Left-of-centre democratic ideologies and movements Books

Book SynopsisToward the end of his administration (2010-2015), then Uruguayan President Jose 'Pepe' Mujica made headlines across the world with a couple of unusual speeches at United Nations assemblies in Rio de Janeiro and New York that were heatedly anti-capitalist, anti-consumerist, anti-globalisation and anti-climate change all fuelled by a libertarian socialist concept of freedom. This Sancho Panza-like figure was not only one of the few presidents of developing countries not to have somehow got personally rich while in government, but was known to live modestly as a practicing farmer and gave away two-thirds of his salary to his left-wing political organisation and to social housing projects. Even more bizarre was the fact that he had become president of the country whose government he had tried to overthrow forty years earlier in a revolutionary guerrilla war, an exploit for which he spent over a decade in military jails after being shot, severely wounded and tortured. This book is an introduction to the politics and philosophy of an unrepentant permanent militant whose evolution took him from defeated guerrilla warrior to successful presidential candidate without inconsistencies or betrayals, whatever his adversaries from right and left may claim. The study sets Mujica not only in his Uruguayan and Latin American context but also within an International Left that is coming out of mourning for the loss of so-called existing socialism as they search for solutions to lessen the damage done by rampant neoliberal economics and to find creative alternatives. Stephen Gregory's polemic is essential reading for all those interested in discovering Uruguay's unique position in a Latin America where the political right is in decline and leftist governments are moving to the middle ground.

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Book SynopsisFidel Castro is one of the most interesting and controversial personalities of our time he has become a myth and an icon. He was the first Cuban Caudillo the man who freed his country from dependence on the USA and who lead his people to rediscover their national identity and pride. Castro has outlived generations of American presidents and Soviet leaders. He has survived countless assassination attempts by the CIA, the Mafia, and Cubans living in exile. He has become one of the greatest politicians of the 20th Century. His biography, and the history of his country exemplify the tensions between East and West, North and South, rich and poor. As Castro''s life draws to a close, the question as to what will become of Cuba is more important that ever. Will Castro open Cuba to economic reform and democratization, or stick to his old slogan socialism or death? In this remarkable, up-to-date reconstruction of Castro''s life, Volker Skierka addresses these queTrade Review"A comprehensive and highly readable biography written in a remarkably even-handed tone." The Guardian "Volker Skierka has written the book that those wanting to understand the present-day politics of Cuba and its ruler have been awaiting for a long time. He has done so with a freshness, simplicity and elegance that makes it a pleasure to read ... accessible and fascinating to the casual reader and the specialist alike." BBC History Magazine "An exceptional, evenhanded portrait of an undeniably strong leader's strengths and weaknesses." Midwest Book Review "A fascinatingly good read and a treasure trove of information." Morning Star "Volker Skierka's study of Castro stands out for its admirable clarity and accessibility. Synthesizing a wealth of literature, and casting a cool eye on the official pieties of both Havana and Washington, Skierka has drawn a critical but far from unsympathetic portrait of this extraordinary figure of the Cold War world whose personal tenacity ensured that Cuban Communism survived with him into the new millennium." James Dunkerley, Queen Mary UniversityTable of ContentsList of plates. A Note of Thanks. Acknowledgements. Preface to the English Edition. 1. The Heroic Myth. 2. The Young Fidel. Among Jesuits. Among gangsters. 3. The Young Revolutionary. Storm and stress: Moncada. “Che”, the Argentinean. Stormy crossing on the Granma. A guerillero in the Sierra Maestra. 321 against 10,000. 4. The Young Victor. Communists and “barbudos”. 1,500 revolutionary laws. 5. Old Enemies, New Friends. The great powers at the gates. The CIA, the Mafia and the Bay of Pigs. Fidelismo. “Mongoose” and “Anadyr”. Thirteen days on the brink of a third world war. Three gamblers. 6. The Long March with Che. Moscow, Beijing, and Havana. The new man. The demise of Che. 7. Bad Times, Good Times. War and peace with Moscow. Ten million tons. Into the Third World. The revolution devours its children. 8. Alone Against All. Exodus to Florida. Rectificacion and perestroika. The Soviet imperium collapses. The brother’s power. War economy in peacetime. 9. The Eternal Revolutionary. Class Struggle on a dollar basis. Cuba and the global policeman. Castro, God and the Pope. Freedom or “socialismo tropical”. 10. Don Quixote and History. Notes. Bibliography. Index

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"[An] immensely ambitious, careful, and data-rich study. . . . Those trying to pin down with greater precision the legacy of communism now have a model to emulate."---Robert Legvold, Foreign Affairs"In this immensely ambitious, careful, and data-rich study, Pop-Eleches and Tucker do not merely explore the historical legacy of communism in eastern Europe; they also tackle the far more difficult problem of distinguishing its impact from that of other factors." * Foreign Affairs *Table of ContentsAcknowledgments ix Country Code Abbreviations Used in Figures 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, and 7.1 xv 1 Communism's Shadow 1 2 Living through Communism 32 3 Methods and Data 63 4 Democracy 99 5 Markets 136 6 Social Welfare 186 7 Gender Equality 215 8 Temporal Resilience and Change 247 9 Legacies and Communism 282 Bibliography 313 Index 333

