The foreign policies of communist states were governed and their actions justified by official Marxist ideology - at least in principal. This collection of essays examines the extent to which nationalism has replaced communist ideology in the foreign policy of these states. It also analyses how these countries use foreign policy to articulate renewed or newly-established national identities and their wider sense of geopolitical belonging. Written by an international collection of country specialists, the volume includes a comparative introduction and chapters on Russia and a selection of post-communist states from the Baltic, Central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

The foreign policies of communist states were governed and their actions justified by official Marxist ideology - at least in principal. This collection of essays examines the extent to which nationalism has replaced communist ideology in the foreign policy of these states. It also analyses how these countries use foreign policy to articulate renewed or newly-established national identities and their wider sense of geopolitical belonging. Written by an international collection of country specialists, the volume includes a comparative introduction and chapters on Russia and a selection of post-communist states from the Baltic, Central Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia.

"Is there a Western world leader whose reputation has not been re-analysed and reassessed, usually to his or her detriment?" With this question, Harold Shukman introduces "Redefining Stalinism," a collection of articles published 50 years after Stalin's death. With the opening of Soviet archives to an unprecedented degree since the demise of the USSR, totalitarian and revisionist arguments about Stalin and the Stalinist system can be more closely explored. Topics range from a survey of recent Western views of Stalin's Russia, to an account of Stalin's approach to intelligence, two separate analyses of totalitarianism, the politics of obligation, the cult of the dead in Soviet political memory, and the de-mythologising of Stalin in the years immediately following his death.

Karl Marx is, perhaps, the founding figure of modern social theory. His ideas and writings have been entwined with some of the twentieth century's greatest struggles for justice, and some of its worst repression. He has inspired an equal measure of followers and critics, and entirely diverse lines of research and theory. Each new generation of social thinkers have advanced theories in the wake of Marx, proving his undying contemporary relevance. In this illuminating and concise collection of readings, Karl Marx emerges as the first theorist to give a comprehensive social view of the birth and development of capitalist modernity that began with the Second Industrial Revolution and still exists today.

Organized analytically, each section of readings relates to an enduring facet of Marxist thought. Along with Marx's own writing, there are fifteen contemporary essays on a variety of topics showing the influence of Marx on today's world. Editorial introductions are included at the beginning of the volume and of each section to situate the readings historically and intellectually. Every student and scholar of social theory and Marxism will find this to be the defining collection of Marxist modern thought.

What does the future hold for the welfare state in the post-industrial 21st century? Political and economic forces are threatening the taxation regimes of highly globalised, capitalist societies, prompting an urgent debate around the function of the welfare state and how we pay for it. In a challenge to current policy and thinking, David Byrne and Sally Ruane deploy the concepts and analytical tools of Marxist political economy to better understand these developments, and the possibilities they present for social change. Using the SNP in Scotland as an illustrative case study, current debates are related to a critical understanding of the relationship between taxation and spending, issues that are fundamental to early 21st century politics and the future of the welfare state.

Postmodernism has become the orthodoxy in educational theory. It heralds the end of grand theories like Marxism and liberalism, scorning any notion of a united feminist challenge to patriachy, of united anti-racist struggle, and of united working-class movements against capitalist exploitation and oppression. For postmodernists, the world is fragmented, history is ended, and all struggles are local and particularistic. Written by internationally renowned British and American educational theorists Marxism Against Postmodernism in Educational Theory-a substantially revised edition of the original 1999 work Postmodernism in Educational Theory-critically examines the infusion of postmodernism and theories of postmodernity into educational theory, policy, and research. The writers argue that postmodernism provides neither a viable educational politics, nor the foundation for effective radical educational practice and offer an alternative 'politics of human resistance' which puts the challenge to capitalism firmly on the agenda of educational theory, politics, and practice.

