Though there has been much research on the incomplete emancipation project of state socialism in East and Central Europe, very little has been published on how the state and its institutions conceived of gender as a concept. This book seeks to understand if and how this conceptualization developed in the second half of the twentieth century, and what impact it had on everyday life and on culture. This study moves beyond the dichotomous gender perspectives and towards a nuanced understanding of the diverse discursive negotiations, agendas, actors and agency involved in state-socialist gender practices. Including a detailed case study on Czechoslovakia, contributors explore these issues in a series of independent, but collaboratively developed studies, placing their research in the context of other East Central European countries. The studies collected in the volume bring to light fresh material and consider it from the combined perspective of current gender theory and internal ideological dynamics of state socialism, breaking new ground in gender theory, cultural theory and studies of state socialism. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of gender studies, socialism, Cold-War politics and Eastern European politics and culture.

This book traces the development of modern Syria focusing on the contribution of the Ba'th party and Ba'thist ideology. It examines the roots of the Ba'th in the intellectual ferment of the 1940s and charts its growing influence on Syrian politics. Special attention is devoted to the crucial Sixth Congress of the Ba'th Party in 1963 and the key ideological document, the Muntalaqat, produced by Michel Aflaq. After 1963 the military became increasingly dominant until Hafiz al-Asad came to power in 1970. Since then the Party has been less dominant internally but Syria itself has established a pivotal position in regional affairs. The book concludes by reviewing the prospects for Syria after Asad and the potential for a Ba'thist revival.

Triggered into action by the shock effect of the Nazi rise to power in Germany, socialists throughout Western Europe entered an unusually active period of reorientation and debate over political strategy which helped determine the contours of European politics up to the outbreak of the Second World War and beyond.

An enlightening and complex reconstruction of the dialogue between leading Socialist theoreticians and Jewish intellectuals from the 1880s until WWII. . . . Impressive not only for its meticulous and extensive research in archives throughout the U.S. and Europe but also for its lucid style. --ChoiceJack Jacobs, well versed in the history both of the general socialist movement and of Jewish socialism and Bundism in particular, brings out all the nuances and complexities of the relationship by focusing in detail on the attitudes towards Jews of three personalities: Karl Kautsky, Eduard Bernstein, and Rosa Luxemburg. --Jewish SocialistMastering a vast array of primary and secondary sources in more than five languages, Dr. Jacobs' meticulous research ... is an impressive piece of scholarship which enhances our understanding of an often troubled, yet important symbiotic relationship. --Andrei S. Markovits, Harvard University Author of The Politics of West German Trade Unions

First published in 1980, Socialism, Social Welfare and the Soviet Union examines the views of Marx, Engels and Lenin on what constitutes a socialist form of provision of social security, income, education, health and housing. The authors discuss the implementation of these ideas in the Soviet Union since the 1917 Revolution in the context of economic and political development, and describe the social services in the Soviet Union, assessing the extent to which the original ideas have been matched by reality. They also briefly survey the views of several East European academic writers on social policy, outlining some distinctive features of social policy in the Eastern bloc. The authors' general conclusion is that the Soviet Union has made great progress in social policy provision; from their research and from their visits in the course of writing this book, they show that the social services of the Soviet Union are as good as and, in some ways, more comprehensive than those of Western Europe. Equally important is their conclusion that a society in which the means of production and distribution are nationalised, and which makes a full provision of social services is not necessarily a socialist society. This book will appeal to students of sociology, political science and area studies.

no adequate handbook on ecosocialism of this kind exists reflects the diversity of ideas that can be combined under ecosocialism a resource that is as comprehensive as possible with respect not only to theorisation or ideological framework, but also to existing projects, practices, and movements

This book traces the economic ideology of the UK Labour Party from its origins to the current day. Through its analysis, the book emphasises key crises, including the 1926 General Strike, the 1931 Great Depression, the 1979 Winter of Discontent and the 2007/2008 economic crisis. In analysing this history, the ideology of the Labour Party is examined through four core themes: * the party's definition of socialism; * the role of the state in economic decision making; * the party's understanding of inequalities; and * its relationship with the trade union movement. The result is a systematic exploration of the drivers and key ideas behind the Labour Party's economic ideology. In demonstrating how crises have affected the party's economic policy, the book presents a historical analysis of the party's evolution since its formation and offers insights into how future changes may occur.