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Book SynopsisThe remarkable run of self-proclaimed "democratic socialist" Bernie Sanders for president of the United States has prompted-for the first time in decades and to the shock of many-a national conversation about socialism. A New York Times poll in late November found that a majority of Democrats had a favorable view of socialism, and in New Hampshire in February, more than half of Democratic voters under 35 told the Boston Globe they call themselves socialists. It's unclear exactly what socialism means to this generation, but couple with the ascendancy of longtime leftwinger Jeremy Corbyn to the leadership of the Labour Party in the UK, it's clear there's a historic, generational shift underway.This book steps into this moment to offer a clear, accessible, informative, and irreverent guide to socialism for the uninitiated. Written by young writers from the dynamic magazine Jacobin, alongside several distinguished scholars, The ABCs of Socialism answers basic questions, including ones that many want to know but might be afraid to ask ("Doesn't socialism always end up in dictatorship?", "Will socialists take my Kenny Loggins records?"). Disarming and pitched to a general readership without sacrificing intellectual depth, this will be the best introduction an idea whose time seems to have come again.Table of ContentsBhaskar Sunkara is the founding editor and publisher of Jacobin magazine.

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Book SynopsisIn 1939, residents of a rural village near Chengdu watched as Lei Mingyuan, a member of a violent secret society known as the Gowned Brothers, executed his teenage daughter. Six years later, Shen Baoyuan, a sociology student at Yenching University, arrived in the town to conduct fieldwork on the society that once held sway over local matters. She got to know Lei Mingyuan and his family, recording many rare insights about the murder and the Gowned Brothers' inner workings. Using the filicide as a starting point to examine the history, culture, and organization of the Gowned Brothers, Di Wang offers nuanced insights into the structures of local power in 1940s rural Sichuan. Moreover, he examines the influence of Western sociology and anthropology on the way intellectuals in the Republic of China perceived rural communities. By studying the complex relationship between the Gowned Brothers and the Chinese Communist Party, he offers a unique perspective on China's transition to socialism. In so doing, Wang persuasively connects a family in a rural community, with little overt influence on national destiny, to the movements and ideologies that helped shape contemporary China.Trade Review"Di Wang's rich volume on the Sichuan Paoge offers a major contribution to the history of Chinese secret societies. Based in part on the fascinating thesis of a sociology student at Yenching University, the study brilliantly illuminates the complex linkages between rural society and culture, the limits of local government, and Western-inspired intellectual efforts to arrive at a new understanding of peasant life." -- David Ownby * author of Brotherhoods and Secret Societies in Early and Mid-Qing China *"Violence and Order on the Chengdu Plain is the first monograph in English that is solely dedicated to the study of paoge, one of the most influential secret societies in the upper- and middle-Yangzi regions in pre-1949 China. An elegant microhistory, this work weaves an intimate study with larger social and political contexts involving rebellions, revolutions, foreign invasion, state penetration, and peasant resistance that characterized twentieth-century China." -- Huaiyin Li * University of Texas at Austin *"Without doubt, Di Wang's new book represents an excellent example of a microhistory writing in the field of modern Chinese history." -- Shaofan An * Frontiers of History in China *"Every once in a blue moon, this reviewer finishes a book and thinks: 'Now this is the kind of book I aspire to write.' Di Wang's Violence and Order on the Chengdu Plain is one of those rare books....Full of pathos and interwoven with complex narratives, Violence and Order is rich in anthropological and sociological data collected in the 1930s and 1940s, and complete with entertaining and humanizing historical anecdotes." -- Kelly Hammond * China Review International *"Violence and Order on the Chengdu Plain is an illuminating study of how secret societies operated in early twentieth-century Sichuan and how they have been understood....[The book] adds to the recent flourishing of studies of Sichuan in the Republican period." -- Henrietta Harrison * Journal of Asian Studies *"Violence and Order on the Chengdu Plain is a far-reaching contribution to scholarship on secret societies, local governance, popular culture, and rural society in the first half of China's twentieth century that deserves to be widely read, by both specialists and nonspecialists alike." -- Benno R. Weiner * Twentieth-Century China *"Wang has made an impressive contribution to our understanding of Chinese secret societies, specifically the Paoge....this book is highly readable and is a welcome addition to the historiography of modern China." -- Hongyan Xiang * Pacific Affairs *Table of ContentsContents and AbstractsIntroduction: Two Voices Joined in the Chengdu Plain chapter abstractThe academic disciplines of sociology and anthropology took root in 1920s China under the influence of American scholars and missionaries. Among these pioneers were Shen Baoyuan's teachers in the Department of Sociology at Yenching University in Beijing. Under their influence, Shen aspired to become a "rural activist" and went to the countryside to learn about rural issues from peasants. In the summer of 1945 she traveled to the village she called Hope Township in the Chengdu Plain, Sichuan Province, to investigate the Gowned Brothers. This introduction discusses past scholarship of secret societies and traces the intellectual origins of Shen's investigation that built the academic foundation for her fieldwork. 1A Public Execution chapter abstractShen Baoyuan created the pseudonym Hope Township to protect the privacy of the people she investigated. However, based on the information in her report as well as other historical sources, this chapter confirms that Hope Township is in fact Chongyiqiao, a northern suburb of Chengdu. Lei Mingyuan, the central personality in Shen's report and head of the local branch of the Gowned Brothers, publicly lynched his daughter and the young tailor who worked for the family in response to rumors that the two were engaged in an affair. Despite the brutal and brazen nature of his crimes, however, Lei did not face any charges. This chapter details the horrific crime and its ramifications, looking at the problematic prevalence of lynching and the rule of law at the time. 2A Local Band of the Gowned Brothers chapter abstractThe Chengdu Plain, in rural western Sichuan, was one of the most affluent areas in all of inland China. All aspects of geography, ecology, economy, lifestyle, and local culture and customs enhanced the development and survival of the Gowned Brothers, who thrived here. This chapter describes these factors as well as the growth of the secret society. The organization was founded in the early Qing period with the goal of "overthrowing the Qing and restoring the Ming." In its long struggle against the Qing government, the Gowned Brothers developed a solid organizational structure and extensive power network. A large proportion of Sichuan's male population were members and played an active role in local control and security. This chapter documents how this secret society assumed and enforced dominance of local communities. 