Ernest Mandel (1923-1995) was a theorist of activist Marxism. Leader of the international Trotskyist movement, lifelong revolutionary, and scholar of world renown, Mandel was one of those few individuals who combined the roles of political leader and respected intellectual.
Against this background, how do historians deal with the problems of the search for "historical truth"? Drawing on examples from East Asian and American as well as European history, The Past Within US poses the question: What happens when accounts of history are transferred from one medium to another?
Essays in Self-Criticism contains all of Louis Althusser's work from the 1970s. It is composed of three texts, each of which in a different way presents elements of self-criticism. The first is Althusser's extended reply to the English philosopher John Lewis. In it he for the first time discusses the problem of the political causes of Stalinism, which he argues should be seen as the consequence of a long tradition of economism within the Second and Third Internationals. The second major essay, written soon afterwards, sets out Althusser's critical assessment of his own philosophical work in the 60's, including the extent and limits of his 'flirtation' with structuralism. The book ends with an autobiographical study of Althusser's intellectual development from 1945 to 1975, given on the occasion of his reception of a doctorate at the University of Picardy. The political thought of the 'new' Althusser is presented to English readers in a special introduction by his pupil Grahame Lock, which considers at length the lessons it sees in Soviet experience for contemporary communism.
From the Paris Commune in 1871 to Hué, Cordoba and Detroit in our day, the history of of proletarian insurrections is largely uncharted—particularly in its strictly military and technical aspects. Yet for Marx, Engels or Lenin it was axiomatic that 'insurrection is an art', and that without the most careful preparation and planning for insurrection (as in Hué), the spontaneous revolutionary action of the masses would always be defeated by the organized violence of the ruling class (as in Cordoba or Detroit).This book was produced in 1928 as a practical insurrectionary manual for communists. It discusses the role of armed insurrection in the Marxist-Leninist theory of revolution, analyses a number of insurrections—both successful and unsuccessful—with the aim of determining the conditions for victory, and gives detailed information on the tactics of street fighting—ranging from the respective advantages of offensive or defensive action to the best method of building a barricade. Written in Moscow under Comintern auspices, it is a classic Third Period document. Its republication will contribute to the recovery and appraisal of the early years of Soviet and Comintern history which is so essential an ingredient in the forging of all revolutionary theory and practice today.Published under the pseudonym of 'A. Neuberg', the work was in fact written by a group of leading Comintern political and military experts. One of the authors, Erich Wollenberg, military leader of the Bochum rising in North Germany in 1923, has written a new introduction for this edition (the first edition in English) in which he gives his own account of how the book came to be written, analyses the unstated political background to the various insurrections it examines, and identifies such of the authors as were known to him. These include Mikhail Tukhachesvsky, then second-in-command of the Red Army, Ho Chi Minh, Vice-President of the Secretary of the Comintern, and the German Communist and leader of the Hamberg Insurrection, Hans Kippenberger. The work was assembled by the Agitprop section of the Comintern, headed at the time by Palmiro Togliatti.
An icon of the Left, and champion of democracy and social justice, Tony Benn entered the Commons in 1950 and with Ted Heath held the record for post-war service as an MP. Parliament, People and Power features a selection of his interviews with the New Left Review, as Benn sets out his radical agenda for society, and reflects on a life in politics.
One of the fruits of the revival of socialist economic theory over the past decade has been a wide-ranging debate about the validity of Marx’s labour theory of value. At the heart of the discussion stands the theoretical work of Piero Sraffa and the conclusions drawn from it by such economists as Ian Steedman. Initially confined to a relatively narrow circle of specialists, the controversy about value theory has since spread to wider circles of the left. But although general awareness that the stakes of the dispute are of concern to all socialists is now extensive, understanding of the issues involved has remained more restricted than need be. This volume presents, for the first time, a comprehensive yet accessible overview of the discussion. The essays discuss not only the value debate itself, but also its relevance to such issues as capitalist crisis, the theory of exploitation, and historical materialism. Comprehensible to the non-specialist, but without sacrificing rigour or oversimplifying the issues, the articles assembled here offer a definitive summary of the current state of one of the crucial aspects of Marxist thought.
An iconoclastic challenge to one of the chief tenets of contemporary socialist politics.
Combining analysis and advocacy, this book argues that the cause of Labour's electoral failures and present predicament is political not sociological. It argues that democratization of the English constitution and the emergent European order is a precondition to a resumed struggle for socialism.
This study examines with the work of Richard Rorty - a proponent of human, radical liberalism - to explore the paradoxes of a philosophy which rejects any determinate view of human nature. It deals with questions of importance to ethical philosophy.
In this book, a group of specialists describe the type of society in which unconditional income would be legitimate. In doing so, they question and clarify some of the central principles of modern political philosophy.
Presents a chronicle of contemporary life in Mexico, ranging from popular music, Latino hip hop, the murals of Siquerios, film stars, the painter Frida Kahlo, the writer Juan Ruldo, life on the border with the USA and the organization of Mexico City's urban poor in the wake of an earthquake.
Before Stalinism is a historical study of democratic life and institutions and their decline in the early years of the Russian Revolution.
In this path-breaking work, Alan Carling develops a general theory of social division centring on the three core areas of social class, gender and ethnicity. The inspiration for Carling’s approach is the Analytical Marxist treatment of class division and class struggle. Carling synthesizes the rational-choice theory of capitalist transition with G.A. Cohen’s functional version of the Marxist theory of history and, in an analysis which spans the work of Roemer and Elster, provides an accessible treatment of Analytical Marxism across the range of its major concerns. He then applies rational-choice theory to the domestic sphere and to processes of assimilation and discrimination in relation to ethnic groups. The book concludes that rational-choice is necessary to, but insufficient for, an adequate general theory of social division.Carling’s topic and his method are at the forefront of current concerns in sociology, economics and political philosophy.
How the occupation of a watch factory became one of the iconic labour struggles after May 1968
A narrative history of the movement that turned "Orientals" into Asian Americans
A first-hand account of a Greek refugee camp - and the stories of the refugees staying there
The rise and fall of New York - a radical architect's view of the destruction of the city.
The first in-depth study of the long march of the US New Left after 1968
The secret life of the man who reshaped Russia
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