Robert Owen and the Owenites were associated with the rise of an early industrial society in Britain and with the development of an agricultural, frontier society in the United States during the first half of the nineteenth century. This book, originally published in 1969, was the first to use both British and American source material, and tells the story of Robert Owen and the movement associated with his name, from the standpoint of comparative social and intellectual history.

The book directs new light on Owenism, and at the same time illuminates general problems of the history of social movements and social change in modern societies.

The Triumph of Politics offers a comparative and historical interpretation of Venezuela's Chavez, Bolivia's Morales and Ecuador's Correa - South America's most prominent 21st century socialists'. It argues that the claims of these 21st century socialists should be taken seriously even though not necessarily at face value. The authors show how the consensual market oriented policymaking that characterized almost all of South America in the 1990s has now given way to something quite different. Polarization and intense political conflict have returned to much of the region. Although the Left has not always been the beneficiary of this changed pattern, the 21st century' governments of Chavez, Morales and Correa have been agenda setters. The questions raised by their emergence, style of governance and policy orientations resonate across Latin America and beyond. It is likely that the kind of politics with which they have been associated will be influential in the region for quite some time to come.

This title was first published in 1982.

Millions of people were involved in or influenced by the protest and social change movements of the 1960s. Today, they are moms, dads, even grandparents. They are teachers, architects, artists, entrepreneurs. Having intimations of mortality, they are searching for their identities what formed them, and why they have become who they are.Based on recent interviews, this unique sixties book brings together the voices of the Left leaders who spawned the sixties movements. Many remain activists today, and experience and the passage of time allow them to transcend nostalgia to form more realistic perspectives on past, present, and future. They discuss the civil rights and antiwar movements, the political outcome of the sixties, patriotism, terror, and the role of young people in the future. Important gains were made during the sixties, but there were many setbacks, too, that influence today s voters, leaders, candidates, and our day-to-day realities. The sixties of this book are not simply a sweet memory of marijuana and album rock; there were many casualties, including innocence and youthful idealism. Agger concludes with reflections on the possibilities of a next Left, which was already faintly visible in young people s massive support of Obama s presidential candidacy. "

Millions of people were involved in or influenced by the protest and social change movements of the 1960s. Today, they are moms, dads, even grandparents. They are teachers, architects, artists, entrepreneurs. Having intimations of mortality, they are searching for their identities what formed them, and why they have become who they are.Based on recent interviews, this unique sixties book brings together the voices of the Left leaders who spawned the sixties movements. Many remain activists today, and experience and the passage of time allow them to transcend nostalgia to form more realistic perspectives on past, present, and future. They discuss the civil rights and antiwar movements, the political outcome of the sixties, patriotism, terror, and the role of young people in the future. Important gains were made during the sixties, but there were many setbacks, too, that influence today s voters, leaders, candidates, and our day-to-day realities. The sixties of this book are not simply a sweet memory of marijuana and album rock; there were many casualties, including innocence and youthful idealism. Agger concludes with reflections on the possibilities of a next Left, which was already faintly visible in young people s massive support of Obama s presidential candidacy. "

This book evaluates the transformational process of left populism across grassroots, national and European levels and asks what we can do to harness the power of broad-based, popular left politics. While the right is using populist rhetoric to great effect, the left's attempts have been much less successful. Syriza in Greece and Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party in Britain have both failed to introduce socialism in their countries, while Podemos has had better fortune in Spain and is now in government with the Spanish Socialist Workers' Party. Bringing a wealth of experience in political organising, Marina Prentoulis argues that left populism is a political logic that brings together isolated demands against a common enemy. She looks at how egalitarian pluralism could transform economic and political institutions in a radical, democratic direction. But each party does this differently, and the key to understanding where to go from here lies in a serious analysis of the roots of each movement's base, the forms of party organisation, and the particular national contexts. This book is a clear and holistic approach to left populism that will inform anyone wanting to understand and move forward positively in a bleak time for the left in Europe.

'The class war is over. But the struggle for true equality has only just begun, ' Tony Blair has declared. The world indeed enters the 21st century heaving with poverty and inequality. Just three super-rich men have a net worth equal to the income of the 36 poorest countries in the world. The gap between rich and poor is also growing in the advanced economies as well. 14 million people, a quarter of the population of the United Kingdom are currently classified as poor, compared to only four million in 1979.

