Presenting a sustained and concrete challenge to the current political consensus, this reference identifies the radical alternative of adopting socialism as the key issue facing civilization and the crucial condition of making substantial progress. Demonstrating that capitalist control of the state was so comprehensive that partial reforms were impossible, this reference attempts to explain how society has managed to evade socialism, exploring how its claims have failed to persuade many intellectuals and the potential benefactors of an alternative order. Reviewing the influence of economic elites and the dominant class, this study also probes the state's claims to legitimacy, defines the purpose and role of governments, and analyzes the concepts of reform and repression. Depicting how the state reemerged from behind the mystifications of the political system and its behavior to become the central theme of political studies, this radical and philosophical investigation combines a political appeal with thorough, detailed scholarship. A discussion of servants of the state and the concept of imperfect competition are also included.

One of the seminal texts of the British New Left Leo Panitch Parliamentary Socialism presents a detailed and scholarly record of the Labour Party's thinking and of its role in British politics from 1900 until the 1960s. A postscript reflects on the period of Harold Wilson's Labour government from 1964 to 1970. Reviewing the book on first publication in 1961, Michael Foot described it as 'the most important contribution made for many years to the study of the way the Labour Party works'. Contents includes: Labour in Parliament; Labour in the First World War; Parliamentarism versus Direct Action; From Opposition to Office; The General Strike; The Challenge of Appeasement; The Climax of Labourism; The Sickness of Labourism Ralph Miliband (1924-1994) was one of the key intellectual figures of the British New Left. He was the founder of the Socialist Register and author of Marxism and Politics, The State in Capitalism Society (new edition published 2009) and Socialism for a Sceptical Age. He taught for many years at the London School of Economics before taking up the Chair of Politics at the University of Leeds. He subsequently taught at Brandeis in Boston, York University in Toronto and the Graduate Centre of the City University of New York.

When, in 2013, the Daily Mail labeled Ralph Miliband "The Man Who Hated Britain," a diverse host rallied to his defense. Those who had worked with him - from both left and right - praised his work and character. He was lauded as "one of the best-known academic Marxists of his generation" and a leading figure of the New Left. Class War Conservatism collects together his most significant political essays and shows the scope and brilliance of his thinking. Ranging from the critical anatomy of capitalism to a clear-eyed analysis of the future of socialism in Britain, this selection shows Miliband as an independent and prescient thinker of great insight. Throughout, his writing is a passionate and forcefully argued demand for social justice and a better future.

This outstanding and original volume offers a critical examination of a number of developments which in recent years have undermined the idea of socialism and eroded its electoral appeal. Among these developments are the collapse of Communist regimes, the fragmentation of the constituencies upon which earlier socialist advances had depended, changes in the organization and the dynamics of capitalism and a dearth of agencies committed to the socialist project. The book also takes up and seeks to rebut older objections to socialism, such as the notion that it is inevitably totalitarian, that it is based on too optimistic a view of human nature and that it fails to take account of the tendency of power to accumulate in the hands of minorities.
The book argues that a social order dominated by the logic of capital and competition cannot, despite all the positive claims made on its behalf, produce the conditions which make true citizenship and community possible. By contrast, socialism offers an attractive and feasible programme for the realization of those ideals. Miliband argues that socialism cannot be seen as an answer to all the ills which have plagued humankind. Socialism, in his view, has to be understood as part of an age-old struggle for a more just society, and he believes that, seen in this light, socialism remains not only desirable but also perfectly possible. Moreover, he believes, socialism will, in time, come to command a majority support which its advancement requires. Socialism has to be seen as a permanent striving for the achievement of democracy, egalitarianism and the creation of an economy under democratic control.

This readable survey of Marxist political theory and key texts by seminal thinkers including Marx, Engels, and Lenin highlights formative concepts and debates within Marxist thought. The argument is presented that a democratic socialism can defend and extend freedoms and thereby remove class distinctions. This introduction considers the nature of class conflict, the proposed defense of the old order, and the possibilities for reform and revolution. This replaces 0198760620.