3Spirituality and Customs chapter abstractThis chapter explores the spiritual beliefs and actions of the Gowned Brothers and looks at how these reinforced the secret society's power structure. Paoge members took what was traditional and fashioned a variety of specialized rites and customs for themselves. Over the past forty or so years, historians and students of Chinese society have taken a much-needed neutral, in some sense anthropological, stance toward China's broad landscape of rites, beliefs, and religious and ceremonial practices. This chapter turns to the unique observations of Shen Baoyuan, who was fascinated with what many in academe of her time thought of as arcane and superstitious ploys. It begins with a short sketch of how traditional rites and beliefs were acted out in the Paoge's own local areas. Popular religions were closely tied to local culture, and the Gowned Brothers worshipped Guandi, which brought members together to fight for a common goal. 4Secret Codes and Language chapter abstractIn her investigation, Shen Baoyuan documented unique words used by Paoge members in everyday life, rituals, and communication, often referred to as "black words" or "hidden lingo." Her 1946 report explained pointed out that the very name of the Paoge originates from an agenda of "national spirit" and "revolutionary ideas," which was a way to refer to the anti-Manchu revolution. Haidi, documenting the organization's history, language, structure, and other information, was the organization's canonical text. The Gowned Brothers created their own language, which reflected their unique political ideas, identity, and historical narratives and provided a covert means of communication. This chapter analyzes the development and role of their secret language as well as the political implications. 5Disciplines and Dominance chapter abstractMembers of the Gowned Brothers reinforced their solidarity and internal stability through strict regulations, codes of conduct, and rituals for meetings and other activities. Any member who violated them would be harshly punished or even executed. This chapter examines these regulations and their chilling effect on nearly every type of behavior. Paoge members actively participated in stabilizing local order. The parties involved in a dispute usually did not pursue justice through a formal, forensic process, but instead went to a teahouse for "negotiation tea." This practice was an important means through which Paoge members learned about current events and kept order in even the smallest of neighborhoods. As prominent members of the community, the brothers challenged official judicial power in this role. This chapter describes the Paoge's mediation process and its effect on local jurisprudence. 6A Tenant Farmer and Paoge Master chapter abstractThis chapter examines Lei Mingyuan's economic situation as his leadership in the Gowned Brothers grew. Scholars generally believed that a tenant belonged to the economic class of poor peasants, but Lei, as a tenant farmer, did not actually do fieldwork. Instead, he hired four short-term laborers, whom he paid on a daily basis. Contrary to the assumption that a leader of the secret society would at least be economically well-to-do, Lei did not fit any category of the rural class division established by the Chinese Communist Party during the Land Revolution in the early 1950s. He rose to power primarily through success in fighting bandits. 7Entering the Paoge chapter abstractThis chapter describes the dynamics that led the Paoge worldview and policies that took hold in the Lei family. Although Lei Mingyuan was a Paoge leader, he was not omnipotent, according to Shen Baoyuan's observations in her 1946 report. He was imperceptibly influenced by social constraints, but he had to support his family and fulfill family obligations. Rice cultivation was the primary focus of those who lived in Hope Township, and the home Lei shared with his second wife, Woman Lei, was surrounded by bamboo groves and paddies. Woman Lei was literate and stern, the survivor of a great tragedy in her first marriage. Her demeanor and shrewdness enhanced the family's ability to establish Lei's reputation as a leader in the organization. 8The Decline of Power chapter abstractThis chapter describes the events that sealed Lei Mingyuan's grim demise, through the lens of the larger framework of leadership in the Gowned Brothers. Given his apparent lifestyle and role in his village from about 1939 to 1945, Lei was incapable of maintaining his responsibilities. Covering up his growing financial and leadership problems, Lei lost his economic freedom when his paddy fields of about seven acres were transferred to another tenant as a result of his failure to pay rent. One might assume that a landlord would not dare enforce the rules against a man as powerful as Lei, but in reality all landholders, despite their status, were subject to the same standards. As Lei's personal economic situation weakened, the financial support he had provided his subordinates diminished, thus causing his political power to wane as well. 9A Family Crisis and a Rural Woman's Fate chapter abstractLei Mingyuan understood that his leadership position in the Gowned Brothers depended on the strength of his reputation. His need to "save face" had driven him to carry out the public execution of his daughter and her presumed lover. This chapter weaves together other stories and details of community life revealing that the women in Lei's family suffered under his tyranny. Lei's economic and political instability drew him into a life of decadence: he began taking opium, further escalating his personal financial crisis. Notoriety resulted for Lei family when their servant girl ran away, further diminishing Lei's reputation and authority. Lei was indifferent to his family's suffering and sought a concubine. Woman Lei resisted, however, and garnered the support from other Gowned Brothers, leading Lei Mingyuan to abort his plan. Eventually, the couple reconciled and the Lei family moved to a shabby house in a neighborhood of coolies. 10Fall of the Paoge chapter abstractThis chapter explores how the Communists established their control in rural China. Knowledge of the transition from the Nationalist regime to the socialist state has centered on major cities, and there has been little understanding of how the CCP extended its power into the countryside. This chapter reveals that the Paoge did not confront the CCP upon its arrival on the Chengdu Plain; rather, the organization quietly watched the situation unfold. When the new regime imposed a grain tax, however, the group led resistance in what the Communist discourse called the "bandit riots." Although the Paoge had many connections with the Communist revolution, the CCP could not tolerate its antiestablishment tradition and was determined to destroy the organization entirely. 11Looking for the Storyteller chapter abstractThis book is primarily concerned with two people: Paoge leader Lei Mingyuan (and his family) and Shen Baoyuan, the storyteller. This chapter provides important, new information on Shen and her 1946 report. Lei and Shen lived in two completely different worlds, with different geographical, educational, social, and economic backgrounds, but they intersected in the summer of 1945. One was investigated and described; the other was the investigator and narrator. Both played a role in retelling an untold, powerful piece of human history. The book is also a three-way narrative: in addition to Lei and Shen, there is the author, who engages the dialogue and attempts to understand the Paoge leader Lei Mingyuan through Shen Baoyuan's perspective. 12Untangling Paoge Myth chapter abstractThis chapter's comprehensive examination of texts and narratives aids the understanding of how the public's perception of the Gowned Brothers was constructed over the centuries. These materials reveal the complex relationship between the Chinese Communist Party and the Paoge. In her report Shen Baoyuan harshly criticized the Paoge in Hope Township, but she found a reason to be hopeful by the fresh ideas presented in Righteous Monthly, a journal published by the organization in Chengdu. At the time, however, Shen did not realize that the journal actually was controlled by the CCP. More than six decades have passed since the Paoge was obliterated. However, during the post-Mao reform the CCP gradually loosened its control, leaving a prime opportunity for the revival of at least some secret societies in China.

