Socialism Books - Page 16

Communism and its Collapse (Making of the Contemporary World)

Stephen White

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Editorial Review:

Ranging from the Russian revolution of 1917 to the collapse of Eastern Europe in the 1980s, this study examines the course of Communist rule. By focusing primarily on the USSR and Eastern Europe Stephen White covers the major topics and issues affecting these countries, including:

* communism as a doctrine
* the evolution of Communist rule
* the challenges to Soviet authority in Hungary and Yugoslavia
* the emerging economic fragility of the 1960s
* the complex process of collapse in the 1980s.

Featuring the latest research, Communism and Its Collapse is a thorougly comprehensive account of the rise and fall of communism .

Socialism Past and Future

Michael Harrington

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Customer Reviews:
Total reviews: 3 Average rating: 4.5 of 5

Perfect for those who already know a little about Socialism. 3 out of 5 stars.
8 of 12 people found this review helpful.

Michael Harrington's Socialism: Past and Future is yet another example of Socialists' misconception of the common man. Many socialist writers, namely Marx and Engels, assume that the reader knows about socialism already, and has studied basic economics. This assumption was an integral part of the text. The book uses the vocabulary of a college text-book, refering to writers that nobody knows or cares about. This book, however, is not as poorly written as some of the older socialist texts. Another disease common to socialist texts is avoidance of certain issues, like the Third World, advancing technology, and basic human greed, but this book is different. Chapters are spent on subjects that Marx neglected, making this book better than the average of socialist books. Michael Harrington died of cancer shortly before the fall of the USSR. He predicts the fall of the communist powers in Asia, and most of his prophecies have come true, or are coming true.! The early chapters show the reader the world from the eyes of a socialist, and by the later chapters, the reader seeks knowledge of socialist theory and practice. Two things, that are, sadly, delivered abstractly, over many chapters.

Reinventing Marxism

Howard J. Sherman

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Editorial Review:

The collapse of the Soviet Union provides economist Howard Sherman the opportunity to re-evaluate Marxism as an alternative to conventional pro-capitalist perspectives. Arguing that Soviet Marxism distorted Marxian thought, Sherman acknowledges that Marxism must move beyond its traditional Soviet formulation. What is needed, he writes, is a new, critical Marxism that is integral to a radical political economy--a Marxism that sees society as an organic whole, dependent upon an integrated set of relationships.

"There is no other book that shows the relevance and importance of dialectics to so many major debates now going on in the Academy, and it does all this with a thorough grasp of the relevant scholarship and a clear and crisp writing style that shouldn't be possible on such a complex topic (but obviously is)."--Bertell Ollman, Department of Politics, New York University.

"A major contributor for many years to the tradition of political economy, Sherman offers a persuasive argument for a new kind of Marxism. The timing is right, partly because it ties into current postmodern/modern debates, and partly because it offers a difference to that heretofore reigning orthodoxy produced above all within the former USSR. This is an extraordinarily ambitious book. It deserves to be read."--Stephen Resnick, University of Massachusetts, Amherst.

"Reinventing Marxism is the product of three decades of intense scholarly work. It will be exciting to institutional economists because it is high-quality Marxism utilizing an evolutionary andholistic approach."--William M. Dugger, University of Tulsa

Selected works

Joseph Stalin

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

The Revolution Betrayed 1 out of 5 stars.
3 of 10 people found this review helpful.

Stalin despite the flattering summary above was not a great Marxist thinker. Stalin not only missed the basic ideology of Marxism but is also a very poor writer, who's works at best are boring, inacurate and documents of lies. If you want to read a great Marxist writer I would suggest Lenin or Trotsky. Put these works where they belong, in the fire along with Mein Kampf and anything in favour of George Bush.

Interesting for Soviet Historians 5 out of 5 stars.
3 of 5 people found this review helpful.

The only other person who reviewed this book gave it one star, and said that Stalin was not a good marxist thinker. While I do agree that Stalin had little respect for marxism (and was more interested in bending it to serve his purposes), I did not buy this book expecting to discover a new and better side of the butcher Stalin. On the contrary, when I obtained this book I knew that Stalin's Marxist writings were pure tripe. However, what is important is that these writings show the historian what were the political issues in the USSR under Stalin, and how he distorted Marxist philosophy (e.g. "Socialism in One Country") to become the first communist czar.

Editorial Review:

The present collection of J. V. Stalin’s Selected Works in English comprises some of the most important works of the author.

The works included in this collection follow in chronological order with the exception of the first two writings dedicated to V. I. Lenin.

The theoretical works of J. V. Stalin occupy an important place in the treasury of Marxism-Leninism; they put J. V. Stalin in the ranks of the most outstanding Marxist theoreticians.

Principles of Political Economy: and Chapters on Socialism (The World's Classics)

John Stuart Mill

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Total reviews: 4 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Awful Edition 1 out of 5 stars.
15 of 20 people found this review helpful.

The Oxford Classic's edition of th Principles of J.S.Mill is an awful one. It not only omits complete sections of the work and doesn't mention it in the cover but lacks notes and even an index.

Don't buy it!

correction from argentina 5 out of 5 stars.
12 of 14 people found this review helpful.

I must be a complete idiot. I finally decided to open this abridged edition of Mill's Political Economy & Chaps on Socialism, just to see what's going on in there. Lo & behold, as anybody with eyes can see, there ARE extensive notes on the text, including an index of names referred to by Mill! However, I wish to reiterate my claim that it is an "awful edition" for idiots who don't open the book or are unable to read the table of contents. Why doesn't Oxford provide user guides to explain these complex matters?

