This book is about accounting in an alternative libertarian socialist economic system. It explores what information and transactions we need to enable democratic and effective financial decisions by those affected by the decisions. Based on the economic model, participatory economics, the author proposes a set of accounting principles for an economy comprised of common ownership of productive resources, worker and consumer councils, and democratic planning, promoting the model's core values. The author tackles questions such as how accounting could be organised in an economy with no private equity owners or private lenders and creditors that is not based on greed and competition but instead on cooperation and solidarity. A large part of the book is focused on issues regarding investments; thus, he asks how and on what basis decisions are made about the allocation of an economy's production between consumption today and investments that enable more consumption in the future, and how investments are accounted for. He also considers how investments in capital assets and production facilities would be decided, financed, and valued if they are not owned by private capital owners and if allocation does not take place through markets but through a form of democratic planning. In answering these questions and more, the author demonstrates that alternative economic systems are indeed possible, and not merely lofty utopias that cannot be put into practice, and inspires further discussion about economic vision. By applying accounting to a new economic setting and offering both technical information and the author's bold vision, this book is a comprehensive and valuable supplementary text for courses touching on critical accounting theory. It will also appeal to readers interested in alternative kinds of economies.

In a time of great gloom and doom internationally and of major global problems, this book offers an invaluable contribution to our understanding of alternative societies that could be better for humans and the environment. Bringing together a wide range of approaches and new strands of economic and social thinking from across the US, Mexico, Latin America, Europe, Asia, Middle East and Africa, Luke Martell critically assesses contemporary alternatives and shows the ways forward with a convincing argument of pluralist socialism. Presenting a much-needed introduction to the debate on alternatives to capitalism, this ambitious book is not about how things are, but how they can be!

Sojourner Truth and Intersectionality investigates how the story of the 19th-century abolitionist and women's rights advocate Sojourner Truth has come to be an iconic feminist story, and explores the continued relevance of this story for contemporary feminist debates in general, and intersectionality scholarship in particular. Tracing various academic reception histories of the story of Sojourner Truth and the famous "Ain't I a Woman?" speech, the book gives insight into how this story has been taken up by feminist scholars in different times, places, and political contexts. Exploring in particular how and why the story of Sojourner Truth has become a key reference for the theoretical and political framework of intersectionality, the book examines what the consequences of this connection are both for how intersectionality is understood today, and how the story of Sojourner Truth is approached. The book examines key intersecting dimensions within the story of Truth and its reception, including gender, race, class and religion. This book will be of interest to students and scholars in gender, women's and feminist studies. In particular, the book will be of interest to those wishing to learn more about intersectionality and Sojourner Truth.

Prince Peter Kropotkin (1842-1921) was the most outstanding anarchist thinker of his time. His writings, which combine revolutionary fervor with intellectual rigor, were influential far beyond the bounds of the anarchist movement. No mere propagandist, Kropotkin aimed to provide anarchism with a scientific base through research of dominant tendencies in society. Fields, Factories and Workshops (1899) is a meticulously researched and brilliantly argued outline for redirecting agricultural and industrial production In a world of shrinking resources and increasing human needs. More prophetic than utopian, this volume remains remarkably pertinent to economic conditions at the end of the twentieth century.

The analysis of trends at work in the United States, Japan, and China are of amazing predictive power. Kropotkin's farsighted vision of future industrial planning is today being fulfilled on a wide scale in regions of Asia, Africa, and Latin America. Equally prophetic is his critique of mass production in which he anticipates contemporary calls for multifaceted job training and greater flexibility in the workplace. Fields, Factories and Workshops constitutes a valuable source of Inspiration toward the reinvigoration of the moral point of view in the discussion of economics and social justice. It will be of continuing interest to historians, economists, sociologists, and labor studies specialists.

This study explores the meanings ascribed to sexual differences within early 19th century French socialism, and the implications of such definitions for women. Through a detailed examination of the theories of Charles Fourier, the Saint-Simonians and Flora Tristan, it illustrates how gender distinctions provided a tool of social criticism and an image of the idealized future. Love and sympathy were assigned as the qualities of the feminine, thus justifying women's social participation alongside men. Furthermore, these qualities gave the feminine a symbolic significance in the project of moral and social renewal, evoking the desired world of harmony and co-operation. Rather than rejecting the binary distinction between masculine and feminine which was gaining new importance in their society, therefore, socialists challenged the value it ascribed to each sex and the roles it legitimated. However, the accentuation of sex differences also circumscribed the possibilities for female liberty and self-definition in their own society, and in the ideal worlds they envisaged.

