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Books > Social sciences > Politics & government > Political ideologies > Marxism & Communism
In this third decade of the 21st century, deep problems plague our
world. Many people lack adequate nutrition, health care, and
education, because-while there is enough wealth for everyone to
meet these basic needs-most of it is tightly controlled by precious
few. Global warming causes droughts, floods, rising sea levels, and
soon the forced migrations of millions of people. In this book,
philosopher Graham Priest explains why we find ourselves in this
situation, defines the nature of the problems we face, and explains
how we might solve and move beyond our current state. The first
part of this book draws on Buddhist philosophy, Marx's analysis of
capitalism, and their complementary role in explaining our present
crisis and the events that led us here. In the second part of the
book, Priest turns to the much harder question of how one might go
about creating a more rational and humane world. Here, he draws
again on Buddhist and Marxist ideas as well as some key aspects of
anarchist thought. His discussion of the need for bottom-up control
of production, power, ideology, and an emerging awareness of our
interdependence is a must-read for anyone who cares about the
future of the planet and our latent capacity to care for each
other. Key Features Explains the necessary elements of Marxist,
Buddhist, and anarchist thought-no background knowledge of
political theory or Buddhism is necessary Shows how Buddhist and
Marxist notions of persons are complementary Convincingly shows
capitalism's role in creating current socio-economic problems
Provides an analysis of the corrosiveness of top-down power
structures and why they should be eliminated in a post-capitalist
state Discusses capitalism's role in war, environmental
degradation, and race and gender-based oppression
Are we doomed because of the new digital technologies used in
workspaces? Can we avoid measuring in our work? Or are we trapped
in a metrification dystopia? Can we create workspaces that can
produce what we prefer in order to use our human effort in ways
that support nature and our communities? And if yes, what
technologies could we use? Here, monetary-theorist Irene
Sotiropoulou explores and critiques the information and
communication means that were created for capitalist profit-making,
showing how we can subvert these and use them for our own
non-capitalist purposes. Machines Against Measures shows that in
times of capitalist restructuring and multiple social reproduction
crises, there open up new possibilities to experiment with
quantity, measuring, machines and digital technologies, creating
new ways of production and transaction. Within these, are ways of
sharing and producing that defy many principles of capitalist
relations. Using everyday examples from grassroots activity, this
book offers new insights into how to be inventive with what we have
at hand and be able to reflect on what technologies we truly need,
revealing a grounded and practical vision of technology and work,
based on re-defining why and how we measure what we do.
This collection systematically approaches the concept of
Czechoslovakism and its historical progression, covering the time
span from the mid-nineteenth century to Czechoslovakia's
dissolution in 1992/1993, while also providing the most recent
research on the subject. "Czechoslovakism" was a foundational
concept of the interwar Czechoslovak Republic and it remained an
important ideological, political and cultural phenomenon throughout
the twentieth century. As such, it is one of the most controversial
terms in Czech, Slovak and Central European history. While
Czechoslovakism was perceived by some as an effort to assert Czech
domination in Slovakia, for others it represented a symbol of the
struggle for the Republic's survival during the interwar and Second
World War periods. The authors take care to analyze
Czechoslovakism's various emotional connotations, however their
primary objective is to consider Czechoslovakism as an important
historical concept and follow its changes through the various
cultural-political contexts spanning from the mid-nineteenth
century to the breakup of Czechoslovakia in 1993. Including the
work of many of the most eminent Czech and Slovak historians, this
volume is an insightful study for academic and postgraduate student
audiences interested in the modern history of Central and Eastern
Europe, nationality studies, as well as intellectual history,
political science and sociology.
With today's conservative mood on university and college
campuses, academics and students will find "The Left Academy" a
useful reference to the current state of Marxist thought. This book
explores Marxism in the social sciences and applied sociology
fields such as social work and health. "The Left Academy" features
essays that analyze the state of Marxism in various academic
disciplines by a well-known scholar in that discipline. In addition
to the essays, this third volume includes a summary of
Marxism--where it stands today and where it may go in the future.
Students, academics, and general readers will find the book
thought-provoking.
In recent writings on Marx one finds an increasing interest in his
humanism. This phenomenon began in the third decade of our century
as a reaction against the mechanistic and stereotyped image of Marx
1 characteristic of the Second International and of Stalinism.