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Book SynopsisTrade Review“This book is a brilliant tour-de-force. As the questions of democracy, economic democracy, and socialism are of growing interest to so many, the time for this book has surely come.”—Joerg Rieger, Vanderbilt University "In this important and timely book, Dorrien gives us a masterful synthetic overview of democratic socialism as a distinct moral and political tradition, outlining the theological and philosophical currents that were vital to its development. His exemplary scholarship is driven by a passion for the existential importance of this tradition."—Luke Bretherton, Duke University"Social Democracy in the Making provides a superb, erudite history of the evolution of democratic socialist ideas and practices, thereby highlighting the vital efforts of the democratic Left to create a new and better world."–Lawrence S. Wittner, University at Albany, SUNY“This well-researched, insightful, and nuanced account successfully presents a strong case for democratic socialism as a compelling political alternative in our radically pluralist society.”— Rubén Rosario Rodríguez, Saint Louis University “This book is a profound and important interpretation of the intertwined legacies of Christian socialism and Social Democracy, interpreting both as movements for economic democracy–an indispensable common ground for social justice movements today.”—Jung Mo Sung, Methodist University of São Paulo, Brazil

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

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Book SynopsisIn a series of nine essays, He Yiting explores the ideology of the Communist Party of China, with items discussed during the Fourth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee forming the basis of his analysis. Guided by Xi Jinping Thought, this series of essays evaluates the CPC’s role in applying and adapting the basic principles of Marxism to the concrete reality of modern day China in order to uphold and maintain a modern socialist superpower.He Yiting looks at how the basic, fundamental and major institutions of socialism with Chinese characteristics are upheld and refined in order to achieve this.These essays cover topics which outline the significant challenge of blending the basic principles of socialism with China’s own national character and highlight the immense achievement of the CPC in tackling and overcoming the unique obstacles posed in the process of articulating, establishing and upholding a socialist system of national governance designed for the 21st century.