Most developed economies are characterized by high levels of inequality and an inability to provide stability or opportunity for many of their citizens. Mainstream economics has proven to be of little assistance in addressing these systemic failures, and this has led both scholars and students to seek alternatives. One such alternative is provided by Marxian economics. In recent decades the field has seen tremendous theoretical development and Marxian perspectives have begun to appear in public discourse in unprecedented ways. This handbook contains thirty-seven original essays from a wide range of leading international scholars, recognized for their expertise in different areas of Marxian economics. Its scope is broad, ranging from contributions on familiar Marxist concepts such as value theory, the labor process, accumulation, crisis and socialism, to others not always associated with the Marxian canon, like feminism, ecology, international migration and epistemology. This breadth of coverage reflects the development of Marxian economic and social theory, and encompasses both the history and the frontiers of current scholarship. This handbook provides an extensive statement of the current shape and future direction of Marxian economics. The Routledge Handbook of Marxian Economics is an invaluable resource for students, researchers and policy makers seeking guidance in this field. It is designed to serve both as a reference work and as a supplementary text for classroom use, with applications for courses in economics, sociology, political science, management, anthropology, development studies, philosophy and history.

By using the concept of capitalism as a "form of life", the authors in this volume reconceive capitalism, its mechanisms and effects on our bodies and on our common life. The idea that capitalism is more than a discrete economic system and instead a "form of life" that shapes our relationships with others, our sense of ourselves and our capacities, practices, bodies, and actions in the material world should be rather obvious. Yet efforts - whether through criticism or policy remedies - to redress the vast inequalities, inherent exploitation, alienation, and the manifold destructive effects of capitalism on the environment, typically proceed without grappling fully with the entwinement of the economic with the social and cultural, much less the ethical, ontological, and phenomenological. This volume proposes "form of life" as a heuristic tool, connecting literatures that often remain isolated from one another - the Frankfurt School, neo-materialism, Wittgenstein's philosophy, Foucault's and Agamben's biopolitics, and Marx's discussion of reproduction. In emphasizing economic practices, as opposed to capitalism as a system, they conceive of "the economic" as an integral and integrated dimension of life, and thus develop new possibilities for critique. Viewing human beings as "economic bios," provides a needed alternative to analyses that position neoliberalism as an economic logic imposed upon the social and cultural. This book was originally published as a special issue of the Journal for Cultural Research.

Contents:
Contents
1. Introduction
2. Theories of State-Societal Relations 3. Soviet Collectivization
4. The Hungarian Uprising 5. Poland and Solidarity 6. Conclusion

Originally published in 1928, this book is a result of a visit to Russia by the author who stayed in a remote village and mixed with the local population. A crusader for social justice, Dorothy Buxton in theory saw Bolshevism as a fairer system and went to Russia to see the effects of the Revolution. With an intellectual honesty rarely seen by critics of Soviet Russia, the author examines fundamental questions of sociology and religion with some unexpected conclusions.

This book, originally published in English in 1930 is a vivid account of the life and problems of Russia in the first decades of the twentieth century. The typical features of existence in the proletarian state are discussed in connection with an exhaustive analysis of the whole experiment of Bolshevism and the developments of economic policy are clearly explained and discussed.

"

Marx After Marxism" encourages readers to understand Karl Marx in new ways, unencumbered by political Marxist interpretations that have long dominated the discussions of both Marxists and non-Marxists. This volume gives a broad and accessible account of Marx's philosophy and emphasizes his relationship to Hegel.

Marxism has always claimed and still claims a privileged relation to Marx's theories. It typically presents a view of Marx that is widely accepted by Marxists, non-Marxists, and even anti-Marxists, unfortunately without careful scrutiny. This book argues that political Marxist influence obscures, transforms, distorts, and renders inaccessible Marx's basic philosophical insights. It concentrates on recovering Marx's philosophical ideas not in opposition to, but rather within, the larger Hegelian framework.

Now that we have seen the end of political Marxism's peak global influence, it is possible, for perhaps the first time, to depict Marx as a philosopher who began to think within, and remained within, the German philosophical tradition.

