Explaining and debunking the theory and practice of Maoism. Part 3.
Category: Intellectual History
review
Marx’s Last Years Explored
Karl Marx’s last years, when he famously failed to complete all the volumes of Capital, were for a long time viewed as a period of illness and even senescence, even though he was only 64 years old at his death . . .
review
The Centrality of Dialectics in Marxist Theory and Politics
Kevin B. Anderson’s1 latest offering, Dialectics of Revolution, brings forward diverse perspectives on the concept of dialectics that have been discussed over the past two centuries. Beginning from Hegel, Anderson extends the discussion to Marx and then further on to . . .
review
What Is Social Reproduction Theory Trying to Explain?
Ferguson lays out the issues, doesn’t hide behind political labels, and advances a sophisticated analysis that crystallizes some contemporary thinking.
review
Half-Apology for Apartheid?
Linfield’s The Lions’ Den reads like an intervention toward holding back the encouraging tide of pro-Palestinian awareness.
Psychoanalysis for Collective Liberation
A Review of Erich Fromm’s Critical Theory
Erich Fromm (1900-1980) was a humanistic psychoanalyst, writer, and activist influenced by the theories of Marx and Freud, though critical of both.
Marx’s Commune
An Appreciation and a Critique
For the 150th anniversary of the Paris Commune, an analysis of Marx’s views on the Commune and its historical possibilities.
Capturing “the Spirit of Struggle”
Rosa Luxemburg on Literature
Luxemburg’s recognition of the paradoxical push and pull of creative literature speaks to contemporary debates in the context of both a resurgent far right and mass movements against systemic racism.
On Gramsci’s Fall: A Review
In Nora Bossong’s latest novel, Gramsci’s Fall, we meet forty-six-year-old Anton Stöver whose marriage is falling apart with extra-marital affairs coming to a close and a career in a German university at a dead end.
Unions, Democracy, and the Third Camp
Comparing Lessons from New Politics and Herman Benson
An analysis of debates among labor leftists about how a commitment to socialism “from below” should inform union activity.
Karl Marx: Promethean Visionary?
“This small book is a very useful account of how Marx came to develop his materialist conception of history.” Michael Löwy reviews Eric Rahim, “A Promethean Vision: The Formation of Karl Marx’s Worldview” (Glasgow: Praxis Press, 2020).
Revolution in the Twenty-First Century: A Reconsideration of Marxism
Leftists must tolerate disagreements and work together—must even work with left-liberals—because a worldwide transition between modes of production takes an inordinately long time and takes place on many different levels.
What Is COVID-19 Teaching Us About Being Human?
Grocery aisles stand devoid of toilet paper rolls, paper towels, meat, and canned products as panic-stricken urbanites stock their pantries and garages to avoid multiple trips to the supermarket, or maybe even to avoid doomsday scarcity. When people do visit . . .
Review: Zionist Betrayal of Jews, From Herzl to Netanyahu
Stanley Heller’s new book may reveal no surprises to a few well-read scholars of the history of the Middle East. Many readers, however, who believe they know modern history will be surprised and disconcerted. To put it simply, Heller contends . . .
review
The Democratic Quest: Marxism Versus Liberalism
In a recent interview for the Minneapolis Interview Project, August Nimtz asserted that “to exercise political power, we must impose our will through collective action.”* In his new work, Nimtz says much the same when he writes, “If . . .
review
Questions for the International Left
In anxious anticipation of the Brexit referendum, then U.K. Prime Minister David Cameron summed up the philosophy of politics that drives him and so many who occupy the command posts of power: “I divide the world into team . . .
review
A Radical New Politics of Surrogacy?
Sophie Lewis’ new book Full Surrogacy Now, published by Verso, has gotten a lot of attention in left media circles. Lewis was interviewed on Jacobin Radio’s The Dig
From the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to Black Lives Matter
On SNCC’s 60th Anniversary
The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee began as an organization of students from black colleges in the South to integrate lunch counters that refused service to blacks. The tactic they used was the nonviolent direct action sit-in. What began . . .
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