Making socialists sheds light on several major themes in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century political and educational history. Mary Bridges Adams engaged in a wide range of political activities, and sought to transform government policy through socialist initiatives, with the ultimate aim of creating a social nation. By 1900, she was well known as a campaigner for improvements in working-class education. The author has assembled a thorough range of sources, including new materials that will bring fresh insights to Labour Party and socialist historiography. Through an appreciation of Mary's vision, this book provides an examination of areas of experience lost in grander narratives, and offers a fresh set of perspectives on the place of education in the study of British socialism. Making socialists will interest a wide academic readership, across the fields of political, social and educational history, particularly students and scholars of women's history and the history of socialism. -- .

After the breakdown of socialist and communist systems in the East, it had become fashionable to declare the so-called "end of utopia" ("end of history," "end of narratives"). The authors of this volume do not share this view but think that it is time to rehabilitate utopian thought. The political concept of Utopia that has given its name to these transcendental projections onto the world has been too narrow to describe and analyze the moving forces of the mind perceiving human existence beyond reality. By broadening the perspectives of utopian studies, these essays enable the reader to reconstruct scholarly paradigms and strategies of utopian, complex and holistic thinking in modern cosmology, philosophy, sociology, in literary, historical and political sciences, and to compare traditions and ways of Western utopian thought to the practice in the East.

After 1945, state patriotism of the communist regimes in Eastern Europe was characterized by the widespread use of national symbols. In communist Hungary the party (MKP) widely celebrated national holidays, national heroes, erected national statues, and employed national street names. This 'socialist patriotism' had its origin in the 'national line' of the Comintern, established on Soviet instructions following the German invasion of the Soviet Union. At that time Stalin called the parties of the Comintern to oppose the Germans by issuing the call for national liberation. This policy continued after 1945 when, as an aid in the struggle for power, the MKP presented itself as both the 'heir to the traditions of the nations' and the 'only true representative of the interest of the Hungarian people'. Paradoxically however, the Soviet origins of the national line were also one of the main obstacles to its success as the MKP could not put forward national demands if these conflicted with Soviet interests. Martin Mevius' pioneering study reveals that what had started as a tactical measure in 1941 had become the self-image of party and state in 1953 and that the ultimate loyalty to the Soviet Union worked to the detriment of the national party - the MKP never rid itself of the label 'agents of Moscow'.

A historical account of ideology in the Global South as the postwar laboratory of socialism, its legacy following the Cold War, and the continuing influence of socialist ideas worldwide. In the first decades after World War II, many newly independent Asian and African countries and established Latin American states pursued a socialist development model. Jeremy Friedman traces the socialist experiment over forty years through the experience of five countries: Indonesia, Chile, Tanzania, Angola, and Iran. These states sought paths to socialism without formal adherence to the Soviet bloc or the programs that Soviets, East Germans, Cubans, Chinese, and other outsiders tried to promote. Instead, they attempted to forge new models of socialist development through their own trial and error, together with the help of existing socialist countries, demonstrating the flexibility and adaptability of socialism. All five countries would become Cold War battlegrounds and regional models, as new policies in one shaped evolving conceptions of development in another. Lessons from the collapse of democracy in Indonesia were later applied in Chile, just as the challenge of political Islam in Indonesia informed the policies of the left in Iran. Efforts to build agrarian economies in West Africa influenced Tanzania's approach to socialism, which in turn influenced the trajectory of the Angolan model. Ripe for Revolution shows socialism as more adaptable and pragmatic than often supposed. When we view it through the prism of a Stalinist orthodoxy, we miss its real effects and legacies, both good and bad. To understand how socialism succeeds and fails, and to grasp its evolution and potential horizons, we must do more than read manifestos. We must attend to history.

