap at the chance to see what the future looks like. On the other side of the Iron Curtain they turn from villains into heroes. And when Eleanor meets widower Peter and his daughter, Martina, a new, more peaceful life seems possible.But the Cold War has no time for love and soon the trouble starts. Peter is dispatched for two years of solidarity work in Laos. Friends become enemies, and Jess discovers how easy it is to switch sides, and how sides can be switched for you, sometimes without you even knowing.Motherland is a tender mother-daughter story and a tragi-comic portrait of a childhood overcome with belief. It''s about loss of faith and loss of innocence, and what it''s like to grow up on the losing side of history.Trade ReviewFunny, smart, and packed full of all the melancholy you would expect from a novel that slowly sheds a child's innocence * Red *There's a great deal of humour in Motherland, all underpinned with a sober tone . . . Jess makes an engaging narrator * alifeinbooks *In its warm and witty portrait of offbeat mother-daughter relations, Motherland often recalls Nina Stibbe's Man At The Helm. Jess's gift for wry observations also gives rise to some wonderfully quotable lines * Lady *Motherland cuts a swathe through history without feeling like a lesson . . . Even though Motherland is full of historical detail, between 1980s Tamworth and the GDR, the oppression of the era never overwhelms. At the heart, and most important are the human relationships and which bonds survive * Emerald Street *I'm sure that these are characters (and the voice of a new novelist) that I for one will gladly revisit over and over again . . . A beautiful story tinged with fun, sadness and insight * Bookbag *A delightful tragi-comic novel, primarily about a mother/daughter relationship (hence the title) and also about coming of age and disillusionment . . . Motherland combines a teenager's cold-eyed view of adult absurdities and a wistfulness for lost certainties; a compelling blend * Historical Novel Review *A funny and poignant first novel * Daily Mail *This assured debut from Jo McMillan was a delight from start to finish; I was immediately drawn into the lives of the main characters and was sorry to get to the end. McMillan is now based in Berlin and she writes convincingly of both sides of the Cold War, she has a very distinct voice and will be a writer to watch in the future * We Love This Book *McMillan's writing is excellent; she captures brilliantly the voice of Jess, naive and committed at the start of the book, knowing and more questioning by the end. Although there's perhaps a certain irony in places in her portrayal of the various members of the counter-culture groups, she never belittles their belief and their faith in their cause . . . Motherland is McMillan's debut, and it's an excellent one - highly recommended! * Kaggsy's Bookish Ramblings *For those of us who remember how well youthful politics can entangle teenage love, this funny, sweet, sad first novel is both a delight and a glorious journey back to a time and place many of us only recall with a wry shake of the head * Stella Duffy *An ambitious coming-of-age novel from debut author Jo McMillan, which is wonderfully written and filled with quirky details and descriptions . . . A touching and poignant read, which uniquely explores this period in time in a way in which few other authors have attempted to * Herald *Genuinely funny * Socialist Worker *A touching and poignant read, which uniquely explores this period in time in a way in which few other authors have attempted to * Press Association *An ambitious coming-of-age story, filled with quirky details and descriptions * Scotsman *It's an ambitious coming-of-age novel from debut author Jo McMillan, which is wonderfully written and filled with quirky details and descriptions . . . a touching and poignant read, which uniquely explores this period in time in a way in which few other authors have attempted to * Catholic Universe *The book (sometimes very funny, sometimes desperately embarrassing and sad, always absorbing and moving) is full of her ineradicable love for her batty, determined Stalinist mother . . . I urge you to [read it] * Mail Online *

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Book SynopsisA new reading of the sexual politics of 1930s leftist prose genres

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Book SynopsisAlexandros Kioupkiolis re-conceptualises the common in tandem with the political. By engaging with key thinkers of community and the commons, including Nancy, Ostrom, Hardt and Negri, together with poststructuralist conceptions of agonism and hegemony from Mouffe and Laclau, he remedies problematic issues of power relations and division.