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Book SynopsisOne of the seminal texts of the British New LeftLeo PanitchParliamentary Socialism presents a detailed and scholarly record of the Labour Party''s thinking and of its role in British politics from 1900 until the 1960s. A postscript reflects on the period of Harold Wilson''s Labour government from 1964 to 1970.Reviewing the book on first publication in 1961, Michael Foot described it as ''the most important contribution made for many years to the study of the way the Labour Party works''.Contents includes:Labour in Parliament; Labour in the First World War; Parliamentarism versus Direct Action; From Opposition to Office; The General Strike; The Challenge of Appeasement; The Climax of Labourism; The Sickness of LabourismRalph Miliband (1924-1994) was one of the key intellectual figures of the British New Left. He was the founder of the Socialist Register and author of Marxism and Politics, The State in Capitalism Society (new edition published 2009) and Socialism for a Sceptical Age.He t

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Book SynopsisWinlow and Hall argue that the only way to resurrect leftist politics is to begin from the beginning again. They identify the root causes of its maladies, describe how new cultural obsessions displaced core unifying principles, and outline how a new reincarnation of the left can win in the 21st century.Table of Contents1. The mortgage on the left’s future foreclosed 2. Democracy, without the people? The rise and fall of left populism 3. Wrong turns 4. Beginnings 5. Changes 6. The New Left 7. Postmodernism, neoliberalism and the left 8. Identity politics 9. The politics of nostalgia 10. A return to economics 11. Futures

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Book SynopsisIn the essays in this volume Hayek contributed to economic knowledge in the context of socialism and war, while providing an intellectual defence of a free society. The connection between the two topics is illuminated through essays containing some of Hayek''s contributions to the socialist-calculation debate, writings pertaining to war, and the cult of scientific economic planning from the late 1930s and 1940s.

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

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Book SynopsisHenry Neville (16201694), writes David Womersley in his Introduction, was an experienced political actor who united a practitioners sense of possibility with literary flair and imagination as he struggled to achieve headway for his republican commitments in the deceptive waters of late Stuart monarchy. Educated at Oxford, Neville made an extended visit to Italy in 164344, where he formed long-standing connections in Florence and studied the institutions of republican Venice. In 1649 he entered the House of Commons with the support of Algernon Sidney (who was his second cousin). Over the next few years, Neville wrote pamphlets against the usurpation of the army and the threat of Cromwellian dictatorship, and as the Restoration approached, he was a leading member of James Harringtons Rota Club. In late 1667 or early 1668, after he had returned to England from a second trip to Italy, Neville wrote the first of the two works on which his reputation now rests. The Isle of Pines (1668) is

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

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Book SynopsisMany treatments of the twentieth-century Latin American left assume a movement populated mainly by affluent urban youth whose naïve dreams of revolution collapsed under the weight of their own elitism, racism, sexism, and sectarian dogmas. However, this book demonstrates that the history of the left was much more diverse. Many leftists struggled against capitalism and empire while also confronting racism, patriarchy, and authoritarianism. The left''s ideology and practice were often shaped by leftists from marginalized populations, from Bolivian indigenous communities in the 1920s to the revolutionary women of El Salvador''s guerrilla movements in the 1980s. Through ten historical case studies of ten different countries, Making the Revolution highlights some of the most important research on the Latin American left by leading senior and up-and-coming scholars, offering a needed corrective and valuable contribution to modern Latin American history, politics, and sociology.Trade Review'This powerful collection of essays compels us to rethink the relationship of the Latin American Left to indigenous and African descendant communities. For decades, scholars have sharply criticized the Left's unconscious and conscious racism and sexism. These finely wrought and well-researched essays reveal the grassroots dynamics that pushed back against the ideological rigidity that promoted such tendencies. From Bolivian anarchists to peasant insurrecionists in Guerrero to Cuban feminists, this volume presents a variegated, often anti-authoritarian Left that cannot be pigeonholed into the inherited categories of sectarian Stalinists and middle-class guerrilleros.' Jeffrey Gould, Rudy Professor of History, Indiana University and author of Solidarity Under Siege: The Salvadoran Class Struggle, 1970–1990'A fascinating collection of essays that challenge conventional interpretations of the Left in Latin America. Spanning the period from the Russian Revolution to the rise of Neoliberalism, the authors dispute the view that Latin American Left movements did not grapple with overlapping forms of oppression such as racism against the indigenous and people of African descent, or patriarchal domination of women. Grounded in rich examples of popular struggles throughout the hemisphere, the authors provide new insights on the history of radicalism in Latin America.' Miguel R. Tinker Salas, Leslie Farmer Professor of Latin American Studies, Pomona College, California'Making the Revolution succeeds in correcting misconceptions surrounding the inclusiveness of twentieth-century leftist movements … But the essays in Making the Revolution resist this temptation, creating a rich mosaic of histories that make an essential contribution to the scholarship on Latin American radicalism.' Jeffrey Mazo, Survival'As the turn-of-the-century wave of Leftist governments gives way to a more conservative climate, this significant contribution offers a powerful antidote to contemporary political cynicism … Highly recommended.' B. A. Lucero, Choice'an uncommonly cohesive volume … especially useful in the classroom in advanced undergraduate classes in history, political science, and Latin American Studies … I am looking forward to the reasoned debates it will provoke among my students.' Amelia M. Kiddle, Histoire sociale / Social HistoryTable of ContentsList of figures; List of contributors; List of abbreviations; Introduction: revolutionary actors, encounters, and transformations Kevin A. Young; 1. Common ground: Caciques, artisans, and radical intellectuals in the Chayanta rebellion of 1927 Forrest Hylton; 2. Identity, class, and nation: Black immigrant workers, Cuban communism, and the sugar insurgency, 1925–34 Barry Carr; 3. Indigenous movements in the eye of the hurricane Marc Becker; 4. Friends and comrades: political and personal relationships between members of the Communist Party USA and the Puerto Rican Nationalist Party, 1930s–40s Margaret Power; 5. Total subversion: interethnic radicalism in La Paz, Bolivia, 1946–7 Kevin A. Young; 6. 'Sisters in exploitation': the 1959 Congress of Latin American women and the transnational origins of Cuban state feminism Michelle Chase; 7. Revolutionaries without revolution: regional experiences in the forging of a radical political culture in the Southern Cone of South America (1966–76) Aldo Marchesi; 8. Nationalism and Marxism in rural Cold War Mexico: Guerrero, 1959–74 O'Neill Blacker-Hanson; 9. The ethnic question in Guatemala's armed conflict: insights from the detention and 'rescue' of Emeterio Toj Medrano Betsy Konefal; 10. 'For our total emancipation': the making of revolutionary feminism in insurgent El Salvador, 1977–87 Diana Carolina Sierra Becerra; Index.