In this important new book, Alex Callinicos explores the meaning of equality in the contemporary world. He traces its origins as a political ideal in the great democratic revolutions of the 17th and the 18th century, and in the efforts of the socialist movement to force capitalism to live up to its promise of liberty, equality and fraternity. Callinicos also shows how the theories of egalitarian justice developed over the past generation by philosophers such as John Rawls, Ronald Dworkin, Amartya Sen and G. A. Cohen have given a much more precise meaning to the ideal of equality. Individuals are entitled to be protected from the consequences of circumstances beyond their control - for example, the socio-economic position and the natural talents they inherit - in order to have equal freedom to pursue their own well-being.

The implications of egalitarian justice are radical. Callinicos critically reviews the versions of this ideal - equality of opportunity and social inclusion - by supporters of the Third Way such as Gordon Brown and Anthony Giddens. He argues that the strategy pursued by New Labour to increase equality is riddled with contradictions and contains anunderlying authoritarian dimension. Fundamentally, equality and the market are irreconcilable. Any attempt seriously to increase social equality will come into conflict with the logic of the capitalist economic system. Only a socialist society, organized along democratic and decentralized lines, can realize the ideal of equality.

This book will be of great interest to students of politics, philosophy and sociology, and all those interested in this key and controversial topic.

The most comprehensive and contemporary source available on socialist economic systems, this book employs economic data from eight East European countries and Russia to provide readers with a thorough, accurate picture of formerly Communist economies. J. Wilczynski carefully analyzes the major focal points of socialistic economics: planning and market, profit, production and growth, accumulation, consumption, labor, land, pricing, money and banking, fiscal policy and control, domestic and foreign trade, and international economics.

The treatment of the subject is objective and constructive; when comparisons are made with capitalist economies both the strengths and weaknesses of socialism are brought out. This is not, however, a book on comparative economic systems but rather a complete discourse on the actual principles of socialist economics. Controversial issues such as the role of planning and the market, profit, rates of growth, the consumer's place, labor incentives, pricing, and controls are particularly well done.

This book can be used as a guide to the economics of formerly communist regimes and as text for courses in developmental economics and comparative economic systems. It is well written by a scholar intimate with the plans, policies, and failures of communist economies from the close of The Second World War to the demise of Communist rule in Eastern Europe.

"J. Wilczynski" (1922-1984) was senior lecturer in Economics at the Royal Military College of Australia, Duntroon, Canberra. His published works include articles in American, Australian, British, Indian, Italian, and Norwegian journals. Two of his books are "From Lenin to Walesa and Beyond: Trade Unions and Strikes under Socialist Economic Planning in Evolution and "Profit, Risk and Incentives under Socialist Economic Planning.""

This book explores how intellectuals of the later Soviet decades - the 1970s and 1980s - sought to bring about the socialist utopian world. It argues that the last two decades of the Soviet Union were not characterised by state withdrawal and malaise, as some scholars have argued; attempts to envisage and enact Utopia remained as imaginative and creative as ever. The book considers what these utopian ideas looked like through housing schemes, layouts of districts and cities, design of objects and interiors, and proposals for the organisation of family and social life. Relating developments in the Soviet Union to evolving social theory and postmodernism more broadly, the book draws transnational parallels between the intellectual history of east and west in the late twentieth century.

With internationalist aspirations and wide-ranging historical perspectives, East German films about artists and their work became hotly contested spaces in which filmmakers could look beyond the GDR and debate the impact of contemporary cultural policy on the reception of their pre-war cultural heritage. Spanning newsreels, documentaries, and feature films, Screening Art is the first full-length investigation into a genre that has been largely overlooked in studies of DEFA, the state-owned Eastern German film studio. As it shows, "artist-films" played an essential role in the development of new paradigms of socialist art in postwar Europe.

The book traces the history of communist Bulgaria from 1944 to 1989. A detailed narrative-cum-study of the history of a political system, it provides a chronological overview of the building of the socialist state from the ground up, its entrenchment into the peaceful routine of everyday life, its inner crises, and its gradual decline and self-destruction. The book is the definitive and the most complete guide to Bulgaria under communism and how the communist system operates on a day-to-day level.

This compilation includes articles representing the school of analytical Marxism, a school of thought inaugurated by the publication of G.A. Cohen's Karl Marx's Theory of History in 1978. Since then, scholars in political philosophy, economics, sociology, political science, history and anthropology have contributed to it. This two-volume set of 31 articles (dating from 1977-1993) has been divided into seven parts: class, exploitation, power and domination, historical materialism, the state, market socialism, freedom and methodology. Contributors include P. Bardhan, A. Carling, G.A. Cohen, J. Cohen, J. Elster and J. Reiman.