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Book SynopsisMark Devenney engages with the politics of the proper, propriety and property from a post-foundational perspective. He argues that this triad is central to understanding the maintenance of global inequality, both economic and political. He characterises democratic politics as improper, against current trends of thinking of it as a regime.

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Book SynopsisMark Devenney engages with the politics of the proper, propriety and property from a post-foundational perspective. He argues that this triad is central to understanding the maintenance of global inequality, both economic and political. He characterises democratic politics as improper, against current trends of thinking of it as a regime.

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Book SynopsisDrawing on newly-declassified government documents and international archives in Spain and beyond, this book explores the many ways in which Scots responded to the Spanish Civil War (1936-9).

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Book SynopsisSergei Prozorov contends that the post-truth ideology leads to the degradation of the public sphere that is essential to democratic governance. He argues instead for a positive role of truth-telling in the democratisation of biopolitical governance.Trade Review"In this highly original book, Sergei Prozorov breaks new ground by offering a penetrating critique of a notorious contemporary phenomenon, post-truth politics, through the lenses of affirmative biopolitics. Biopolitics after truth is no longer about bringing a politically neutral or incontestable notion of truth back into politics but about pursuing politics as a performative act of truth-telling. A much needed contribution to a theory of democratic biopolitics, this is engaged political philosophy at its best." -Vassilios Paipais, University of St Andrews

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Book SynopsisExamines how the control of land affects production, profit, prices and inequality in today's cities

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Book SynopsisErich Fromm (19001980) is widely regarded as one of the most important psychoanalytical thinkers of the 20th century. Besides his influence on modern psychology, he was also a key member of the Frankfurt School, and became one of the founders of the socialist humanist movement. He is the author of To Have Or To Be? and Marx's Concept of Man, both published in the Bloomsbury Revelations series.Table of ContentsForeword by Rainer Funk I. Some Personal Antecedents II. The Common Ground III. The Concept of Man and His Nature IV. Human Evolution V. Human Motivation VI. The Sick Individual and the Sick Society VII. The Concept of Mental Health VIII. Individual and Social Character IX. The Social Unconscious X. The Fate of Both Theories XL. Some Related Ideas XII. Credo

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Book SynopsisAn exploration of new forms of thinking and research following the Argentinean crisis of 2001.

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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 SynopsisA captivating collection of essays documenting a return to the heated conflicts present at the advent of Capitalism.

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Book SynopsisC. L. R. James was one of the most influential Marxists of his generation. His important contributions ranged from the subjects of Black liberation to contemporary philosophy and even touched on the anti-colonial potential of cricket. In this collection of hard-to-find articles and essays, his towering intellect and engaging style touch on a diverse array of topics.Trade Review“It is within Revolutionary Marxism that it is possible to detect the most valuable theoretical guidelines of his political work. The introductory writings of Le Blanc, Van Gelderlen, Glaberman, Bracey and Buhle also help to reconstruct not only a theoretical but also a human and biographical profile of James himself.”—Marx & Philosophy Review of Books

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Book SynopsisBrian Morris reaffirms, with an attitude of critical sympathy, the contemporary relevance of Kropotkin as a political and moral philosopher and as a pioneering social ecologist.

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Book SynopsisNOlympians: Inside the Fight Against Capitalist Mega-Sports in Los Angeles, Tokyo and Beyond investigates the intersection of the global rise of anti-Olympics activism and the declining popularity of hosting of the Games. The Olympics were once buoyed by myths of luminous prosperity and upticks in tourism and jobs, but in recent years these assurances have been debunked. Now more than ever, it's clear that the Olympics have transmogrified into a political-economic juggernaut that arrives with displacement, expanded policing, and anti-democratic backroom deals. Jules Boykoff - a former professional soccer player who represented the US Olympic soccer team - zooms in on Los Angeles, where the Democratic Socialists of America have launched the NOlympics LA campaign ahead of the 2028 Summer Games. Boykoff shows how DSA-LA's anti-Olympics activism fits with the resurgence of socialism in the US and beyond. Boykoff's research, based on more than 100 interviews with anti-Olympics activists, personal experiences at protests in Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, London, and Tokyo, academic research, mass- and alternative-media coverage, and Olympic archives, is the backbone for this story of activists fighting against the odds and embracing the transformative politics of democratic socialism.Trade ReviewProgressive groups will consider this a useful guide to launching their own anti-Olympic campaigns.--Publishers Weekly "The need for critical writing about the Olympics has never been more important and no one does it more effectively or incisively than Jules Boykoff. Here he shows us not only the potential harm of the LA 2028 Summer Games but the activists who are bringing this reality to light."

