Radical Thought Books - Page 4

Marx for Beginners

Rius

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 17 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

It Ain't Doonesbury 4 out of 5 stars.
4 of 5 people found this review helpful.

Good to see this worthy little work back on the shelves. Sure, it's easy to ridicule a popularizied version of any weighty academic subject, especially one making use of cartoon humor. But the true measure should be how well the central ideas are rendered. In that key respect, Rius's primer serves very well as an introduction to the sociology of Marxism, less well to the economics (the determinist, breakdown element is severely underplayed), while the philosophical aspects are dealt with manfully, but are likely too complex for even the best efforts. The work's special virtue lies in dealing with those aspects of Marx's thought most appealing to a general readership: exploitation, surplus value, property relations, class struggle... in short, those aspects that impinge most directly on daily life. Prospective readers can gain real insight into the power of Marx's thought through these more prosaic topics.

A key caveat -- as another reviewer points out, Lenin is either wittingly or unwittingly presented as Marx's historical successor, a move which elevates the role of the communist party in Marxist theory at the expense of the more libertarian strand represented by Rosa Luxemburg. Given the collapse of the soviet bloc and its Leninist legacy, this aspect should be kept in mind. Still and all, it's ironic that at a time when the reformist era of welfare economics and middle-class prosperity is surrendering to renewed polarization and social Darwinism, that Marx is treated as passe. If anything, his analysis of capitalism's intractable nature appears more timely than ever.

Editorial Review:

A cartoon book about Marx? Are you sure it's Karl, not Groucho? How can you summarize the work of Karl Marx in cartoons? It took Rius to do it. He's put it all in: the origins of Marxist philosophy, history, economics; of capital, labor, the class struggle, socialism. And there's a biography of "Charlie" Marx besides.

Like the companion volumes in the series, Marx for Beginners is accurate, understandable, and very, very funny.

Main Currents of Marxism: The Founders, The Golden Age, The Breakdown

Leszek Kolakowski

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 5 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

A High Point of Intellectual History 5 out of 5 stars.
44 of 48 people found this review helpful.