This book presents a critical and empirically informed examination of Islamophobia and related issues of racism and nationalism in Germany today, with particular attention to the East/West distinction. The authors, representing several disciplines such as anthropology, sociology, and media and literary studies, situate the topic in the global and German context of the 2015-16 "migration crisis" and its aftermath, and of the ongoing transformations seen in the postsocialist regions of the European Union. Since the 2015-16 "refugee crisis," illiberal leaders and parties within Europe have instrumentalized Islamophobia in an attempt to dislodge the traditional political elites. Strikingly, such illiberal movements have been most successful in the formerly socialist areas of the EU. This is mirrored within Germany itself, where political formations with an Islamophobic agenda remain more popular in the East than in the West. This volume examines the reasons for this difference, including not only the ideological heritage of Soviet-dominated socialism but also the effects of western interventions in the formerly socialist areas in and beyond Germany since the end of the Cold War. Some Islamophobic and other hateful tendencies were in fact introduced from, and continue to prosper also, in the West. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the Journal of Contemporary European Studies.

How true is it that National Socialism led to an ideologically distorted pseudo-science? What was the relationship between the regime funding 'useful' scientific projects and the scientists offering their expertise? And what happened to the German scientific community after 1945, especially to those who betrayed and denounced Jewish colleagues? In recent years, the history of the sciences in the Third Reich has become a field of growing importance, and the in-depth research of a new generation of German scholars provides us with new, important insights into the Nazi system and the complicated relationship between an elite and the dictatorship. This book portrays the attitudes of scientists facing National Socialism and war and uncovers the continuities and discontinuities of German science from the beginning of the twentieth century to the postwar period. It looks at ideas, especially the Humboldtian concept of the university; examines major disciplines such as eugenics, pathology, biochemistry and aeronautics, as well as technologies such as biotechnology and area planning; and it traces the careers of individual scientists as actors or victims.
The striking results of these investigations fill a considerable gap in our knowledge of the Third Reich but also of the postwar role of German scientists within Germany and abroad.

This short collection of essays engages with queer lives and activism in 1970s Poland, illustrating discourses about queerness and a trajectory of the struggle for rights which clearly sets itself apart, and differs from a Western-based narrative of liberation. Contributors to this volume paint an uneven landscape of queer life in state-socialist Poland in the 1970s and early 1980s. They turn to oral history interviews and archival sources which include police files, personal letters, literature and criticism, writings by sexuality experts, and documentation of artistic practice. Unlike most of Europe, Poland did not penalize same-sex acts, although queer people were commonly treated with suspicion and vilified. But while many homosexual men and most lesbian women felt invisible and alone, some had the sense of belonging to a fledgling community. As they looked to the West, hoping for a sexual revolution that never quite arrived, they also preserved informal queer institutions dating back to the prewar years and used them to their advantage. Medical experts conversed with peers across the Iron Curtain but developed their own "socialist" methods and successfully prompted the state to recognize transgender rights, even as that state remained determined to watch and intimidate homosexual men. Literary critics, translators, and art historians began debating-and they debate still-how to read gestures defying gender and sexual norms: as an aspect of some global "gay" formation or as stemming from locally grounded queer traditions. Emphasizing the differences of Poland's LGBT history from that of the "global" West while underscoring the existing lines of communication between queer subjects on either side of the Iron Curtain, this book will be of key interest to scholars and students in gender and sexuality studies, social history, and politics.

Militarism is usually regarded as a phenomenon of the political right. It has traditionally been seen as alien - indeed, as antithetical - to the values and principles of the left. In Britain during the years before the Great War, however, the relationship between militarism and the politics of the left was a highly complex one. Militarism in pre-war British society was manifest in a variety of forms, from popular enthusiasm for war and martial values, to demands for greater provision to be made for the nation's defence, and even in calls for the militarization of society itself. The response of the political left to these challenges was ambivalent and contested. Whilst militaristic sentiment and practice did not always sit comfortably alongside progressive principles, an ideological space existed on the left in which militaristic ideas could take root. Indeed, militarism could take on ostensibly 'progressive' forms that proved particularly appealing to some elements on the left. Moving beyond the focus on pacifism and anti-militarism that has characterized much of the existing scholarship on this subject, this book explores the ways in which Liberals, socialists, and others on the left of British politics were able to accommodate aspects of militarism during the years before 1914. In doing so it offers an intriguing new perspective on the nature of militarism itself.

In the book the author discusses the reasons for the collapse of the socialist system in Poland, Czechoslovakia and Hungary. He analyses the roles of economic and political factors and of the USSR. He concludes that the lack of legitimacy of the communist regime, the disintegration of the Communist Party and its ideology were at least as important reasons as increasing lag behind the West in technology and the declining standard of living.