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Book SynopsisIn this hugely influential book, Laclau and Mouffe examine the workings of hegemony and contemporary social struggles, and their significance for democratic theory. With the emergence of new social and political identities, and the frequent attacks on Left theory for its essentialist underpinnings, Hegemony and Socialist Strategy remains as relevant as ever, positing a much-needed antidote against 'Third Way' attempts to overcome the antagonism between Left and Right.Trade ReviewA brilliant tour de force of scholarship and argument. * Marxism Today *

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Book SynopsisAs the crisis of capitalism unfolds, the need for alternatives is felt ever more intensely. The struggle between radical movements and the forces of reaction will be merciless. A crucial battlefield, where the outcome of the crisis will in part be decided, is that of theory. Over the last twenty-five years, radical intellectuals across the world have produced important and innovative ideas. The endeavour to transform the world without falling into the catastrophic traps of the past has been a common element uniting these new approaches. This book-aimed at both the general reader and the specialist-offers the first global cartography of the expanding intellectual field of critical contemporary thought. More than thirty authors and intellectual currents of every continent are presented in a clear and succinct manner. A history of critical thought in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries is also provided, helping situate current thinkers in a broader historical and sociological perspective.Trade ReviewA dizzying menagerie of anti-capitalist thought. * Pop Matters *

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Book SynopsisWhen, in 2013, the Daily Mail labeled Ralph Miliband "The Man Who Hated Britain," a diverse host rallied to his defense. Those who had worked with him - from both left and right - praised his work and character. He was lauded as "one of the best-known academic Marxists of his generation" and a leading figure of the New Left. Class War Conservatism collects together his most significant political essays and shows the scope and brilliance of his thinking. Ranging from the critical anatomy of capitalism to a clear-eyed analysis of the future of socialism in Britain, this selection shows Miliband as an independent and prescient thinker of great insight. Throughout, his writing is a passionate and forcefully argued demand for social justice and a better future.Trade ReviewA veritable giant of a man who had an almost unique capacity to understand-and explain-the world in which we live. -- Tony BennAn inspiring teacher of politics and an internationally renowned figure on the British Left. * Daily Telegraph *A Miliband speech was always a treat; alternately sarcastic and scholarly, witty and vicious. -- Tariq AliA beacon on the international Left. He epitomized what it meant to be a creative and independent socialist intellectual, and he provided consistent leadership in defining the issues for critical engagement. -- Leo PanitchHis whole effort is to render the language of socialism in terms of the needs of the here and now. -- Raphael Samuel