Antonio Gramsci is one of the great European Marxists, hailed by Eric Hobsbawm as 'an extraordinary philosopher ... probably the most original communist thinker of twentieth-century Europe'. Gramsci developed Marx's ideas with an emphasis on culture rather than economics. This classic work reveals his thinking through letters to friends and family written whilst he was in prison. His primary contribution has been in his insistence on an understanding of popular culture in the battle to create a revolutionary consciousness. It is this humanitarian aspect of his thinking that illuminates the vivid personal testimony of his prison letters, written between 1926 and 1937.

More than thirty years after the collapse of the USSR, the critique of state socialism is still used to deny alternatives to capitalism, irrespective of global capitalist ecological and social devastation. There is seemingly nothing worthwhile salvaging from decades of state socialist experiences. As the climate crisis deepens, Engel-Di Mauro argues that we need to re-evaluate the environmental practices and policies of state socialism, especially as they had more environmentally beneficial than destructive effects. Rather than dismissing state socialism's heritage out of hand, we should reclaim it for contemporary eco-socialist ends. By means of a comparative and multiple-scaled approach, Engel-Di Mauro points to highly diverse and environmentally constructive state socialist experiences. Taking the reader from the USSR to China and Cuba, this is a fiery and contentious look at what worked, what didn't, and how we can move towards an eco-socialist future.

Addressing the question of how neoliberal ideology has served to conflate the radical left with extremism, this book examines how the Arab left has asserted itself in the context of authoritarianism and Islamic extremism during and after the Arab uprisings. It examines how the Arab cultural left has offered a critique of the signifying practices of political hegemonies in the region and argues that though creative expression as constituted in the very language of the Arab uprisings, it has put forward its own alternatives Using a wide array of texts and sources, both Arab and non-Arab, the opening chapters of the book identify how ethical and radical values pertaining to sociality are co-opted by political leaders in the Middle East and turned into jargon. Later chapters outline resistance to this co-option through a poetics of inter-subjectivity that takes structures of feeling into account, ranging from disappointment, despair and distrust, to dignity, solidarity and reconfigured senses of the sacred. In showing how psychological and affective states relate to signifying practices, the book offers an original conceptual framework for differentiating 'radicalization' from the creative radicalism of the Arab avant-garde.

Building a new platform for change, prominent social critic Stanley Aronowitz diagnoses America 's crisis of democracy and the dangers of the new authoritarianism. Aronowitz draws on his vast knowledge of history and political theory and from currents of political change around the globe, from the traditions of the European left to the newest political trends in Latin America that have challenged the death of socialism.Demonstrating why Democrats lose when they cling to centrism and compromise their core values, this book shows us what a new left party in America would look like in an era of globalization, terrorism, and a crisis of public confidence in government.Listen to Stanley Aronowitz's December 12th, 2007 interview with Against the Grain here: http: //www.againstthegrain.org/

Building a new platform for change, prominent social critic Stanley Aronowitz diagnoses America 's crisis of democracy and the dangers of the new authoritarianism. Aronowitz draws on his vast knowledge of history and political theory and from currents of political change around the globe, from the traditions of the European left to the newest political trends in Latin America that have challenged the death of socialism.Demonstrating why Democrats lose when they cling to centrism and compromise their core values, this book shows us what a new left party in America would look like in an era of globalization, terrorism, and a crisis of public confidence in government.Listen to Stanley Aronowitz's December 12th, 2007 interview with Against the Grain here: http: //www.againstthegrain.org/

Wilhelm Liebknecht is little known today outside his native Germany. Yet, in the late 19th century, he was renowned throughout the industrialized world as a champion of working people and a prime mover in the emerging German Social Democratic Party. His speeches and pamphlets were translated into numerous languages and helped inspire generations of militant workers and socialist activists. This volume presents Liebknecht in his own words. He produced such a massive amount of material that it is doubtful a complete collection will ever be assembled; this is, however, a representative sampling of his most renowned and influential work. As much as possible, selections are presented unedited. Each piece is prefaced by a brief introduction to put the material in context. Most appear in English for the first time. In addition to the selection of his works, the volume contains a section of essays and observations by colleagues and others who knew his work firsthand. The book also contains a chronology, glossary, and other aids to facilitate an understanding of the man and the period. It is an important research tool for political and labor historians and others concerned with the development of mass movements in 19th- and 20th-century Europe.

Does socialism have a future in the world of the twenty-first century? If not, what is the future for progressive politics?

This is a major contribution to contemporary social and political thought written by one of the world's leading critical historians. Gabriel Kolko ask the difficult questions about where the left can go in a post-Cold War world where neoliberal policies appear to have triumphed in both the West and the former Soviet bloc. In trying to answer this, he interrogates both the origins and development of socialist ideas and the contemporary dynamics of the globalized economy dominated by American military, cultural and political might.

