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Book SynopsisMarxism and Social Movements is the first sustained engagement between social movement theory and Marxist approaches to collective action. The chapters collected here, by leading figures in both fields, discuss the potential for a Marxist theory of social movements, explore the developmental processes and political tensions within movements, set the question in a long historical perspective and analyse contemporary movements against neo-liberalism and austerity.
Trade Review"The impressive diversity and scope of the contributions [...] shows the fruitfulness of an encounter between Marxism and social movements research not just within academia. [...] [I]t is the editors' merit to have contributed to a necessary revival of Marxist debate and theoretisation[.]" Dietmar Lange, JahrBuch für Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung. "The Financial Times positively dissects Marx’s ideas in their weekend edition, while today’s radical movements such as Climate Camp, Slutwalk, or Occupy treat Marx with suspicion or even contempt. These contradictory phenomena make Barker et al.’s Marxism and Social Movements all the more important. The essays in this collection aim to develop both the tools necessary to understand today’s social movements, and an analysis that can explain the marginality of Marxism within them. More fundamentally, the book also sets out to establish a Marxist framework for social movement research and practice, where otherwise one has been absent. Mark Bergfeld, the Oxford Left Review Given the dearth of politically judicious and penetrating analyses of contemporary popular mobilisations, Marxism and Social Movements is a timely and refreshing contribution to social movement studies. Though the subject matter examined in each chapter is diverse spanning, in total, struggles across six continents and over 150 yearsthe edited volume as a whole presents a compelling case for reviving Marxist analytical frameworks to examine social movements.” Puneet Dhaliwal , Ceasefire“Marxism and Social Movements is a special collection, offering scholars and social movements not just tools, but also the keys to an otherwise locked box of necessary radical theory and practice.” –Interface Journal
"The impressive diversity and scope of the contributions [...] shows the fruitfulness of an encounter between Marxism and social movements research not just within academia. [...] [I]t is the editors' merit to have contributed to a necessary revival of Marxist debate and theoretisation[.]" —Dietmar Lange, JahrBuch für Forschungen zur Geschichte der Arbeiterbewegung. "The Financial Times positively dissects Marx’s ideas in their weekend edition, while today’s radical movements such as Climate Camp, Slutwalk, or Occupy treat Marx with suspicion or even contempt. These contradictory phenomena make Barker et al.’s Marxism and Social Movements all the more important. The essays in this collection aim to develop both the tools necessary to understand today’s social movements, and an analysis that can explain the marginality of Marxism within them. More fundamentally, the book also sets out to establish a Marxist framework for social movement research and practice, where otherwise one has been absent. —Mark Bergfeld, the Oxford Left Review “Given the dearth of politically judicious and penetrating analyses of contemporary popular mobilisations, Marxism and Social Movements is a timely and refreshing contribution to social movement studies. Though the subject matter examined in each chapter is diverse— spanning, in total, struggles across six continents and over 150 years—the edited volume as a whole presents a compelling case for reviving Marxist analytical frameworks to examine social movements.” —Puneet Dhaliwal , Ceasefire
Table of ContentsMarxism and Social Movements: An Introduction, Colin Barker, Laurence Cox, John Krinsky and Alf Gunvald Nilsen PART 1: THEORETICAL FRAMEWORKS Marxism and Social Movements 1. Class-Struggle and Social Movements, Colin Barker 2. What Would a Marxist Theory of Social Movements Look Like?, Alf Gunvald Nilsen and Laurence Cox Social-Movements Studies and its Discontents 3. The Strange Disappearance of Capitalism from Social-Movement Studies, Gabriel Hetland and Jeff Goodwin 4. Marxism and the Politics of Possibility: Beyond Academic Boundaries, John Krinsky PART 2: HOW SOCIAL MOVEMENTS WORK Developmental Perspectives on Social Movements 1. Eppur Si Muove: Thinking ‘The Social Movement’, Laurence Cox 2. Class-Formation and the Labour-Movement in Revolutionary China, Marc Blecher 3. Contesting the Postcolonial Development-Project: A Marxist Perspective on Popular Resistance in the Narmada Valley, Alf Gunvald Nilsen The Politics of Social Movements 4. The Marxist Rank-And-File/Bureaucracy Analysis of Trade-Unionism: Some Implications for the Study of Social-Movement Organisations, Ralph Darlington 5. Defending Place, Remaking Space: Social Movements in Oaxaca and Chiapas, Chris Hesketh 6. Uneven and Combined Marxism within South Africa’s Urban Social Movements, Patrick Bond, Ashwin Desai and Trevor Ngwane PART 3: SEEING THE BIGGER PICTURE Comparative-Historical Perspective 1. Thinking About (New) Social Movements: Some Insights from the British Marxist Historians, Paul Blackledge 2. Right-Wing Social Movements: The Political Indeterminacy Of Mass Mobilisation, Neil Davidson 3. Class, Caste, Colonial Rule, And Resistance: The Revolt of 1857 In India, Hira Singh 4. The Black International as Social-Movement Wave: C.L.R. James’s History of Pan-African Revolt, Christian Høgsbjerg Social Movements against Neoliberalism 5. Language, Marxism and the Grasping of Policy-Agendas: Neoliberalism and Political Voice in Scotland’s Poorest Communities, Chik Collins 6. Organic Intellectuals in the Australian Global-Justice Movement: The Weight of 9/11, Elizabeth Humphrys 7. ‘Disorganisation’ as Social-Movement Tactic: Reappropriating Politics During the Crisis of Neoliberal Capitalism, Heike Schaumberg 8. ‘Unity of The Diverse’: Working-Class Formations and Popular Uprisings From Cochabamba to Cairo, David McNally References