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Book SynopsisA philosopher and activist, eager to live according to ideals forged in study and discussion, Daniel Bensaïd was a man deeply entrenched in both the French and the international left. Raised in a staunchly red neighbourhood of Toulouse, where his family owned a bistro, he grew to be France's leading Marxist public intellectual, much in demand on talk shows and in the press. A lyrical essayist and powerful public speaker, at his best expounding large ideas to crowds of students and workers, he was a founder member of the Ligue Communiste and thrived at the heart of a resurgent far left in the 1960s, which nurtured many of the leading figures of today's French establishment.The path from the joyous explosion of May 1968, through the painful experience of defeat in Latin America and the world-shaking collapse of the USSR, to the neoliberal world of today, dominated as it is by global finance, is narrated in An Impatient Life with Bensaïd's characteristic elegance of phrase and clarity of vision. His memoir relates a life of ideological and practical struggle, a never-resting endeavour to comprehend the workings of capitalism in the pursuit of revolution.Trade Review"France's leading Marxist public intellectual" -- Tariq Ali"Daniel's death is like a wound, not a sadness--a loss which leaves us heavier. His is a message composed, not with words, but with decisions and acts and injuries." -- John Berger"Daniel Bensaïd was my 'distant companion.' With his disappearance, the intellectual, activist, political, and the 'revolutionary' worlds have all changed." -- Alain BadiouPart autobiography, part activist's logbook, and part political treatise, it's the story of how a working-class boy went on to co-found a party that twice participated in French presidential elections, and became a leader of the Fourth International, the global organisation of Trotskyist followers. * Independent *This absorbing, affecting memoir is a beautiful testament to a richly productive and dignified life . this is an energising book, a book that reminds us of the rightness of refusing the inevitability of capitalism and war, of the promise of international solidarity and socialism, of our responsibility to all those who have made sacrifices in this struggle. -- Dougal McNeill * ISO *Bensaïd crafts each chapter with a painter's hand, stroke by stroke, offering us musings, vignettes, and reflections that are intricately argued, sometimes speculative, and always subtly insightful. -- Alan Wald * International Socialist Review *From love to Leninism, journalism to Jewishness, Bensaïd always has something interesting and original to say. * Ken MacLeod *An honest, and often moving, chronicle of a revolutionary life in unrevolutionary times. -- Marc Mulholland * English Historical Review *