While avoiding the temptations of either pessimism or utopianism, Kolko offers an original and practical solution about the way forward for a liberal politics.

Does socialism have a future in the world of the twenty-first century? If not, what is the future for progressive politics?

This is a major contribution to contemporary social and political thought written by one of the world's leading critical historians. Gabriel Kolko ask the difficult questions about where the left can go in a post-Cold War world where neoliberal policies appear to have triumphed in both the West and the former Soviet bloc. In trying to answer this, he interrogates both the origins and development of socialist ideas and the contemporary dynamics of the globalized economy dominated by American military, cultural and political might.

While avoiding the temptations of either pessimism or utopianism, Kolko offers an original and practical solution about the way forward for a liberal politics.

Is socialism morally superior to other systems of political economy, even if it faces practical difficulties? In The End of Socialism, James R. Otteson explores socialism as a system of political economy - that is, from the perspectives of both moral philosophy and economic theory. He examines the exact nature of the practical difficulties socialism faces, which turn out to be greater than one might initially suppose, and then asks whether the moral ideals it champions - equality, fairness, and community - are important enough to warrant attempts to overcome these difficulties nonetheless, especially in light of the alleged moral failings of capitalism. The result is an examination of the 'end of socialism', both in the sense of the moral goals it proposes and in the results of its unfolding logic.

This collection of essays from one of the major Austrian economists working in the world today brings together in one place some of his key writings on a variety of economic issues.

This book is an excellent introduction to the ideas and arguments that have guided Labor's economic thinking from 1884 until the present day, and the influence these ideas have exerted over the formulation of economic policy. It provides clear and concise summaries of leading thinkers and schools, and clearly brings out the diverse nature of the economic thought that has characterized the Labour party.
This significantly revised edition brings the book up to the present day and provides a much needed analysis of the Blair government. It explores how the early thinking of the 1990s has been applied in government and, in addition to providing a more developed historical contextualization of ideas and thinkers, the new edition includes:
* A new introduction discussing the emergence of the Labor Party and the disparate elements of which it is comprised
* A chapter discussing the intellectual antecedents of, and influences on, New Labor. It also explores the impact of globalization and the shifting Labor position on the EU
* A chapter examining the ideological trajectory of New Labor and where its political economy now lies on the political spectrum. It also discusses Britain's economic performance since 1997
* A new conclusion discussing the themes that have guided and informed economic thinking within the labor party and also the methodologies and emphases that have characterized democratic socialist political economies in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
The book will be of great interest to students and scholars studying British politics, British history, economic and political thought.

This volume of essays constitutes the first history of Labour and left-wing politics in the decade when Margaret Thatcher reshaped modern Britain. Leading scholars explore aspects of left-wing culture, activities and ideas at a time when social democracy was in crisis. There are articles about political leadership, economic alternatives, gay rights, the miners' strike, the Militant Tendency and the politics of race. The book also situates the crisis of the left in international terms as the socialist world began to collapse. Tony Blair's New Labour disavowed the 1980s left, associating it with failure, but this volume argues for a more complex approach. Many of the causes it championed are now mainstream, suggesting that the time has come to reassess 1980s progressive politics, despite its undeniable electoral failures. With this in mind, the contributors offer ground-breaking research and penetrating arguments about the strange death of Labour Britain. -- .

This book is an excellent introduction to the ideas and arguments that have guided Labor's economic thinking from 1884 until the present day, and the influence these ideas have exerted over the formulation of economic policy. It provides clear and concise summaries of leading thinkers and schools, and clearly brings out the diverse nature of the economic thought that has characterized the Labour party.
This significantly revised edition brings the book up to the present day and provides a much needed analysis of the Blair government. It explores how the early thinking of the 1990s has been applied in government and, in addition to providing a more developed historical contextualization of ideas and thinkers, the new edition includes:
* A new introduction discussing the emergence of the Labor Party and the disparate elements of which it is comprised
* A chapter discussing the intellectual antecedents of, and influences on, New Labor. It also explores the impact of globalization and the shifting Labor position on the EU
* A chapter examining the ideological trajectory of New Labor and where its political economy now lies on the political spectrum. It also discusses Britain's economic performance since 1997
* A new conclusion discussing the themes that have guided and informed economic thinking within the labor party and also the methodologies and emphases that have characterized democratic socialist political economies in the late 19th and 20th centuries.
The book will be of great interest to students and scholars studying British politics, British history, economic and political thought.