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Book SynopsisThis is the first of a three-volume major project which aims to cover all aspects of the New World Order (NWO) of neoliberal globalisation, with its effort at full integration of every country in the world into this new order. The phasing out of economic and national sovereignty implied by this process has led to a global popular movement for sovereignty (ie: self-determination and against globalisation). The rise of the NWO and the role of the Transnational Elite, that is, the network of the economic and political elites which administers it, are examined in the first volume. Furthermore, the mythology used by the elites as well as by the globalist Left is examined. It was the full integration of the Left into the new order, which has led to its political bankruptcy and the rise of a neo-nationalist movement, embraced by most of the victims of globalisation and particularly the working class that used to support the Left. The need for a struggle for national as well as social liberation has become imperative today on the way to a new form of internationalism inspired by the principles of solidarity and mutual aid, rather than the catastrophic principles of competitiveness and profit-making, as at present.

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Book Synopsis2019 saw the Labour Party meet its fourth consecutive general election defeat, and its worst since 1935. Arguing that it is vital for Labour to regroup if it is to offer a serious alternative government, Lord Ashcroft draws on extensive research among real voters – especially those who have moved away from Labour in former heartland seats now represented in Parliament by the Tories. Diagnosis of Defeat explores the reasons for this extraordinary result and offers a frank and uncompromising portrait of the Labour Party as it is seen today.

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Book SynopsisThe historic uprising in the wake of the murder of George Floyd transformed the way Americans and the world think about race and policing. Why did it achieve so little in the way of substantive reforms? After Black Lives Matter argues that the failure to leave an institutional residue was not simply due to the mercurial and reactive character of the protests. Rather, the core of the movement itself failed to locate the central racial injustice that underpins the crisis of policing: socio-economic inequality.For Johnson, the anti-capitalist and downwardly redistributive politics expressed by different Black Lives Matter elements has too often been drowned out in the flood of black wealth creation, fetishism of Jim Crow black entrepreneurship, corporate diversity initiatives, and a quixotic reparations demand. None of these political tendencies addresses the fundamental problem underlying mass incarceration. That is the turn from welfare to domestic warfare as the chief means of regulating the excluded and oppressed. Johnson sees the way forward in building popular democratic power to advance public works and public goods. Rather than abolishing police, After Black Lives Matter argues for abolishing the conditions of alienation and exploitation contemporary policing exists to manage.Trade ReviewA virtuoso performance! Weighing the successes and limitations of Black Lives Matter, Johnson concludes that identity-based mobilization-confusing what people look like with what they need-cannot substitute for majoritarian political coalition-building. -- Barbara J. Fields, Columbia UniversityCedric Johnson delivers that increasingly rare experience in political writing: surprise. Whether telling the story of Louis Armstrong's first hearing of Mack the Knife or reporting on the inequities of Chicago's public transportation system or mounting a mini-memoir of his encounter with crime in Louisiana and Rochester, Johnson invests the drama of Marxist theory with new energy and vital detail. No matter how dark and dreary the landscape may be, it gets lit up wherever Johnson casts his sharp and appraising eye. -- Corey Robin, author of The Enigma of Clarence ThomasA brilliant scholar who is first and foremost concerned with equality and justice. It's those very commitments that lead him, in After Black Lives Matter, to question today's antiracism and its nostrums. -- Bhaskar Sunkara, founding editor of Jacobin and author of The Socialist ManifestoA compelling argument for reinstating a meaningful anticapitalist analysis and politics into the fight to end police violence and the harms of the criminal justice system in the United States. Readers will undoubtedly come away with new perspectives that deepen their understanding of the successes and limitations of Black Lives Matter and its political vision. -- Leslie Kern, author of Feminist CityEssential reading for those weary of platitude-driven texts on race and criminal justice and in the market for an empirically grounded political analysis that points to practicable solutions to one of the biggest problems of our day. -- Touré F. Reed, author of Toward FreedomA provocative and expansive critique from the left of the loose collection of protest actions, organizations, and ideological movements-whether prison abolition or calls to defund the police-that make up what we now call Black Lives Matter...After Black Lives Matter should be commended both for the clarity of its message and the bravery of its convictions. -- Jay Caspian Kang * New Yorker *