Lukacs, in History and Class Consciousness (1923), was one of the
first to discover this new Marx, and he did so even before the most
important 2 of the humanistic writings of the young Marx had been
discovered. With the publication ofthese writings in 1932 - namely,
the Economic 3 and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1844 - this new
outlook was given enormous impetus. In these Manuscripts, Marx
makes the human being the creator and the goal of alI reality. The
objectification of the human essence through labor transforms both
society and nature. Labor transforms its wor1d into a place which
mirrors, unfolds, and confirms the human being. This humanism is a
complex and many-faceted issue. In this book we will be concerned
only with a certain part of it, i.e., the epistemology, method, and
doctrine of nature which it involves. Other aspects of it - Marx'
concept of alienation and his theory of labor and the state -have 4
been dealt with elsewhere.
Most studies view the Caribbean as disparate countries prone to
revolution and ripe for rebellion. In a refreshing departure from
the norm, Anthony Maingot, using historical and contemporary
examples, explains that the region is actually populated by
resilient, adaptable societies that combine both modern and
conservative elements. Despite the Caribbean's diverse languages,
nationalities, racial differences, ideologies, microhistories, and
political systems, it is defined by a similarity of
postcolonial-era challenges. Maingot examines the contemporary
intellectual, social, economic, and cultural trajectories of
Caribbean nations and locates the common conservative thread in its
many revolutions and transitions. He concludes that this prevailing
tendency deserves better acknowledgment, by which the Caribbean can
chart possible productive paths that have not yet been considered,
especially with regard to combating increased corruption. By
focusing on changes since the 1990s, this ambitious volume, by one
of the preeminent scholars in Caribbean studies, helps define the
future course of investigations in this complex region.
This book investigates the Communist political phenomenon,
including the origins and development of Communism as well as the
revolutions that led to the rise of the major Communist states
around the world. Written for high school students, undergraduates,
and general readers, this book surveys the global rise of
Communism. It begins with a timeline and narrative overview, which
are followed by reference entries, primary source documents, and
original argumentative essays on enduring issues related to
Communism. The book first covers the earliest phases of the
"Utopian Socialist" movement and the beginnings of Marxist theory.
It then discusses the Russian Revolution of 1917; the creation of
the Soviet Union; the regime of terror instituted by Stalin; the
expansion of Communism during the years of the Cold War,
particularly in Asia; and the Cuban Revolution and the regime of
Fidel Castro. It also discusses the progression toward revolution
among the European Satellite countries as it included the Hungarian
Revolution of 1956, the Czech revolution of 1968, and the multiple
revolutions from 1989-1991 that saw the collapse of the Soviet
system and the Cold War. Includes a timeline to help students
identify key events related to the rise of Communism and their
relation to one another Examines the rise of Communism around the
world, its causes, and its significance in a narrative overview
Provides fundamental information about key topics through
alphabetically arranged reference entries Presents primary source
historical documents to give students first-hand accounts of the
development of Communist thought and its legacy Offers original
argumentative essays to help students critically consider major
issues and debates related to Communism
This book deals with six trials, conducted by the Romanian state
against Jewish key officials employed in state-owned import-export
companies between 1950 and 1960. It begins with a presentation of
the political realities of Romania following the Communist Party's
rise to power, in particular those regarding its relationship with
Romania's Jews and Gheorghiu-Dej's policy of National Communism.
Rozenberg describes the criminal procedure used in the staged
economic trials follows and then examines this procedure based on
the legal system of the period, as exemplified by the six analyzed
trials. The Romanoexport Jewish officials' trial is analyzed in
depth, as the case study of the whole book. This book concludes by
bringing to light two phenomena that dissipate some mystique
surrounding the events: first, the state's practice of using its
legal system as a means of oppressing the population; and second,
the stereotypical image of "The Jew" which the regime in Romania
developed. Despite its supposed anti-religiosity, it held on to
centuries-old prejudices against Jews as pariahs, with supposed
allegiance to foreign elements preferred over their surrounding
society, even to the point of betraying and exploiting their own
country.
The book is part of the recent effort to catch up with the research
on the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). Despite its omnipresence and
pivotal role in running the country, there has been a conspicuous
shortage of references to the Party in most studies related to
China. In its stead, the academic literature as well as popular
discussions has too often treated the CCP as a type of regime
destined to the dustbin of history. The inadequacy of research in
this area is understandable because CCP is a tightly organised
Leninist party which has kept much of its internal affairs
confidential. This book examines the key aspects of the
transformation of CCP in the rapidly changing national and global
context. It highlights the problems faced by the ruling Leninist
party in adapting to a capitalistic environment that its
organisations cannot fully control and its ideology cannot
effectively rationalise. It also examines CCP's strategies for
adaptation in the areas of ideological reformulation, party-society
relations and the ways of exercising power and maintaining internal
cohesion. In addition to helping the readers understand how China
is ruled and how the Chinese system operates, the book also
highlights the evolutionary dynamics of Chinese politics in the
environment created by CCP's reform and open-door policies.