Young people are often at the forefront of democratic activism, whether self-organised or supported by youth workers and community development professionals. Focusing on youth activism for greater equality, liberty and mutual care - radical democracy - this timely collection explores the movement's impacts on community organisations and workers. Essays from the Global North and Global South cover the Black Lives Matter movement, environmental activism and the struggles of refugees. At a time of huge global challenges, youth participation is a dynamic lens through which all community development scholars and participants can rethink their approaches.

Waiting for the revolution is a volume of essays examining the diverse currents of British left-wing politics from 1956 to the present day. The book is designed to complement the previous volume, Against the grain: The far left in Britain from 1956, bringing together young and established academics and writers to discuss the realignments and fissures that maintain leftist politics into the twenty-first century. The two books endeavour to historicise the British left, detailing but also seeking to understand the diverse currents that comprise ‘the far left’. Their objective is less to intervene in ongoing issues relevant to the left and politics more generally, than to uncover and explore the traditions and issues that have preoccupied leftist groups, activists and struggles. To this end, the book will appeal to scholars and anyone interested in British politics. -- .

"State and Society in Post-Socialist Economies" provides detailed examinations of a range of state-society relations in post-socialism. It examines ways that the state regulates or sets the parameters for regulating capitalist practices and the ways in which the state interacts with social groups focused on changing state policy. The cases cover the full range of post-socialist countries, from the Central European new members of the EU, to those in Eastern Europe, as well as a range of countries of the former Soviet Union, including a "progressive" country (Lithuania) and a "reform resister" (Belarus).

This book analyzes the interaction between nationalism, feminism, and socialism in Indonesia since the beginning of the 20th century until the New Order State of President Suharto. The focus is on the communist women's organization Gerwani, which was by 1965 the largest communist women's organization in the non-communist world. Gerwani members combined feminist demands such as a reform of the marriage law with an insistence upon a political role for women.

A Sunday Times Book of the Year 2021 This journey to the edge of Europe mixes history, travelogue and oral testimony to spellbinding and revelatory effect. Few countries have suffered more from the convulsions and bloodshed of twentieth-century Europe than those in the eastern Baltic. Small nations such as the Baltic States of Latvia and Estonia found themselves caught between the giants of Germany and Russia, on a route across which armies surged or retreated. Subjected to foreign domination and conquest since the Northern crusades in the twelfth century, these lands faced frequent devastation as Germans, Russians and Swedish colonisers asserted control of the territory, religion, government, culture and inhabitants. The Glass Wall features an extraordinary cast of characters - contemporary and historical, foreign and indigenous - who have lived and fought in the Baltic and made the atmosphere of what was often thought to be western Europe's furthest redoubt. Too often it has seemed to be the destiny of this region to be the front line of other people's wars. By telling the stories of warriors and victims, of philosophers and Baltic Barons, of poets and artists, of rebels and emperors, and others who lived through years of turmoil and violence, Max Egremont reveals a fascinating part of Europe, on a frontier whose limits may still be in doubt. 'Fascinating . . . a rich, nuanced account of life on "the Baltic frontier"' - The Times 'Excellent' - Daily Mail 'Extraordinary' - Literary Review 'Exemplary' - Economist

Capitalism and Socialism in Cuba documents the history of the attempts by a small island nation to survive and gain respectability within an everchanging international political economy. Professor Ruffin presents a detailed account of the social, political, and economic forces affecting Cuba's prospects for development under both capitalism and socialism. Part one of the study focuses on Cuba's historical association with capitalism and the relationship that Cuba established with the United States. Part two of the study delineates the nature of Cuba-Soviet relations and deals exclusively with the question of socialist dependency. Professor Ruffin's study is a systematic analysis of the internal (race and class formations) and external (capitalism and socialism) factors that have thus far shaped Cuban history.

Thomas Linehan offers a fresh perspective on late Victorian and Edwardian socialism by examining the socialist revival of these years from the standpoint of modernism. In so doing, he explores the modernist mission as extending beyond the concerns of the literary and artistic avant-garde to incorporate political and social movements.

Why do some countries construct strong systems of social protection, while others leave workers exposed to market forces? In the past three decades, scholars have developed an extensive literature theorizing how hegemonic social democratic parties working in tandem with a closely-allied trade union movement constructed models of welfare capitalism. Indeed, among the most robust findings of the comparative political economy literature is the claim that the more political resources controlled by the left, the more likely a country is to have a generous, universal system of social protection. The Left Divided takes as its starting point the curious fact that, despite this conventional wisdom, very little of the world actually approximates the conditions identified by mainstream scholarship for creating universal, generous welfare states. In most countries outside of northern Europe, divisions within the left-within the labor movement, among left parties, as well as between left parties and a divided union movement-are a defining feature of politics. The Left Divided, in contrast, focuses on the far more common and deeply consequential situation where intra-left divisions shape the development of social protection. Arguing that the strength and position taken by the far left is an important and overlooked determinant of social protection outcomes, the book presents a framework for distinguishing between different types of left movements, and analyzes how the distribution of resources within the left shapes party strategies for expanding social protection in theoretically unanticipated ways. To demonstrate the counterintuitive effects of having the far-left control significant political resources, Watson combines in-depth case studies of Iberia with cross-national analysis of OECD countries and qualitative comparative analyses of other divided lefts.