This is an outstanding description and analysis of the history of Marxism as a philosophic enterprise and doctrine. Kolakowski's goal is a fair and lucid history of Marxism as an intellectual enterprise. This is a highly ambitious undertaking requiring familiarity with a huge range of writers and thinkers, ranging from famous figures like Marx and Hegel to obscure 19th and 20th century ideologues. Kolakowski also appears to be remarkably well versed in the secondary literature on Marxism as well. The breadth and depth of scholarship is remarkable and is matched by Kolakowski's lucid exposition. Considerably credit has to be given to the translator, PS Falla, for the fluent English. Main Currents is divided into 3 volumes, the first covering the origins of Marxism and Marx himself, the second devoted to the apogee of Marxist thought, and the last to history of Marxism since the Russian revolution.
Kolokowski begins in an apparently surprising place; the Neoplatonism of the Classical world. He points out that some of of the themes implicit in Marx have very deep roots. The ideas of man alienating aspects of his essence and then being restored to completion in a dramatic and catastrophic event are ancient. Kolakowski traces these ideas and the accompanying aspects of eschatology and soteriology through major philosophers and theologians of both the Classical and Medieval period into the end of the 18th century. He then moves to a brilliant description of the Hegelian - Idealist tradition that forms the immediate background of Marx's work. Kolakowski's analysis of Marx's wholesale modification of Hegel's concepts and his synthesis of Hegelian thought with the Romantic ideals of early 19th century socialism and economic ideas is simply the best description of this difficult subject I have ever encountered. He then moves through a careful chronological reconstruction of Marx's thought, emphasizing the continuity from Marx's earliest substantial work to the last completed parts of Capital. Kolakowski particularly highlights the key role of the concept of alienation in Marx's thought. The description of Marx is lucid and evenhanded. Kolakowski is very respectful of Marx's brilliance as a thinker and provides outstanding discussions of difficult concepts like Marx's concept of surplus value and his concept of history. Kolakowski's exposition gives a very strong sense of why Marx's system was so attractive to generations of intellectuals. This is not to suggest that Kolakowski is uncritical. Quite the opposite. Kolakowski's critique of key issues in Marx such as the concept of surplus value or the claims of historical materialism are ruthlessly effective.
The second volume covers the period from death of Engels to the Bolshevik Revolution. This is also approximately the period of the Second International. Kolakowski describes this as the "Golden Age" of Marxist thought, a period characterized by a diversity of Marxist thinkers and continued interaction of Marxists with other intellectual traditions. This volume has all the virtues of Vol. 1., exhibiting Kolakowski's remarkable command of Marxist and general philosophical history, his solid knowledge of European history, a fluid writing style, and his incisive judgement about the subjects under discussion. In the the first half of this volume, Kolakowski shows the interesting diversity of the Marxist tradition during this period. This includes both a variety of interpretations of Marx and also the interaction of Marxism with other philosophical traditions, such as the Kantian revival of the late 19th century. Kolakowski covers some figures not thought of usually as part of the Marxist mainstream, such as Sorel and Jean Jaures, as well as illuminating discussions of the Revisionist and Austro-Marxist movements.
The second half of this volume is devoted to the pregnant subject of Russian Marxism. Kolakowski provides a very nice overview of the relevant Russian intellectual history leading up to a detailed discussion of various Russian Marxists. This concludes with an intensive examination of the work and career of Lenin, who is presented as a mediocre thinker but essentially as a successful leader of the cult that founded the Soviet state.
The third volume covers the decline of Marxism as a viable intellectual enterprise. Kolakowski presents the decline as occurring in two different ways. The first and most important is the development of Marxism in its Leninist-Stalinist form in which certain aspects of Marxism were emphasized by Lenin to develop the ideology that came to underpin the Soviet State and its Eastern European conquests. Kolakowski argues convincingly that the resulting ideology was not a "deformation" or distortion of Marx but rather a logical though far from inevitable interpretation of Marx's doctrines. With the articulation of the Soviet state and the cult of Stalin, this process involved the impoverishment of Marxist thinking, disconnection from other philosophical traditions, and ultimate evolution into a sterile ideology used solely to justify totalitarianism. Providing an accurate historical analysis of this phenomenon required Kolakowski to read not only figures of real importance like Lenin and Stalin but also the painful but necessary task of thoroughly reading a number of minor Stalinist ideologues.
The second aspect of the Breakdown is Kolakowski's analysis of post-Stalinist Marxism including such varied figures as Gramsci, the School of Frankfort, and others. By and large, this is a depiction of an essentially decadent intellectual tradition though Kolakowski writes relatively sympathetically of figures for whom he has some respect such as Habermas and Gramsci. Kolakowski has a very evenhanded writing style but his treatment of some of these individuals is harshly critical without using hyperbolic language. His chapter on Marcuse is a textbook example of intellectual demolition without name calling. One of the most interesting treatments in the book is that of Gyorgy Lukacs. Kolakowski presents Lukacs as someone melding both aspects of the breakdown. Kolakowski clearly respects Lukacs as man of considerable intellect. Lukacs' judgements on Marx, notably his analysis of the role of Marx's Hegelianism, his emphasis on alienation, the need to interpret history as a teleological process, and others, mirror Kolakowski's own analysis and may well have influenced the younger Kolakowski. Kolakowski also demonstrates as well that the essential thrust of Lukacs' work was to provide a sophisticated defense of Stalinism, a morally and intellectually bankrupt undertaking.
Marxism as a vital intellectual tradition is probably, as Kolakowski argues, at a dead end. Still, achieving an understanding of the history of the last century is impossible without understanding the history and role of Marxism. The superb book is an invaluable resource in any effort to understand the events of the last century.

Editorial Review:

Winner of the John W. Kluge Prize from the Library of Congress and the 2007 Jerusalem Prize: Leszek Kolakowski's masterpiece, one of the twentieth century's most important books—for the first time in a one-volume paperback.