In Red Modernism, Mark Steven asserts that modernism was highly
attuned-and aesthetically responsive-to the overall spirit of
communism. He considers the maturation of American poetry as a
longitudinal arc, one that roughly followed the rise of the USSR
through the Russian Revolution and its subsequent descent into
Stalinism, opening up a hitherto underexplored domain in the
political history of avant-garde literature. In doing so, Steven
amplifies the resonance among the universal idea of communism, the
revolutionary socialist state, and the American modernist poem.
Focusing on three of the most significant figures in modernist
poetry-Ezra Pound, William Carlos Williams, and Louis
Zukofsky-Steven provides a theoretical and historical introduction
to modernism's unique sense of communism while revealing how
communist ideals and references were deeply embedded in modernist
poetry. Moving between these poets and the work of T. S. Eliot,
Langston Hughes, Muriel Rukeyser, Gertrude Stein, Wallace Stevens,
and many others, the book combines a detailed analysis of technical
devices and poetic values with a rich political and economic
context. Persuasively charting a history of the avant-garde
modernist poem in relation to communism, beginning in the 1910s and
reaching into the 1940s, Red Modernism is an audacious examination
of the twinned history of politics and poetry.
This collection assesses the relevance of the historical and
critical edition and includes analysis, by leading scholars, of
specific themes in the Marxian critique of political economy using
the new material available. This detailed and fascinating book is
essential reading for all seeking the best in contemporary Marxian
analysis and theory.
'The young dictator comes under close scrutiny in this intelligent
account' Sunday Times When Kim Jong Un became the leader of North
Korea in 2011, many expected his rule to be short. Years later, he
remains the unchallenged dictator of a nuclear rogue state with
weaponry capable of threatening the West. In this behind-the-scenes
look, former CIA analyst and North Korea expert Jung H. Pak reveals
the explosive story of Kim Jong II's third son: the spoilt and
impetuous child, the mediocre student, the ruthless murderer, the
shrewd grand strategist.
'A real treasure that we can't stop exploring' - La Republica
Felicia Browne decided it was time to put down her paintbrushes and
pick up a rifle. Jimmy Yates left Chicago with three books in his
bindle, sacrificing them all on the gruelling trek across the
Pyrenees. Salaria Kea worked at the front as a nurse, judged by her
skill rather than her skin colour... In 1936 something
extraordinary happened. As the threat of fascism swept across the
Iberian peninsula, thousands of people from all over the world left
their families and jobs to heed the call - No Pasaran! History has
never seen a wave of solidarity like it. The Spanish Civil War
ended in 1939 with the Republic crushed, but the revolutionary
dream of the International Brigades has never burnt out. Through
these 60 illustrated profiles, Brigadistes embroiders an epic story
of political struggle with the everyday bravery, sorrow and love of
those who lived it.
This study explores the history of the "new school" that developed
in the immediate postwar period and its role in communicating
antifascism to young people in the Soviet zone. Blessing traces how
the decisions about how to educate young people after twelve years
of a National Socialist dictatorship became part of a broader
discussion about the future of the German nation.
Part of the English-language edition, prepared in collaboration
with the Institute of Marxism-Leninism in Moscow, this volume
contains the correspondence between Karl Marx and Frederick Engels
from the latter part of the 19th century.
This volume examines concepts of central planning, a cornerstone of
political economy in Soviet-type societies. It revolves around the
theory of "optimal planning" which promised a profound
modernization of Stalinist-style verbal planning. Encouraged by
cybernetic dreams in the 1950s and supporting the strategic goals
of communist leaders in the Cold War, optimal planners offered the
ruling elites a panacea for the recurrent crises of the planned
economy. Simultaneously, their planning projects conveyed the pride
of rational management and scientific superiority over the West.
The authors trace the rise and fall of the research program in the
communist era in eight countries of Eastern Europe, including the
Soviet Union, and China, describing why the mission of optimization
was doomed to fail and why the failure was nevertheless very slow.
The theorists of optimal planning contributed to the rehabilitation
of mathematical culture in economic research in the communist
countries, and thus, to a neoclassical turn in economics all over
the ex-communist world). However, because they have not rejected
optimal planning as "computopia," there is a large space left
behind for future generations to experiment with Big Optimal Plans
anew-based, at this time, on artificial intelligence and machine
learning.