"Cuban Communism remains, like its previous ten editions, an important contribution to the field of Cuban Studies. It includes many useful chronological facts, as well as a selection of Fidel Castro's speeches which are interesting and informative for any reader interested in the island." -- Maria Gropas, Department of Social Anthropology, University of Cambridge This new 11th edition of a classic text, come to be known as "the bible of Cuban Studies," emphasizes two key issues of the twenty-first century. First, transition concerns in a world without Castro, and second, the continuing embargo of Cuba by the United States in the aftermath of a major change in the presidency. Cuban Communism has been updated to take account of changes in the 44 years of Castro's rule since seizing power in 1959. In addition to articles and essays that represent new developments in Cuba, the work boasts a database upgrade that makes it more important to students, scholars, and researchers. The volume has expanded the section on future prospects for civil society and democracy in a post-Castro environment; including "Regime Change in Cuba" by Eusebio Mujal-Leon and Joshua W. Busby; "Transition Scenarios" by Randolph H. Pherson, and "A Policy Conundrum over Cuba" by Edward Gonzalez. It also contains a chronology of events from 1959 through 2002. Finally, the new work contains a carefully constructed Who's Who of important players in Cuba and the regime during the Castro period up to the present. Other articles new to the 11th edition of Cuban Communism are by Ernesto Betancourt, "Cuba's Balance of Payment Gap"; Carmelo Mesa-Lago, "The Cuban Economy From 1999-2001"; Taylor Boas, "The Internet and U.S. Policy toward Cuba"; Aldo M. Leiva, "Environmental Technology Transfer and Foreign Investment"; Moises Asis, "Judaism in Cuba"; Wolf Grabendorff, "A View from the European Union." More than ever, it is a must volume for those interested in political systems and social structures. Irving Louis Horowitz is Hannah Arendt Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Sociology and Political Science at Rutgers University. Among his works are Three Worlds of Development, Beyond Empire and Revolution, and his Bacardi Lectures on Cuba that was published as The Conscience of Worms and the Cowardice of Lions. Jaime Suchlicki is Bacardi Professor of History at the Graduate School of International Studies at the University of Miami, and executive director of its Cuban-American and Cuban Center. He is author of From Columbus to Castro, University Students and Revolution in Cuba, and Mexico: From Montezuma to Nafta and Beyond.

The transformation from Communist rule towards democratic development in Russia cannot be fully understood without taking the elites into full consideration. Elites and Democratic Development in Russia examines how elites support and challenge democracy and why they are crucial to Russian democracy in particular.
In this innovative volume, twelve respected scholars investigate how elites have affected the transition from Communist rule towards democratic development in Russia. They discuss how the elites' degree of integration on national and regional levels may constitute the main condition for the consolidation of the emerging political regime and interpret the complex post-communist elite patterns of behaviour and attitudes into a theoretical framework of elitist democracy.
This book will appeal to those interested in democratization, elites, post-Soviet Russia and post-communist studies.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203712757

Communist Parties in the Middle East: 100 Years of History One hundred years since the Russian Revolution, Communist parties have undergone great changes, in an evolution that has affected the entire Left and the social movements. Given that the impact of Communist parties and their evolution in the Middle East is a topic that has not been widely researched, Communist parties in the Middle East. 100 years of history aims to cover a century in the lives of these parties, from the moment the Communist ideology first reached the region in the early 20th century (brought by activists from minority groups) and the creation of the first parties and trades unions after the 1917 revolution, right up to the upheaval caused by the dissolution of the USSR and, more recently, the Arab Spring. The book has been designed to offer a unique, updated and comprehensive study of Communist parties in the Middle East, based on both a theoretical framework of analysis and substantial empirical research and archive documentation. Several issues are examined in this work. When the Russian Revolution took place, the Middle Eastern region as a whole was under colonial control. This meant taking decisions related to the relationship between the class struggle and the national struggle. The composition of the communist parties in the Middle East is also analysed as is their role as the vanguard -understood in the broad sense of the word- in relation to the objectives of liberation, emancipation, revolution and system change or reform, and their connection to mass or popular movements. Furthermore, the volume looks back at the dependency or autonomy of communist parties during the Cold War and the tensions that this generated in them, as well as the search for individual constructions of communism that took into account cultural characteristics and the local context of the struggle. In this respect, one of the recurring themes in the work is the relationship between communist activism and the sectors that mobilized in the name of nationalism or political Islam. Finally, the chapters trace the history of the parties, including -for the first time in the literature- the post-Cold War period and continuing to the current situation, in which communist parties occupy a residual position in the political field, sharing space with other small groups from the real Left, new programmes adapted to neoliberal advancement in the region and the new mobilizations symbolized by the uprisings of 2010-2011. The first section of the book presents the evolution of the CPs in Iran, Turkey, Iraq, Lebanon, Syria, Palestine and Israel, Egypt, South Yemen, Sudan, Algeria and Morocco. The second section explores some cross-cutting issues that have affected relations between the communist parties and other political sectors: political Islam and the New Left. Through the testimony of some leading figures, it presents the arguments around the question of gender in the Arab world and in leftist circles as well as an example of the evolution of a female leftist activist, some contradictions and the prominent debates from the most convulsive years to the present.