The late Alec Nove explores the relationship between Marxist ideas and the Soviet reality and presents a methodology for understanding Soviet type societies.

Communitarian anarchism is a generic form of socialism that denies the need for a state or any other authority over the individual from above, and which requires absolute belief that the individual cannot exist outside of a community of others. This book suggests that the communitarian anarchists of the nineteenth century developed and articulated a distinct tradition of economic thought. The period of this study begins with the first major writing of the French communitarian anarchist, Pierre-Joseph Proudhon, in 1840 and ends with the temporary burial of anarchist theorizing at the beginning of the First World War in 1914. However, he tradition of communitarian anarchist economic thought did not end in 1914. The economic thought explored in this book provides a fresh perception of the fragmentation evident in many societies today, especially where there is a substantial "informal economy."

In this classic exposition of Marxist thought, Raya Dunayevskaya, with clarity and great insight, traces the development and explains the essential features of Marx's analysis of history. Using as her point of departure the Industrial and French Revolutions, the European upheavals of 1848, the American Civil War, and the Paris Commune of 1871, Dunayevskaya shows how Marx, inspired by these events, adapted Hegel's philosophy to analyze the course of history as a dialectical process that moves "from practice to theory." The essence of Marx's philosophy, as Dunayevskaya points out, is the human struggle for freedom, which entails the gradual emergence of a proletarian revolutionary consciousness and the discovery through conflict of the means for realizing complete human freedom.
But freedom for Marx meant freedom not only from capitalist economic exploitation but also from all political restraints. Continuing her historical analysis, Dunayevskaya reveals how completely Marx's original conception of freedom was perverted through its adaptations by Stalin in Russia and Mao in China, and the subsequent erection of totalitarian states. The exploitation of the masses persisted under these regimes in the form of a new "state capitalism."
Yet despite the profound derailment of Marxist political philosophy in the twentieth century, Dunayevskaya points to developments such as the Hungarian revolt of 1956, and the Civil Rights struggles in the United States as signs that the indomitable quest for freedom on the part of the downtrodden cannot be forever repressed. The Hegelian dialectic of events propelled by the spirit of the masses thus moves on inexorably with the hope for the future achievement of political, economic, and social freedom and equality for all.

Socialism first gained a major foothold in Japan after the revolution and the subsequent Meiji restoration of 1868. Against the background of the rapid development of capitalism in Japan after the revolution, and the accompanying emergence of the working class, this study shows how early Japanese socialists drew on both Western influences and elements from traditional Japanese culture. In the early 1980s most of the world interested in Japan was fascinated by its educational system, industrial policy or low crime rates - things which explained the economic miracle and made it 'Number One'. John Crump, however, was searching for the origins of socialist thought there. Historians of the socialist movement before and since the 1980s have described the thought of those who figure in the dramas Crump describes. What sets his study apart is the degree to which the theoretical debates discussed matter to him. Other authors often lack sympathy with, or seem frustrated by, the importance given to apparently trivial differences that consumed endless debate. However, at the time he wrote this book, the author was still an activist, even though his activity manifested itself mainly in his scholarship. His aim was to do more than give an account of the formation of socialist thought in Japan. He wanted his readers to think more deeply about the development of capitalism in Japan. This book made an original contribution to the study of Japan in the 1980s. Its unique perspective shines a bright light on debates still relevant today.

What future is there for the left, faced with the challenges of the twenty-first century? Based on a lifetime's experience in politics, Marta Harnecker addresses the crisis facing the left today. At its heart, this book is a critique of social democratic realpolitik. Harnecker reminds us that, contrary to today's orthodoxy, politics is not the art of the possible but the art of making the impossible possible by building a social and political force capable of changing reality. She believes that the social experiments being carried out in Latin America today hold out hope that an alternative to capitalism is possible; they are essentially socialist, democratic projects in which the people are the driving force. To create a real alternative to capitalism, though, the left must change. Rebuilding the Left offers real hope to those who still believe that we can create a different world.