Renowned philosopher Leszek Kolakowski was one of the first scholars to reveal both the shortcomings and the dangers posed by communist regimes. He now presents, for the first time in one paperback volume, his definitive Main Currents of Marxism: "A prophetic work," according to the Library of Congress, that provides "the most lucid and comprehensive history of the origins, structure, and posthumous development of the system of thought that had the greatest impact on the 20th century."

Our Word is Our Weapon

Subcomandante Marcos

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 8 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

A movement of Now. 5 out of 5 stars.
20 of 21 people found this review helpful.

Too often those of us who seek social justice for people who have been traditionally oppressed tend to just reminisce on the past.

However, this book proves that there is a great social movement that ordinary people CAN , RIGHT NOW make a diffrence about

The history of Mexico, like the history of Latin America, is a history of pain, struggle, and exploitation.

Marcos shows us a movement that seeks to right some of the wrong, and leads a movement of the oldest of the old, the oppressed of the oppressed: Indigenous campesinos (farmers) of Southern Mexico. Where pictures of Jesus Christ stand right there alongside of.....Che Guevara.

A people that have been traditionally been treated like dirt, for lack of a better word, now taking an inspirational and highly moving stand and demand an end to exploitation and a better way of life.

Through their charismatic and briliant leader, Marcos, he tells us the story of the people known as Zapatistas and their struggle for dignity.

The dignity of a people no longer willing to tolerate centuries of injustice.

What human being cannot be moved by such extroadinary courage?

Editorial Review:

In January 1994, the Zapatistas seized towns in Chiapas, Mexico, calling for broad democratic changes. The writings of Subcomandante Insurgente Marcos, who emerged as the group’s eloquent spokesman, are collected here. This edition features new pieces and new commentary by the editor.

Wall Street & the Bolshevik Revolution

Antony C. Sutton

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Total reviews: 13 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Big Capitalism Loves Big Communism 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 14 people found this review helpful.

Anthony Sutton's WALL STREET AND THE BOLSHEVIK REVOLUTION is a series of case studies of powerful U.S. executives catering to the Bolsheviks or Communists beginning in the early 1920s. Sutton cites U.S. business leaders from the budding electronics industry, oil, agriculture, etc. who worked to subsidize the Communists and literally saved the Communist Revolution which tragically ruined the Soviet people and later those of Eastern Europe and Asia.

Sutton explores a supposed Red Cross mission which was political and not humanitarian. These people helped to provide food and business connections to Lenin & co. at a critical time when the Bolsheviks faced civil war with the Whites and a Polish invasion. The fact is that without U.S. business executives both in the "private sector" and government, the Bolshevik Revolution would have failed. Lenin's only solution to the bitter protest to his revolution was the use repression and concentration camps. Readers should note that Lenin had more political executions his first year in power than all the Czars, including the tyrannical Nicholus I (1825-1855)had in the 19th. century.

One interesting anecdote is Sutton's comments of the General Electric executives bankrolling the Soviets' hydroelectric projects beginning in the 1920s. One of the largest if not the largest hydroelectric power plant in the world was/is in the old Soviet Union. This facility helped the Soviets industrialize their empire quickly even at the expense of the poor souls who had to work on it.

Sutton is clear that Wall Street executives worked tirelessly to uphold the new Soviet regime. One wonders how the Soviets ever paid for any of this largesse of technology, industry, and huge projects. The fact is, the U.S. international business executives were most likely paid via the sucker U.S. taxpayers.

One of those corporate executives who was close to Lenin was the oil tycoon, Armand Hammer. His help was indispensable to Lenin and his supporters, and Lenin had Armand Hammer's portrait in his office. The Bolsheviks and later the Stalinoids were only too glad to do business with "The Running Dogs of Yankee Capitalism."