This is a history of Poland's post-World War II Communist era, that approaches the transition from Communism to democracy through an analysis of Poland's political crises, beginning with the 1956 uprising and culminating in the 1990 collapse of the former Communist regime.

In this definitive history of the evolution of the Com- munist Party in America--from its early background through its founding in 1919 to its emergence as a legal entity in the 1920s--Theodore Draper traces the native and foreign strains that comprised the party. He emphasizes its shifting policies and secrets as well as its open activities. He makes clear how the party in its infancy "was transformed from a new expression of American radicalism to the American appendage of a Russian revolutionary power," a fact that Draper develops in his succeeding volume, "American Communism and Soviet Russia." In his special, prescient way, Theodore Draper himself had the final words on American Communism: "It is like a museum of radical politics. In its various stages, it has virtually been all things to all men... There are many ways of trying to understand such a movement, but the first task is historical. In some respects, there is no other way to understand it, or at least to avoid seriously misunderstanding it. Every other approach tends to be static, one-sided or unbalanced." Draper correctly notes that the formative period of the American Communist movement has remained a largely untold and even unknown story. In part, the reasons for this are that the Communist movement, although a child of the West, grew to power in the Soviet East. But Draper rescues this chapter with deep appreciation for the fact that communism was not something that happened just in Russia, but also in the United States. This is a must read for scholars and laypersons alike. This volume is conceived as an independent and self-contained study of the American Communist movement. Draper correctly notes that the formative period is largely untold and even unknown. In part, the reasons for this are that the Communist movement, although a child of the West, grew to power in the Soviet East. Draper appreciates the fact that communism was not something that happened only in Russia, but also took place in the United States. That experience is the focus of this volume.

This book, originally published in English in 1927 deals with the social state of Russia after eight years of Bolshevist rule and influence up to the end of 1925. Laced with predicitions of failure, the book is nonetheless prophetic in many ways. It discusses the limitations in practice of Bolshevist politics and the reality of the Soviet elections of the early 1920s and the growing influence of the Communist Party.

In the second series of van Leeuwen's Gifford Lectures, the author examines the 'transmutation' from the critique of heaven into the critique of earth. His thesis is that Marx's critique of religion is seen not in his opposition to 'religion', but in his ideas on political economy. This thesis is undergirded with analysis of Marx's critique of political economy from 1842 to Das Kapital. Marx's biography works itself out at three levels of critique: from religion via politics to political economy. Das Kapital sums up the whole of Marx's thought. The analysis of the 'mystical character of commodities' is both the key to the critique of Christianity, 'with its cult of abstract man', and the key to the critique of political economy, the fetishism of which 'emerges clear as the noon-day, whenever it has to do with capital'. The reception of Marx's critique in the categories, structure and method of traditional theology is not feasible; a transformation of theology is necessary. To put it another way, reception of Marx's critique will be both cause and symptom of a self-fulfilling theological transformation, for which this work provides a prolegomena.