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Book SynopsisThis book dissectsfrom both philosophical and empirical viewpointsthe peculiar developmental challenges, geopolitical contexts, and dystopic stalemates that post-Soviet societies face during their transition to new political and cultural orders. The principal geographical focus of the essays is Ukraine, but most of the assembled texts are also relevant and/or refer to other post-Soviet countries. Mikhail Minakov describes how former Soviet nations are trying to re-invent, for their particular circumstances, democracy and capitalism while concurrently dealing with new poverty and inequality, facing unusual degrees of freedom and responsibility for their own future, coming to terms with complicated collective memories and individual pasts. Finally, the book puts forward novel perspectives on how Western and post-communist Europe may be able to create a sustainable pan-European common space. These include a new agenda for pan-European political communication, new East-Central European regional security mechanisms, a solution for the chain of separatist-controlled populations, and anti-patronalist institutions in East European countries.Trade Review"Mykhailo Minakov is a leading observer of contemporary Ukrainian, Russian and European politics and society. His work is a vital source for understanding the deeper phenomena that drive changeand lack of itin these states. With this book, he has tackled a subject worthy of his talents, and offers a multi-layered perspective on some of the central dilemmas of post-Soviet political culture and social development."Matthew Rojansky, Kennan Institute"Accurate and balanced account of the most recent history of Ukraine presented by an involved observer. Good sample of the Ukrainian vision of the phenomenon called 'The Ukrainian crisis'obviously extends Ukraine's borders."Prof. Georgiy Kasianov, Kyiv Mohyla Academy, Ukraine"Development and Dystopia is a philosophers inquiry into the political processes that shaped the post-Soviet world and a political analysts search for the philosophical underpinnings of the changes that those processes brought about. Both of Mikhail Minakovs probes focus on Ukraine, but his ultimate goal is to illuminate the broader scope of the East European transformations. Anyone wishing to delve beyond newspaper headlines and pundits clichés in order to understand what is really going on in that world can do no better than pick up this book."Prof. Dr. Serhii Plokhii, Director, Ukrainian Research Institute at Harvard University

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Book SynopsisThe âSummer of Loveâ brought all sorts of unusual people and events to London but perhaps nothing so extraordinary as the Congress on the Dialectics of Liberation.

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Book SynopsisâœWe build the road, the road builds us!â Highways and identities building in socialist Yugoslavia and Bulgaria

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Book Synopsis

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Book Synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe first history in English of the Italian Socialist Party (PSI), beginning with the exile period in 1926 and concluding with a study of the administration of Craxi, Italy's first Socialist prime minister.Trade Review'For those who like blow-by-blow hagiography, this will appeal. Others may find it useful for the mass of inside information Mr Di Scala has had access to.' Paul Furlong, University of Hull, Political Studies`Spencer Di Scala, the author of a fine study of Filippo Turati, Dilemmas of Italian Socialism, has now written an equally good history of the post-1945 Italian Socialist party (PSI) ... The result is a provocative, well-researched history of the PSI, based on a combination of archival work, interviews with major protagonists, and a comprehensive survey of socialist periodicals and secondary sources ... it is a tribute to the author's scholarship and objectivity that, despite his ultimately favourable judgement of Craxi, the reader has ample material from which to draw quite different conclusions about the new PSI.' Journal of European Economic History