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Book SynopsisVladimir Ilyich Lenin visited London on six occasions at the beginning of the twentieth century and it was in this city, where Marx wrote Das Kapital, that the roots of Lenin's political thought took shape. This book, from a former curator of the Russian collections at the British Library, tells the story for the first time of Lenin's intriguing relationship with the enigmatic Apollinariya Yakubova – a revolutionary known to her comrades as the 'primeval force of the Black Earth'. The book reveals Lenin's London-based accomplices and political rivals, and sheds new light on his world-view – one which would have such a crucial impact on the twentieth century. This is the first full exploration of the formation of one of the leading political visionaries of his age. Henderson has made a series of stunning archival discoveries, published here for the first time, as well as photographs and details of the Russian revolutionaries (and indeed international police spies) who congregated in the east end of London - known then as the 'Little Russian Island'. Featuring an extraordinary amount of new archival material, this is an essential addition to our knowledge of Lenin the man and of the roots of the Russian revolution.Trade ReviewHenderson has woven his narrative out of a brilliant miscellany of archival sources, with crucial finds in the Hoover Institution's records of the Okhrana, or political police. * Times Literary Supplement *Henderson, a former Russian curator at the British Library, knows everything there is to know about Lenin’s love affair with the BM, and tells it all. This is a level of detailed Leniniana seldom encountered since the demise of the Soviet Union, but even those diligent Soviet researchers who used to track Lenin’s every move and hour didn’t know the BM [British Museum] as Henderson does. It’s what gives his book its charm. * London Review of Books *One hundred fifty years after Lenin’s birth, Henderson’s book does something to bring him back to life. * The Jacobin *Henderson’s revelatory book captures the atmosphere of a time of Jewish idealism preceding that of the horrors of the Gulag. * The Jewish Chronicle *Robert Henderson’s archival snapshots put human flesh on the intellectual and political bones of a figure who remains either revered or hated to this day… [the book] captures the atmosphere of Edwardian London and brings to life many of the players – with its wealth of photographs – in the early moves of a game that would indeed change the world. * Morning Star *Henderson’s book is a very welcome contribution to understanding the role that time spent in London played in the intellectual and practical development of the Russian revolutionary left, especially that of Lenin and his closest comrades. It provides a vivid sense of place and a lot of the human context to a crucially important period in Lenin’s political life. * Counterfire *[A] fascinating and meticulously researched book. As a former curator of the Russian collections at the British Library, Henderson is very well placed to undertake such research. * East-West Review *Henderson’s book should be of interest to Labour historians of the early 20th century. It reveals many of Lenin’s London based political networks and the roots of the politics that continue to influence the party’s left-wing. * Tides of History blog *Henderson has succeeded once again in writing another important and captivating history…Henderson’s book makes an original contribution to our knowledge of Lenin by providing us with a clearer understanding of his activities, the associates with whom he connected and, generally speaking, the milieux in which he moved during his London years. Today this research is invaluable to anyone with an interest in trying to comprehend how Lenin and political émigrés generally perceived their work in exile to make essential contributions to the promotion of revolutionary change in their countries of origin. * European History Quarterly *Based on thorough archival research in Britain, France, Russia, and the USA, the story recreated by the author is presented in an elegant and engaging narrative style, combining meticulous factual accounts with humor, vivid details, and emotional attachment to historical figures. Although the title quite accurately points at the main focus of the book – Lenin’s political activities during the periods when he stayed in London – I would add that Henderson’s narrative can also be described as a chronicle of love and politics that evolved around libraries in the turn of the century London, full of police, radicals, and spies. In this work, Henderson offers up a piece of fascinating historical research, weaving stories of various libraries and their collections into the fabric of his narrative. * Slavic & East European Information Resources *Henderson’s book concentrates on new archival finds and previously unpublished materials. Much of what he uncovers is fascinating and valuable information. * Look Left *[Henderson] makes excellent use of a wide variety of archival sources. * Socialist History *Flawlessly researched, lucidly written, replete with exhaustive archival evidence, including previously undiscovered photographs, Henderson has produced the definitive study of the numerous occasions that Lenin, the world's best known revolutionary, spent in London refining and developing his influential views. * John Gonzalez, author of An Intellectual Biography of N.A. Rozhkov: Life in a Bell Jar (2016) *In this outstanding work Robert Henderson deploys new archival discoveries and a lifetime’s research into the Russian émigré community of the early twentieth century to throw new light upon both the revolutionary and the personal life of one of the towering figures of modern history. One could ask for no more expert or convivial guide to Lenin’s various sojourns on London’s “Little Russian Island” during the birth of Bolshevism. * Dr Jonathan Smele, Queen Mary University of London, UK *Henderson’s book is the product of thirty years of research. Time well spent. Pending future openings of Soviet archives or chance discoveries of unpublished diaries of memoirs, this gripping narrative bids fair to remain the definitive version, in Roman poet Horace’s words, ‘a monument more lasting than bronze’. * The Spokesman *Robert Henderson takes us into the cheap lodgings, much-frequented libraries, packed meeting halls, favourite bars and restaurants which were the backdrops to the intense lives of the Russian revolutionary emigration in London. We become witnesses to their ferocious arguments and observers of their lives, loves and hopes for a better future for their homeland. * Professor Christopher Read, University of Warwick, UK *In this fascinating study, Robert Henderson takes us on a trail through the archives to reconstruct Lenin's life in London: the places he lived, the circles he moved in, and the relationships he built. * Professor Charlotte Alston, Northumbria University, UK *Table of ContentsContents Note on Transliteration and Calendars Acknowledgements Frontispiece Introduction Chapter 1 The Little Russian Island: The First Castaways Chapter 2 'Lirochka' and Lenin – The Spark That Lit the Flame? Chapter 3 1902–1903: Iskra and Shaping the Party Chapter 4 1905: A Congress of Conspirators Chapter 5 The London Congress of 1907 and the Triumph of Bolshevism Chapter 6 Two Last Visits: 1908 and 1911 Postscript Apollinariya's Story Appendix Select Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisFredric Jameson's pathbreaking essay "An American Utopia" radically questions standard leftist notions of what constitutes an emancipated society. Advocated here are-among other things-universal conscription, the full acknowledgment of envy and resentment as a fundamental challenge to any communist society, and the acceptance that the division between work and leisure cannot be overcome. To create a new world, we must first change the way we envision the world. Jameson's text is ideally placed to trigger a debate on the alternatives to global capitalism. In addition to Jameson's essay, the volume includes responses from philosophers and political and cultural analysts, as well as an epilogue from Jameson himself.Many will be appalled at what they will encounter in these pages-there will be blood! But perhaps one has to spill such (ideological) blood to give the Left a chance.Trade ReviewIn An American Utopia, Jameson affirms the critical function of utopian thinking and the efficacies of the form itself. He insists that the fundamental function of utopias is to revive a sense of the future, which requires taking aim at the forces that prevent us from venturing out from the comfortingly familiar confines of the present. -- Kathi WeeksJameson...gives us good reasons to call back utopia from obscurity. * Rain Taxi *