A critical and provocative exploration of the political, conceptual and cultural points of resonance between Deleuze's minor politics and Marx's critique of capitalist dynamics, engaging with Deleuze's missing work, The Grandeur of Marx.
This book explores the core categories of communism and capital in conjunction with a wealth of contemporary and historical political concepts and movements - from the lumpenproletariat and anarchism, to Italian autonomia and Antonio Negri, immaterial labour and the refusal of work. This book will serve as an introduction to Deleuze's politics and the contemporary vitality of Marx for students and will challenge scholars in the fields of social and political theory, sociology and cultural studies.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203361741

First published in 1997, this volume consists of chapters placed before a series of meetings organised by the Rome-based international School on Disarmament and Research on Conflicts (ISODARCO) which reviewed the prospects relating to the countries of the Former Soviet Union and of the other members of the Warsaw Treaty Organization. The authors include Western experts, as well as distinguished commentators from Russia itself. Among the latter are Georgi Arbatov, Ruslan Khasbulatov and Alexei Arbatov. An earlier volume of chapters deriving from this same series of meetings was still in print at the time of original publication in 1997, namely Rising Tension in Eastern Europe and the Former Soviet Union.

Marxist discourse around automation has recently become waylaid with breathless techno-pessimist dystopias and fanciful imaginations of automated luxury communism. This collection of essays by both established veterans of the field and new voices is a refreshingly sober materialist reflection on recent technological developments within capitalist production. It covers a broad range of digital aspects now proliferating across our work and lives, including chapters on the digitalisation of agriculture, robotics in the factory and the labour process on crowdworking platforms. It looks to how 20th century Marxist predictions of the 'workerless factory' are, or are not, coming true, and how 'Platform Capitalism' should be understood and critiqued. Through rich empirical, theoretical and historical material, this book is necessary reading for those wanting a clear overview of our digital world.

This book explores the historical writings of postwar Japanese Marxists - who were, and who continue to be, surprisingly numerous in the Japanese academic world. It shows how they developed in their historical writing ideas of 'radical nationalism', which accepted presupposed ideas of Japan's 'ethnic homogeneity', but which they saw as a 'revolutionary subject', creating a sphere of radical political action against the state, the American Occupation and global capital. It compares this approach in both prewar and postwar Marxist historiography, showing that in the postwar period ideas were more elaborate, and put much more emphasis on national education and social mobilization. It also shows how these early postwar discourses have made their way into contemporary ethnic nationalism and revisionism in Japan today. The book's rich and interesting analysis will appeal not just to historians of Japan, but also to those interested in nationalism and Marxism more generally.

eBook available with sample pages: 0203217772

Karl Marx probably had more influence on the political course of the last century than any other social thinker. There are many different kinds of Marxism, and the Twentieth Century saw two huge Marxist states in total opposition to one another. In the West, Marxism has never presented a revolutionary threat to the established order, though it has taken root as the major theoretical critique of capitalist society in intellectual circles, and new interpretations of Marx's thought appear each year.
Peter Worsley discusses all these major varieties of Marxism, distinguishing between those ideas which remain valid, those which are contestable, and those which should now be discarded. Rather than treating Marxism purely as a philosophy in the abstract, he concentrates upon the uses to which Marxism has been put and emphasises the connections between the theoretical debates and political struggles in the real world.

This volume is a systematic comparative study of the French and Italian Communist parties in the period from the early 1960s to the early 1980s. Focusing on the municipal level, it carefully exmaines the cultural policies implemented by the parties in two communist strongholds, Ivry-sur-Seine (France) and Reggio Emilia (Italy). The author uses these two case studies to test empirically the hypothesis found almost universally in the comparative literature. That is, it is generally argued that the French Communist Party (PCF) remained an orthodox, sectarian Leninist party, which aimed at creating a Soviet style society in France, whereas the former Italian Communist Party (PCI) is depicted as a more moderate party, which rejected the Soviet-style model after World War II and embarked on a new strategy, veering towards reformism and social democracy.