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Book SynopsisThis book provides a comprehensive account of the structure, conduct, and performance of the centrally planned economies of Eastern Europe, the USSR, Communist China and the Marxist LDCs, looking at 26 nations in all.The author focuses on reform, perhaps the most important issue facing countries such as the USSR, Poland, Hungary, and China. Bureaucracy, soft budget constraints, markets, and the nature of the socialist state are the central issues that arise in the course of reforming a socialist economy.The first half of the book deals with ''classical socialism'' and provides a theoretical summary of the main features of a now closed period of history. The second half deals with the processes of reform and concludes that the reform of classical socialist systems is doomed to failure as they are unable to renew themselves internally.Trade Review`This is truly a remarkable achievement. Kornai's book can be read with much profit by citizens of both east and west, by economists and by whoever is interested in politics, by specialists in the affairs of communist-run countries and by student beginners. It is well organised, shows a mastery of the material and is a model of clarity of exposition ... What he does do is to describe with consummate skill the essential features of the system as it was, and why attempts to reform it have been so conspicuously unsuccessful. For this he deserves our gratitude and a large readership' Alec Nove, New Statesman & Society`This is the most comprehensive analysis of socialist economics ever written. It is lucid and well-structured, rendering it an ideal textbook for a broad range of students on the socialist economic system. This might be the definitive work on socialist economics. The greatest student of socialist economics has produced his grand oeuvre.' Ander Aslund, Director, Stockholm Institute of Soviet and East European Economics`Janos Kornai has long been the world's most perceptive analyst and critic of communism. The momentous changes of the last few years have generated plenty of heat. This book, destined to become a classic, sheds great light on communism - why it endured, why it eventually failed, and how it should and will evolve.' Lawrence H Summers, World Bank`Janos Kornai's analysis of the political economy of socialism is the right book at the right time by the right author ... a scholarly, realistic, insightful analysis of both the early successes and the gradual breakdown of socialist systems.' Stanley Fischer, Professor of Economics, MIT`Written by a leading scholar on comparative economic systems, the book is a masterly contribution.' Padma Desai, Professor of Economics, Columbia`Hungarian economist Janos Kornai gives a detailed but untechnical overview of socialist economies.' Morning Star'His book deserves to be read ... because of the sheer scholarship which has gone into producing it, and because of the insight into Stalinism and its legacy which it undoubtedly provides.' Ian Kearns, University of Sheffield, International Affairs, April 1993`Janos Kornai's The Socialist System: The Political Economy of Communism is definitely one of the best (if not the best) books ever written by such "synthesizers". It is the first comprehensive and systematic exposition of the political economy of state socialism. The author offers an intricate, nuanced, logical, and highly readable panorama of not just the Communist economy but the whole socioeconomic, political-cultural formation, known as state socialism.' Studies in Comparative International Development`presents a detailed and exhaustive description of the general characteristics of the classical system, defined as the stalinist or maoist phase, and of the reform system that followed it ... any serious students specialising in comparative economic systems surely ought to become acquainted with the book' Europe-Asia Studies`This book will appeal to a wide audience. It combines a coherent political model with a detailed economic critique. It also shows that socialist economics were not as homogenous as traditionally assumed by commentators. The book also provides valuable insights into what new economic forms are likely to replace the erstwhile socialist economies.' Political StudiesGreat merit ... Kornai has been in his career deeply involved in the workings of the system he describes, so is an outstanding expert on it and sheds light on many of its aspects people who have not lived in communist societies cannot easily understand ... The book is a great achievement ... A comprehensive content, references, authors and subject indexes makes the book a very convenient research tool. * Kyklos *

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Book SynopsisThis second edition of McLellan''s comprehensive selection of Marx''s writings includes carefully selected extracts from the whole range of Marx''s political, philosophical and economic thought. Each section of the book deals with a different period of Marx''s life with the sections arranged in chronological order, thus allowing the reader to trace the development of Marx''s thought, from his early years as a student and political journalist in Germany right through to his final letters of the early 1880s. The inclusion of extracts from some of Marx''s less well-known works alongside selections from classic texts such as The Communist Manifesto and Capital provides the reader with an unparalleled overview of Marx''s thinking, whilst Professor McLellan''s fully updated and revised introduction and bibliographical notes accompanying each extract put Marx''s writings into biographical and historical context. This edition also includes a general bibliography and a full index of names and iTable of ContentsPART ONE: THE EARLY WRITINGS 1837-1844; PART TWO: THE MATERIALIST CONCEPTION OF HISTORY 1844-1847; PART THREE: 1848 AND AFTER; PART FOUR: THE 'ECONOMICS' 1857-1867; PART FIVE: LATER POLITICAL WRITINGS 1864-1882

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Book SynopsisThis work takes argument with the notion that Fascism never took hold in France. By the author of "French Fascism: The First Wave, 1924-1933".Table of ContentsAcknowledgements; Introduction: The Debate over Fascism, The Consensus School, The Sternhell Controversy, Historical Fascism in ltaly and Germany, Defining Fascism, Contextualising Fascism, Major Common Denominators of European Fascism; Context: Depression and its Political Consequences, The February 6th, 1934, Riots, The Popular Front; Major and Declining Fascisms, Newspaper Allies, and the Greenshirts: Small and Large Fascisms, The Francistes, The Jeunesses Patriotes, The Action Francaise Newspaper Allies, The Greenshirts, The Cagoule, The Fascist Left: Deat and Bergery; The Solidarite Francaise: Leadership, Financing, and Membership, Rise and Fall Was the Solidarite Francaise Fascist?, Anti-Semitism, Praising Musslini and Hitler and Calling for a Franco-Italian-German Alliance Fascist "Republicanism" and National "Socialism", Anti-Marxism, Antiliberatism, Women Patriotism, Tradition, and the Veterans' Mystique; The Croix de Feu - Parti Social Francais: Political History, 1928- 1939, La Rocque after 1940, Financing, Membership, Was La Rocque's Movement Fascist?, Anti-Semitism, Antidemocracy, Paramilitarism, Anti-Marxism, "Neither Right nor Left", Antidecadence, Antiliberalism; The Parti Populaire Francais: Jacques Doriot: The Communist Years, 1920-1936, The Shift to Fascism, Fascist Symbolism, Financing , Leadership, Membership, National "Socialism" as Anti-Marxism, Cultural Traditionalism, Antifeminism, and Imperialism, National "Socialism" in the Writings of Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Raymon Fernandez, and Bertrand de Jouvenel Antidemocracy, Antiliberalism, Antirationalism, and Anti-Semitism; Fascist Intellectuals and the Revolt against Decadence: Bertrand de Jouvenel, Pierre Drieu La Rochelle, Robert Brasillach, Louis-Ferdinand, Celine Splitting; Conclusion; Notes; Index.

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