The agrument may be posed that the Cold War is over. Sutton's book is still useful. During recent U.S. military capers in Iraq and Afghanistan, some alert folks have cited the fact that America's wicked enemies are using U.S. made weapons and technology. This is exactly what Sutton alludes to regarding the death of U.S. military personnel re the Korean and Vietnam wars. While the names of the players (the enemies) have changed, the pattern is the same. There is credible evidence that the Saudi ruling family are arming Sunni insurgents in Iraq. This is similiar to the American authorities arming, directly or indirectly, the North Koreans,the Chinese Communists, and the North Vietnamese during the Cold War. Another interesting anecdote is the fact that during the build-up to the recent Iraq and Afghan Wars, a U.S. business executive was asked about the morality of arming and supplying "the other side." His response was that he would sell to anyone as long as they could pay for it. One should note that Reagan and Bush both supported Osama Bin Laden in teh 1980s when the Afghan rebels fought agains the Soviets. Then Pres. Reagan was warned but to no avail.

Maybe Sutton's book is an exposure or Orwellain wars and political machinations. The fact the Soviet authorities continued a Cold War for so long enabled U.S. authorities to spy and persecute U.S. citizens while for being Communists while doing big business with Big Communism. Pres. Nixon made a political career attacking Communists here in the U.S. while extending diplomatic and political overtures to the Communist Chinese and the Soviets. The wicked Communists did not play fair. The worst thing happened to the Communists when peace broke out, and they did have the Yankee Imperialist Devils to fear.

Anthony's book is instructive in that the examples and case studies sound all too familiar given the continuation of war scares and shooting wars. The only difference is the change of the enemies. Anthony Sutton's book is still relavent.

Against Civilization: Readings and Reflections

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

The best anarchist thinker of our time 5 out of 5 stars.
30 of 33 people found this review helpful.

This is an extraordinary collection by the most important anarchist thinker of our time, a potent introduction to, as Zerzan so accurately puts it, the pathology of civilization. For decades now Zerzan has been articulating a practical and theoretical critique of civilization, and this book--though an edited anthology of his own and other people's essays--brings it all together in a compelling, undeniable way. I love all of Zerzan's books, but I think I love this one the best.

Join The Primal Revival 5 out of 5 stars.
24 of 26 people found this review helpful.

Transcend the misery of the last 8000 years of Empire and join the Paleolithic heritage of over 2 million years of tribal life, ecstatic in wildernesses of soul, forest, and desert! Zerzan collects the feral souls of the ages, insurging to overcome this inhuman leviathan that seeks to swallow us all and spit us out as lifeless cogs! This book demonstrates a possibility to really go for the gold, to stop whining and demanding the petty-possible of Democrepublican corporate sellout mediocrity, and to reimagine how Wild life could really be! Especially noteworthy is the article on the Animals Fighting Back... It is high time we put the whole nonsense of civilization on the table to be debated and overcome. Why is civilization nonsense? Because it means war, hierarchy, class oppression, environmental degradation, et al. True "progress" will involve going beyond civilization to something more "civilized" and something more paleolithic and intense! Buy this book! It will provoke your thoughts! It will take you outside media culture!

Editorial Review:

"Read it and you will never think of civilization in the same way again."-Kirkpatrick Sale

This anthology about "the pathology of civilization" offers insight into how progress and technology have led to emptiness and alienation.

Anarchism: A Collection of Revolutionary Writings

Peter Kropotkin

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Outmoded but certainly worth the read 4 out of 5 stars.
33 of 37 people found this review helpful.

Prince Peter Kropotkin was the first thinker since William Godwin to construct a full system of anarcho-collectivism. This collection consists of a bunch of satisfying niblets (yes, niblets) of that system, some better than others.

First, anyone into anarchism has got to read Kropotkins essay of that title for the Encyclopedia Britannica. It has to be the clearest written, most well-stated short intro around. His essay on "The Anarchist Morality (written oddly enough as a retort to some kids who, after stealing some books, justified it with "To each according to his need.")The early essays, which take us through the first hundred-or-so pages are the best, as they get into the underlying theory of anarchism and what "sponteneous order" might look like. Of course "Modern Science and Anarchism" is a complete misnomer because the essay is heavy on philosophical speculation with not much scientific speculation. The latter essays are more-or-less historical propoganda and will be of interest to the history student.