This is the epic story of those tens of thousands of communists exiled from Spain after Franco's victory in the Spanish Civil War. With their iron discipline and fervent dedication to Stalin's cause, they did not hesitate, when the moment came in the Second World War, to throw themselves again into the struggle against fascism. In the Service of Stalin is the first full scholarly study of their experiences. David Wingeate Pike examines the contribution of the Spanish communists to the resistance in France and recounts their sufferings in Mauthausen, the concentration camp in Austria to which most who were captured were consigned. He also traces the experiences of those thousands who were admitted into the Soviet Union, where they fought in the Red Army or languished and perished in the prisons and slave camps of the Gulag. Professor Pike's unparalleled access to the archives, many previously unexplored, and the information derived from his interviews with survivors combine to make this both an important addition to our knowledge of the Second World War and an enthralling, often moving account of the experiences of some of its participants.

In 1908 Ellen Wilkinson, a fiery adolescent from a working-class family in Manchester, was "the only girl who talks in school debates." By midcentury, Wilkinson had helped found Britain's Communist Party, earned a seat in Parliament, and become a renowned advocate for the poor and dispossessed at home and abroad. She was one of the first female delegates to the United Nations, and she played a central role in Britain's postwar Labour government. In Laura Beers's account of Wilkinson's remarkable life, we have a richly detailed portrait of a time when Left-leaning British men and women from a range of backgrounds sought to reshape domestic, imperial, and international affairs. Wilkinson is best remembered as the leader of the Jarrow Crusade, the 300-mile march of two hundred unemployed shipwrights and steelworkers to petition the British government for assistance. But this was just one small part of Red Ellen's larger transnational fight for social justice. She was involved in a range of campaigns, from the quest for official recognition of the Spanish Republican government, to the fight for Indian independence, to the effort to smuggle Jewish refugees out of Germany. During Wilkinson's lifetime, many British radicals viewed themselves as members of an international socialist community, and some, like her, became involved in socialist, feminist, and pacifist movements that spanned the globe. By focusing on the extent to which Wilkinson's activism transcended Britain's borders, Red Ellen adjusts our perception of the British Left in the early twentieth century.

Ilaria Favretto presents a detailed study which traces the origins of the Third Way by comparing the European Left's contemporary neo-revisionism with past revisionist attempts. Focusing its analysis on the British Labour Party and the Italian Left, this book provides new interpretations and insights into the histories of both parties.

What an impressively successful venture! The authors are experts, who offer here authoritative, research-based, brand-new findings, excellent coverage of extant literature, new ideas and novel interpretations, analyses of controversies concerning their topics, and fascinating case studies. While specialists absolutely need to consult every chapter, its clarity and comprehensibility - plus its provision of definitions and distinctions - mean it is pitched such that even the totally uninitiated can absorb its information. Overall, a most superb collection, going well beyond what one would imagine a 'handbook' might hold.' - Dorothy J. Solinger, University of California, Irvine, USThe Handbook of the Politics of China is a comprehensive resource introducing readers to the very latest in research on Chinese politics. David Goodman provides an introduction to the key structures and issues, providing the foundations on which later learning can be built. Including a comprehensive bibliography, it is an ideal reference work for undergraduate and postgraduate students and academics. The Handbook contains four sections of new and original research, dealing with leadership and institutions, public policy, political economy and social change, and international relations. Each of the 26 chapters has been written by a leading internationally-established authority in the field and each reviews the literature on the topic, and presents the latest findings of research. Presenting the state of the art of the field, this reader-oriented Handbook is an essential primer for the study of China's politics. Contributors include: S. Breslin, K. Brown, A. Camarena, C. Cartier, M. Chen, J. A.Donaldson, J. Dosch, J. Duckett, B. Gill, D.S.G. Goodman, Y. Guo, W. Guohui, J.Y.J. Hsu, D. Hu, Y. Ji, K. Kojima, F. Li, L.C. Li, W.J. Morgan, B. Naughton, J.C. Oi, L.H. Ong, J. Reilly, S. Suzuki, F.C. Teiwes, G. Wang, Z. Wang, X.Yan, D.L.Yang, X. Zang, Y. Zheng

This selection of Gramsci's writings includes his most important political, cultural and historical work. It focuses on key concepts - such as hegemony, passive revolution, civil society, common sense - and important texts on Americanism and Fordism, popular culture, intellectuals and the "Modern Prince."