Karl Marxs CAPITAL Introductory Essay By A. D. LINDSAY Master of
Balliol College, Oxford LONDON OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS HUMPHREY
MILFORD OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS AMEN HOUSE, E. G. 4 LONDON
EDINBURGH GLASGOW LEIPZIG NEW YORK TORONTO MELBOURNE CAPETOWN
BOMBAY CALCUTTA MADRAS SHANGHAI HUMPHREY MILFORD PUBLISHER TO THE
UNIVERSITY Impression of First edition, 1925 Printed in Great
Britain PREFACE I OWE much in the preparation of this book to Mr.
Beers Karl Marx, Sein Leben und Seine Lehre, and to Mr. G. W.
Portuss Marx and Modern Thought, published for the Workers
Educational Association in Australia. How much I have been helped
in Chapters III and IV by M. Elie Halevys La Formation du
Radicalisms Philosophique will be evident to all who know that
great work. Though I differ widely from Mr. H. W. B. Joseph, I have
been greatly helped by his demonstration in Karl Marxs Theory of
Value of the indefensibility of doctrines often ascribed to Marx.
But above all I wish to acknowledge my debt, for their discussion
and criticism, to those to whom the lectures from which this book
has been made were first delivered the Glasgow audiences meeting
under the auspices of the Independent Labour Party and the Workers
Educational Association and in par ticular to Mr. John McLure and
to Mr. D. Kennedy of the Glasgow Independent Labour Party. My
references throughout are to the English translation of Marxs
Capital, but in the quotations from Marx I have in many passages
made my own corrections in that translation. A. D. L. BALLIOL
COLLEGE, OXFORD. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 9 I. Marx and Hegel 15 II.
Economic Determinism . . .27 III. The Labour Theory of Value . - S3
IV. Marxs account of Surplus Value and of theCollective Labourer .
. .81 V. Marx and Rousseau . . . .109 INDEX 126 INTRODUCTION THIS
small book is intended, as were the lectures in which it first took
form, to be an introduction to the study of Marxs Capital. It is
not meant to be a substitute for such study. It is the fate of all
great books tp get bcdleA-down and served up cold in text-books,
which purport to tell exactly what the great book comes to, as
though a mans conclusions were worth very much apart from the way
in which he arrived at them. We must all have had the experience,
after reading even appreciative books about great authors, of going
back to the authors themselves and finding how much more there is
in them than their commentators lead us to expect. Marxs Capital is
obviously a book of historical importance, and any one who reads it
impartially will find it greater and far more illuminating than
most critics of Marx would like us, or most Marxian writers allow
us to believe. There are two ways in which it is indefensible to
treat a great book, ways which seem nevertheless to characterize
much of what is said of Marx in this country the way of uncritical
condemnation and the way. of uncritical praise. There are some
books on Marx in which are collected all his inconsistencies and
nothing else, as though there was nothing in Marx but
inconsistencies. Such books give the impression that Marx was one
of the most muddle-headed, idiots that ever lived. On the other
hand, some of his interpreters seem to have given up the belief in
the verbal insgiratipn of scripture for the belief in the verbal
inspiration of Capital and try to maintain that there are no
inconsistencies in Marx at all. 2535 61 B io Introduction Wemight
surely be prepared, without having read a word of Marx, to reject
both these extreme views. Mere inconsistent thinking has never made
history as Capital has made it. But no man who has brought about a
great revolution in thought has ever been without inconsistencies.
The original thinker is too much occupied in trying to express the
creative thought which is welling up in him to trouble himself
about getting it all straightened out. There are always parts of
his work which he has taken over as they stood from other people...
The demise of the French Communist Party (PCF) has been a recurrent
feature of overviews of the Left in France for the past two
decades, and yet the Communists survive. This study examines the
factors that undermined the position of the PCF as the premier
party of France, but also highlights the challenges that the party
faces in a society disillusioned with politics, and the new
strategies that it is developing in order to revive its
fortunes.
Very little has been written on the political implications of
diverse accounts of "virtue, "vice," and "moral character," and
even less has been offered on this subject from any identifiably
leftist perspective. This book begins by demonstrating the
plausibility of a "Marxist ethics" in general; the author then
proceeds to work out an understanding of moral character itself and
its role in living a "good life," based on a historical materialist
philosophical anthropology. This leads to an analysis of which
character traits should be considered virtues and vices, and what
would count as a successful or unsuccessful moral education, within
the context of contemporary North American society. The text
concludes by focusing on the problems associated with identifying
real-life, useful exemplifications of such virtuous and vicious
character.