Still, in a world of inarticulate and often unsavory characters, Kropotkin comes off as astute, thoughtful, clear and insightful. Of course, science has (done its best to?)prove Kropotkin wrong on his altruistic evolutionary theories. Even modern "reciprical altruists" in the wake of Dawkins, Wilson and Ridley are looking less altruistic and more reciprical. I guess only time will tell. Hmmmm....

Editorial Review:

Important writings by the leading theorist of anarchism, including the brief but moving "Spirit of Revolt," "Law and Authority," an argument for social control through custom and education, and other documents. An invaluable addition to the libraries of instructors, students, and anyone interested in history, government, and anarchist thought.

The Machinery of Freedom: Guide to a Radical Capitalism

David D. Friedman

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Total reviews: 21 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Editorial Review:

This book argues the case for a society organized by private property, individual rights, and voluntary co-operation, with little or no government. David Friedman's standpoint, known as 'anarcho-capitalism', has attracted a growing following as a desirable social ideal since the first edition of The Machinery of Freedom appeared in 1971. This new edition is thoroughly revised and includes much new material, exploring fresh applications of the author's libertarian principles. Among topics covered: how the U.S. would benefit from unrestricted immigration; why prohibition of drugs is inconsistent with a free society; why the welfare state mainly takes from the poor to help the not-so-poor; how police protection, law courts, and new laws could all be provided privately; what life was really like under the anarchist legal system of medieval Iceland; why non-intervention is the best foreign policy; why no simple moral rules can generate acceptable social policies -- and why these policies must be derived in part from the new discipline of economic analysis of law.

The Clash of Fundamentalisms: Crusades, Jihads and Modernity

Tariq Ali

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 41 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Socialists of the World - Unite and read this book! 4 out of 5 stars.
8 of 9 people found this review helpful.

I'm sorry but I am not a Socialist as I do not share their aversion to religion and their view that religion is the opiate of the masses.

But those of you who are Socialists and anti-Imperialists (so the USSR was not an Imperialist power?),this is an interesting and thoughtful book written by a declared `unbelieving Muslim'. He identifies himself with Muslims but is an Atheist.

The title of the book is probably a reply to Samuel Huntigton's book, `A Clash of Civilisations'. He does very well to support the cause his Socialist ideology by highlighting the alleged inherent weaknesses of the Capitalist/Western system who believe in human rights as long as it supports the cause of the Western/Capitalist system. He talks a little about the Neocon influence in the world how it is damaging world politics and causing terrorist groups to form. The underlying argument presented (with furnishing of examples) is that Western Govts. Have been responsible for the problems in the world, including the recent threats from terrorist groups.

Every chapter has its value and contains a wealth of information starting from the Israel/Palestine crisis through to the crises in Kashmir, Afghanistan, Iraq and Pakistan. The chapter entitled, `Short Course History of US Imperialism' is very interesting and in my view is a reply to Samuel Huntingon's thesis, `Clash of Civilisation', and Francis Fukayama's, `End of History'. The Socialist response to the Capitalist scholars is short and to the point, but I don't believe it challenges the theses of both of these scholars.

The Socialist and anti-religion thread of the book is obvious. Socialists would love it. Muslims may be ambivalent. The Fukayama students and Capitalists in general may loathe this book. From an objective point of view, I give it a reasonable rating.

Hasan Ali Imam
(Ex-Parliamentary Candidate, Conservative Party)
London
UK

Editorial Review:

In this wide-ranging book Ali challenges assumptions on both sides, arguing that Islamic civilization has an important role in Western modernity, and that what we have experienced with the rise of fundamentalism is the return of history in an horrific form.

Marxism: Philosophy and Economics

Thomas Sowell

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 12 Average rating: 4.0 of 5

Excellent book - well written and balnced view 5 out of 5 stars.
13 of 14 people found this review helpful.

This is the most succinct presentation of the ideas of Marx I've ever read. Indeed, Sowell explains Marxism better than Marx ever did. It is very well written and a fair analysis by one of the countries best economists and writers. Sowell, a former Marxist himself, explains the essential Marxian concepts with a balance perspective.