First published in English in 1924 this ambitious work, by the famous Marxist theoretician Karl Kautsky, aims to provide nothing less than an "exposition of the methods to introduce socialism" amongst the capitalist economies of Europe in the post-World War One era. Looking back on the experiences of the German socialist movement and looking forwards to the likelihood of a Labour government in Great Britain, he discusses the problems facing a labour revolution in Europe, with particular reference to the role of the middle classes, the transitional period between capitalism and socialism, and the economic impact of a socialist revolution.

First published in English in 1929, this is a reissue of Otto Ruhle's comprehensive biography of Karl Marx. Written by a leading Marxist and key figure within the German Labour movement, this is an exceptionally detailed and well-researched study which sets Marx's life and work firmly within its social and historical context before examining in depth the major events of his life and the writings for which he has become such an influential figure in modern political philosophy. The final chapter offers an appraisal of both the man and his work, as Ruhle summarises why he believes Marx was a genius.

The level of popular discontent-in the United States as elsewhere-has shown a dramatic increase in recent years, but has yet to crystallize into a cohesive anti-capitalist political force. Socialist Practice aims to contribute to a popular movement for socialism. It does so by 1) revisiting, under present conditions, longstanding questions of Marxist theory and revolutionary history, and 2) illustrating the range of issues, activities, and forms of expression that can both inform and be informed by a Marxist approach. Essays spanning a range of national experiences address the crying need to generate a society-wide awakening, grounded in purposeful discussion among all those (the vast majority) whose interests are ill-served by continuation of the status quo.

On the basis of a reconstruction of legal theory in the tradition of Marx-a current that has been more or less silenced since the end of the 1970s-Subjectivation and Cohesion develops a critical counter-pole to the theories of law that predominate in social theory today. To this end, the works of Franz Neumann, Otto Kirchheimer, Evgeny Pashukanis, Oskar Negt, Isaac D. Balbus, the so-called 'State-derivation School', Antonio Gramsci, Nicos Poulantzas and Michel Foucault are first analysed for their strengths and weaknesses, and then combined to form something new and much needed: a materialist legal theory that is fit for the present and which avoids the shortcomings of existing theories - above all their disregard for gender relations and the reductive consequences of functionalist, economic or politicist approaches to law.

Although the most pernicious consequences of the crisis have apparently abated, the long-term political repercussions remain unclear. Whereas most attention has focused on the right-wing populist parties, the rejuvenation of the left is an unwritten story of post-crisis politics. This volume addresses this story, with three principal aims: *to examine the radical left intellectual response to the crisis, i.e. how actors conceptualise the causes of crisis and its consequences; *to examine the radical left electoral response to the crisis, i.e. how the crisis has aided or weakened the electoral success of radical left parties and movements; *to examine organisational responses, i.e. whether the crisis has resulted in new party structures, methods of organising, and internal party tendencies. The result is a comprehensive compendium, drawing on cutting-edge research from leading European experts to present the first comparative analysis of how the far left of the political spectrum has responded to the crisis. It furthers our understanding both of the dynamics of European party systems and the wider consequences of the Great Recession.

Political Economy and Soviet Socialism discusses the ideas of some of the leaders of the Russian revolution (Lenin, Trotsky and Bukharin), the political economy of socialism and the problems of the contemporary USSR.

This highly topical book presents a new theory on the characteristics of entrepreneurial knowledge. It explores the recent shift among professional economists and scholars in their evaluation of the debate of socialism. Socialism, Economic Calculation and Entrepreneurship presents an application of Israel M. Kirzner's theory of entrepreneurship to the theory of the impossibility of socialism. It discusses the influence of the fall of socialism, with particular reference to the evolution of economic thought.

For socialists at the turn of the last century, reading was a radical act. This interdisciplinary study looks at how American socialists used literacy in the struggle against capitalism.

This volume is concerned with the re-evaluation and criticism of Capital itself. It is in three parts, each covering a specific area of Marxist theory. The first part contains an investigation into Marx's theory of value and considers the types of questions and modes of analysis to which this theory leads. In the second part the nature and implications of necessary economic 'laws of tendency' in the capitalist mode of production are covered. Finally there is an analysis of the role of class structure and economic agents in Marxist theory.