Russian conservatism is making a forceful return after a century of
experimenting with socialism and liberalism. Conservatism is about
managing change by ensuring that modernization evolves organically
by building on the past. Conservatism has a natural attraction for
Russia as its thousand-year long history is largely characterized
by revolutionary change - the destructive process of uprooting the
past to give way to modernity. Navigating towards gradual and
organic modernization has been a key struggle ever since the
Mongols invaded in the early 13th century and decoupled Russia from
Europe and the arteries of international trade. Russian history has
consisted of avoiding revolutions that are either caused by falling
behind on modernization or making great leaps forward that disrupts
socio-economic and political traditions. Russian conservatives are
now tasked with harmonizing the conservative ideas of the 19th
century with the revolutionary changes that shaped Russia in the
20th century. The rise of Asia now provides new opportunities as it
enables Russia to overcome its fixation on the West and develop a
unique Russian path towards modernization that harmonizes its
Eurasian geography and history.
Longlisted for South Africa's 2022 Sunday Times Non-fiction Award
Definitive and gripping narrative history of the Communist Party of
South Africa. Renowned historian Tom Lodge has written an immensely
readable and compelling sweep of history, spanning continents and
the last hundred years, producing the first comprehensive account
of the South African Communist Party in all its intricacies. Taking
the story back to the party's pre-history in the early 20th century
reveals that it was shaped by a range of socialist traditions and
that their influence persisted and were decisive. The party's
engagement in popular front politics after 1935 has been largely
uncharted: this book supplies fresh detail. In the 1940s the author
shows how the party became a key actor in the formation of black
working-class politics, and hitherto unused archival materials as
well as the insights from an increasingly candid genre of
autobiographies make possible a much fuller picture of the secret
party of 1952 to 1965. Despite its concealment and tiny numbers,
its intellectual impact on black South African mainstream politics
was considerable. On the exile period, the author examines the
activities of the party's recruits and more informal following
inside South Africa, as well as the scope and nature of its broader
influence. In 1990, a year in which global politics would change
fundamentally, South African communists would return to South
Africa to begin the work of reconstructing their party as a legal
organisation. Throughout its history, the party had been inspired
and supported by the reality of existing socialism, state systems
embracing half of Europe and Asia, in which the ruling group was at
least notionally committed to the building of communist societies.
With the fall of Eastern European regimes and the fragmentation of
the Soviet Union, one key set of material foundations for the
party's programmatic beliefs crumbled and its most important
international alliances in the global socialist community in
Eastern Europe and Russia would end. Finally, Lodge brings the
story up to date, assessing the degree to which communists both
inside and outside government have shaped and influenced policy in
successive ANC-led administrations, particularly during the popular
resistance to apartheid during the 1950s, which was underpinned by
the party's systematic organisation in the localities that supplied
the ANC with its strongest bases. Jacana: Africa, India
A foundational essay of class struggle published in English for the
first time Considered one of the most important intellectuals in
Latin American social thought, Ruy Mauro Marini demonstrated that
underdevelopment and development are the result of relations
between economies in the world market, and the class relations they
engender. In The Dialectics of Dependency, the Brazilian
sociologist and revolutionary showed that, as Latin America came to
specialize in the production of raw materials and foodstuffs while
importing manufactured goods, a process of unequal exchange took
shape that created a transfer of value to the imperialist centers.
This encouraged capitalists in the periphery to resort to the
superexploitation of workers - harsh working conditions where wages
fall below what is needed to reproduce their labor power. In this
way, the economies of Latin America, which played a fundamental
role in facilitating a new phase of the industrial revolution in
western Europe, passed from the colonial condition only to be
rendered economically "dependent," or subordinated to imperialist
economies. This unbalanced relationship, which nonetheless allows
capitalists of both imperialist and dependent regions to profit,
has been reproduced in successive international divisions of labor
of world economy, and continues to inform the day-to-day life of
Latin American workers and their struggles. Written during an
upsurge of class struggle in the region in the 1970s, and published
here in English for the first time, the revelations inscribed in
this foundational essay are proving more relevant than ever. The
Dialectics of Dependency is an internationalist contribution from
one Latin American Marxist to dispossessed and oppressed people
struggling the world over, and a gift to those who struggle from
within the recesses of present-day imperialist centers--nourishing
today's efforts to think through the definition of "revolution" on
a global scale.
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