Those people who read this expecting to have Marx bashed or praised will be disappointed. Those wishing to understand Marxism and learn about Marx the man will be very happy with this book.

Clear, Accurate, Concise 5 out of 5 stars.
8 of 8 people found this review helpful.

Anyone who's read Marx firsthand can attest to the challenges he presents in scholar. He can easily seem inconsistent and dogmatic, though he wasn't either; because of his writing style and penchant for epigrams (even at the sake of clarity and accuracy) he is easily one of the most misunderstood philosophers in Western History. The literature on Marx often bears little or no relation to Marxism as espoused by Marx, Lenin being the prime source of these trachts, as well as the prime example. It is by no means an exageration to claim that the secondary literature on Marx is worse than any in the entire Western Philosophical Canon.

Dr. Sowell's acheivement is nothing less than a concise, accesible, and above all accurate explanation of the Marxist system. Criticisms that accuse Dr. Sowell of using complex language criticise him for using philosophical technical terms employed by Marx that are crucial to actually understanding Marx's philosophy. I personally found the reading the easiest of any book presenting a summation of Marxism.

Any criticism of the book should be focused on Sowell's brief critique of Marxism, and then merely for the fact that it includes the real-life results of putative "Marxism" (however divorced those policies may be from Marx's actual philosophy). It also should be noted that Dr. Sowell's doctoral thesis was on Marx and his thought; this is a subject that the author (despite his now-conservative leanings) was deeply enmeshed in during his whole early intellectual career.

All in all, this is the first book I would recommend to anyone interested in learning about Marx. Now if only Dr. Sowell could do the same for Hegel...

Editorial Review:

Sowell leads the listener through the Marxian scheme of ideas, shattering some existing interpretations of Marx which have developed through repetition rather than through scholarship. 6 cassettes.

Everybody Talks About the Weather . . . We Don't: The Writings of Ulrike Meinhof

Ulrike Meinhof

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Total reviews: 1 Average rating: 5.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

No other figure embodies revolutionary politics, radical chic, and the promises and failures of the New Left quite like Ulrike Meinhof (1934-76). In the 1960s, she was known in Europe as a journalist and public intellectual, leading an exciting life in Hamburg’s high society with her publisher husband and twin daughters. Ten years later, Meinhof gave up her bourgeois existence to form, with Andreas Baader and Gudrun Ensslin, the Red Army Faction (RAF). Also called the Baader-Meinhof Gang, the group was notorious for its politically motivated acts of violence, including bombings, kidnappings, bank robberies, and shootouts with police.

What impels someone to abandon middle-class privilege for the sake of revolution? Meinhof, who spent the 1960s writing a column for the popular leftist magazine konkret, began to see the world in increasingly stark terms: the United States was emerging as an unstoppable superpower and Germany appeared to be run by former Nazis. Never before translated into English, Meinhof’s 1960s columns published in konkret show a woman in transition, reflecting upon the major political events and social currents of her time. An essay by Karin Bauer contextualizes Meinhof’s writings and mesmerizing life story within the political developments of the German Left. Bauer also explores Meinhof’s afterlife and asks why Meinhof’s ghost still haunts us today.

A relentless critic of her mother and of the Left, author and journalist Bettina Röhl, one of Meinhof’s daughters, contributes an afterword that aims to tear down Meinhof’s iconic status. Noting the increasingly desperate tone of Meinhof’s writing, Nobel Prize Laureate Elfriede Jelinek reflects in her foreword on Germany’s missed opportunity to learn from Meinhof’s writings.

Ulrike Meinhof (1934 -1976) was one of the most influential thinkers of the German Left in the 1960s, known primarily through her columns in the magazine, konkret. She became an internationally known fugitive when she aided in the prison escape of Andreas Baader and formed the Red Army Faction, also known as the Baader-Meinhof Gang. She was imprisoned in 1972 and found, four years later, hanged in her cell.

Karin Bauer is associate professor and chair of the Department of German Studies at McGill University.