Editorial Review:

This volume unites, for the first time, Books IV and V of Mill's great treatise on political economy with his fragmentary Chapters on Socialism. It shows him applying his classical economic theory to policy questions of lasting concern: the desirability of sustained growth of national wealth and population, the merits of capitalism versus socialism, and the suitable scope of government intervention in the competitive market economy. His answers to those questions have profound relevance today, and they serve to illustrate the enduring power and imagination of his distinctive liberal utilitarian philosophy. The lucid introduction and explanatory notes clarify Mill's philosophy in relation to his economic theory, and make full use of the most recent scholarship.

Inside the Revolution: Everyday Life in Socialist Cuba (Anthropology of Contemporary Issues)

Mona Rosendahl

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Total reviews: 2 Average rating: 3.0 of 5

Editorial Review:

The first ethnographic study of life in Cuba to emerge in over twenty years, Inside the Revolution offers a rare, close view of how socialist ideology translates into everyday experience in one Cuban municipality. Mona Rosendahl draws on eighteen months of fieldwork, in a municipality she calls by the fictional name Palmera, to present a vivid account of the lives and thoughts of residents, many of whom have lived inside the revolution for more than thirty-five years. In Palmera, support for the socialist program remains strong. Rosendahl attributes continuing loyalty to four conditions: improvements in the standard of living from 1959 to 1990, the uniformity and omnipresence of political communications from the government, a historical emphasis on local participation in the revolution, and the consistency of revolutionary ideals with traditional machista expectations and practices. Through an analysis of ideology and practice in contemporary Cuba, Rosendahl documents how its citizens support the present political system, and how reciprocal economics between households and ideas about gender both reinforce and challenge that system. Rosendahl also explains how those who oppose state socialism resist participation in society through inaction or withdrawal.

My Life

Leon Trotsky

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

Life is Beautiful when you fight to change the world! 5 out of 5 stars.
15 of 19 people found this review helpful.

The phrase "Life is Beautiful" in the Italian film came from Leon Trotkys's last testament. It was written in exile in Mexico. At the time Trotsky's friends, family, and comrades were being harassed, slandered and murdered by Stalin, when he himself faced imminent assasination. He also faced death from the growing illnesses that had slowed him. Yet, in his testament he proclaimed that life is beautiful. Life must be cleansed of the evil and garbage Capitalism and Stalinism have left to this world.

Read this book and you will see how Trotsky's life became valuable for him because he decided to fight oppression, decided to learn about the world to fight, and never stopped fighting. Maybe your life can be beautiful if you read this book, and decide to fight like Trotsky did.

The introduction by the late Joseph Hansen Trotsky's secretary in Mexico is worth the price of the book. Joe explains how the household and work center in Mexico functioned, about how Trotsky valued hard work, but also valued celebrating comrades birthdays, hobbies like raising rabbits, trips to sites of Mexican history. Reading this also tells you how Joe organized the staff at World Outlook/ Intercontinental Press, working with him was one of the great privileges of my life.

In these pages and memoirs of Trotsky by Joe, George Novack, Farrell Dobbs, and other comrades who knew Trotskty, you could find how serious Trotsky enjoyed and embraced life. In Turkey if he wanted to go fishing, he went to sea with Turkish fishers in their trawlers. If he wanted to raise rabbits as a hobby, he soon was taking care of something bordered on a commercial rabbit farm. Both in valuing work--chained to his desk was the term Trotsky passed down--and valuing parties and celebrations of new people coming onto the staff and leaving, Trotsky made his life beautiful.

Read this book, valued as much as a literary work as a political statement, and learn how you can make your life beautiful.

Editorial Review:

Autobiographical account by a leader of the October 1917 Russian revolution, the Soviet Red Army, and the battle initiated by Lenin against the Stalinist bureaucracy.

The communistic societies of the United States, from personal visit and observation

Charles Nordhoff

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Editorial Review:

Virtually every "utopia" in existence as of 1875 is described, with material on social customs, guiding philosophy, food, clothing, attitudes toward sex and more. Primary source for communes, social and sexual odd groups. Basic work in field. 39 illustrations.

Understanding Capital: Marx's Economic Theory

Duncan K. Foley

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Editorial Review:

Understanding Capital is a brilliantly lucid introduction to Marxist economic theory. Duncan Foley builds an understanding of the theory systematically, from first principles through the definition of central concepts to the development of important applications. All of the topics in the three volumes of Capital are included, providing the reader with a complete view of Marxist economics.

Foley begins with a helpful discussion of philosophical problems readers often encounter in tackling Marx, including questions of epistemology, explanation, prediction, determinism, and dialectics. In an original extension of theory, he develops the often neglected concept of the circuit of capital to analyze Marx's theory of the reproduction of capital. He also takes up central problems in the capitalist economy: equalization of the rates of profit (the "transformation problem"); productive and unproductive labor and the division of surplus value; and the falling rate of profit. He concludes with a discussion of the theory of capitalist crisis and of the relation of Marx's critique of capitalism to his conception of socialism.

Through a careful treatment of the theory of money in relation to the labor theory of value, Foley clarifies the relation of prices to value and of Marx's categories of analysis to conventional business and national income accounts, enabling readers to use Marx's theory as a tool for the analysis of practical problems. The text is closely keyed throughout to the relevant chapters in Capital and includes suggestions for further reading on the topics discussed.

Builders of the dawn: Community lifestyles in a changing world

Corinne McLaughlin

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Editorial Review:

Life in communities can provide powerful training in the art of relationships-learning to live as an interrelated part of a whole system. Advice on how to start intentional communities, and the principles, benefits and challenges of choosing to live cooperatively or communally.