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Book SynopsisThis influential collection explores the pivotal texts and topics in the Marxist tradition. Ranging over questions of social theory, political theory, moral philosophy and literary criticism, it looks at the thought of Marx and Trotsky, Luxemburg, Lenin and Althusser. They include Geras's influential and widely-cited treatment of fetishism in Capital, his comprehensive review of recent debates on Marxism and justice, discussions on political organisation, revolutionary mass action and party pluralism, and a novel analysis of the literary power of Trotsky's writing. In close dialogue with common themes and arguments in the literature of revolutionary Marxism, Geras brings some of his persistent preoccupations to the fore; with the normative foundations and some of the epistemological assumptions of this tradition, with issues of socialist democracy, working class self-education and emancipation.Trade Review[For Marx and Human Nature] This remarkable short book deserves to be widely read and not only by those interested in Marxology. For it achieves something rare in its field: rationally compelling proof. Not only does it conclusively refute a widely current legend about Marx's thought . it does so with striking elegance, economy, and argumentative power. * Times Literary Supplement *[For The Legacy of Rosa Luxembourg] This is a useful and thoughtful book, in which the power and originality of Rosa Luxemburg's thinking emerges." -- E H Carr * Times Literary Supplement *

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Book SynopsisFew terms are so widely used in the literature of international relations and political science, with so little agreement about their exact meaning, as hegemony.In the first full historical study of its fortunes as a concept, Perry Anderson traces its emergence in Ancient Greece and its rediscovery during the upheavals of 1848-1849 in Germany. He then follows its checkered career in revolutionary Russia, fascist Italy, Cold War America, Gaullist France, Thatcher's Britain, post-colonial India, feudal Japan, Maoist China, eventually arriving at twenty-first-century US geopolitics and Germany's place within an expanded European Union. The result is a surprising and fascinating expedition into global intellectual history.Trade ReviewAnderson's work displays stunning erudition. Part of a larger attempt to explain the forms and transformations of liberal power, The H-Word helps us understand how one hegemony dies and another begins. -- Gavin Jacobson * New Statesman *Fascinating history -- Adam Tooze * FT *If you want to see how hegemony has been transformed from a critical term in the lexicon of leftist scholars and activists to a less critical but increasingly pervasive term in the lexicon of those interrogating late US imperialism, then The H-Word is a book well worth reading. -- Jim Glassman * Antipode *Anderson deploys his formidable erudition to craft short chapters on the conflicting understandings of hegemony among Ancient Greek and Roman historians, Russian revolutionaries, Prussian military theorists, Italian communists (where Gramsci shows up), Anglo-American international relations scholars, Chinese statesmen from Confucius to Mao, post-structuralist Marxists (where Gramsci reappears), and the architects of the European Union. This is accomplished with admirably clear and jargon-free prose, and the book is a pleasure to read. -- Eduardo Frajman, Marx & Philosophy SocietyEngaging -- John Ikenberry * Foreign Affairs *Perry Anderson offers a global intellectual history of the many meanings, applications, and turning points in the use of hegemony as a theoretical tool. The most impressive aspect is the breadth he must operate with in terms of history, disciplines, and geographic contexts beyond Marxist theory and beyond the continent of Europe. -- Chris Hardnack * Socialism and Democracy *

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