This passionate, pitiless analysis of post-Soviet Russia should be read by all interested in that country's present and future. Library Journal"It is a sorry tale, told with passion and competence." The IndependentRussia has undergone more seismic changes over the last 100 years than almost any other country. The 1917 Revolution, the rapid industrialisation of the 1930s, the following devastation of the Second World War, and the present return to Capitalism has seen the deep impoverishment of the entire population. The key questions which Kagarlitsky addresses are how to understand these changes, and how to characterise the complex process of reform, revolution and counter revolution. In a country with such a turbulent and violent political history, what path should development take, and what lies ahead? Looking in detail at the nature of Russian society and politics since 1990, Kagarlitsky offers an introductory political analysis of the major political and economic developments that have taken place under President Yeltsin, and the legacy he bequeathed so unexpectedly to his successor Putin. He focuses on the role of the media in post-Soviet Russia, corporate structures and their influence on social conflict, the formation of the oligarchy and the role of the left in modern Russia. This is a valuable source for anyone requiring a basic understanding of post-Soviet Russia and a clear historical guide for all students of contemporary Russian history.

Leading writer Boris Kagarlitsky offers an ambitious account of a thousand years of Russian history. Encompassing all key periods in Russia's dramatic development, the book covers everything from early settlers, through medieval decline, Ivan the Terrible-the "English Tsar", Peter the Great, the Crimean War and the rise of capitalism, the revolution, and the Soviet period, finally ending with the return of capitalism after 1991. Setting Russia within the context of the "World System", as outlined by Wallerstein, this is a major work of historical Marxist theory that is set to become a future classic.

This is the fifth in the important series of essays by the former editors of Monthly Review analyzing the ongoing crisis of global capitalism. Following the multiple interconnected stock market crashes of October 1987, the economies of the capitalist world entered a new and dangerous phase of the crisis that began in the 1970s with the end of the post-WWII boom. Sweezy and Magdoff argue that far from being a temporary setback, the events of late 1987 are rooted in the nature of the capital accumulation process itself and therefore unlikely to be reversed. Their argument is especially prescient when viewed in light of the financial meltdown of 2008.

In this anthology, we bringing together many revolutionary voices of poets from around the world, writing in many languages. Every poet has a unique style, but we share a common vision with insights, passions, music, tools, weapons, forging visions and consciousness. This is not genteel poetry for coffee tables and drawing rooms, but poems built for action, for demonstrations and uprisings, rebellions and street corners, verses for storming the halls of power. Handle these poems with care: they are fully armed. Overthrowing Capitalism is published annually by the Revolutionary Poets Brigade. Volume Four was edited by Jack Hirschman, Agneta Falk, and John Curl.

It supplies an account of the former Politburo member, Boris Yeltsin—his rise to the presidency and the rifts with his parliamentary opponents, which led to the attack on the Russian White House on October 1993. There are portraits of Gavril Popov, the former mayor of Moscow and Vladimir Zhironovsky, the ultra-nationalist demagogue. The book provides analysis of the new Russia and its attempts to develop modern capitalism.

Sixty-six years ago the Catholic Worker movement began with the opening of a shared aprtment as a house of hospitality and the selling of the Catholic Worker newspaper for a penny a copy in Union Square. It began amidst the Great Depression with millions out of work and the foundation of American capitalism crumbling. Most of all, however, the Catholic Worker began with the meeting of two persons: Dorothy Day and Peter Maurin. Their meeting was the effective beginning of the Catholic Worker movement and remains to this day the source of its inspiration. In this diary Marc H. Ellis recounts his spiritual journey among the poor in New York City in the early 1970s. What he witnessed at the Catholic Worker continues to increase in our world today: homelessness, destitution, and other forms of poverty. Yet, the spiritual life he experienced is even more real today as well: commitment, hope, and faith among the poor.

Berend's memoir offers an interesting case study, a subjective addition to the "objective" historical works on Central and Eastern European state socialism. It describes the hard choices of intellectuals in a dictatorial state: 1. remain in isolation, concentrate on scholarly works, and exclude politics in your personal life; 2. be in opposition, criticize and unveil the regime, accept discrimination and exclusion; 3. remain within the establishment and work for reforming the country using legal possibilities to criticize the regime and to achieve changes from within. Ivan T. Berend, is Distinguished Professor at the University of California Los Angeles, Director of the European Studies Program. He was one of the masterminds of regime change in Hungary. He made a career in Hungary as a university professor, Rector of the University of Economics (1973-79), and President of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences (1985-90). He was President of the International Committee of Historical Sciences (1995-2000), and Vice-President of the International Economic History Association (1986-1994). His research interests are the complex economic, social, ideological, and cultural history of Central and Eastern Europe in the 19th-20th century; economic modernization; problems of European backwardness; transition from state socialism to capitalism. He published 26 books and more than 120 studies.--Publisher's description

This is the second in the series of four collections of essays in which Paul M. Sweezy and Harry Magdoff, the editors of Monthly Review, set out as it took place the development of U.S. and global capitalism from the late 1960s to the "financial explosion" age of the early 1990s and after. This second set of essays constitute in their totality a probing analysis of the condition of the United States economy in the 1970s, immediately after the end of the "golden age" of capitalism. The authors concluded, correctly, that a new period had begun-"one of sluggish capitalist accumulation and unemployment in the advanced capitalist countries on a scale not seen since the 1930s."

"Does socialism have a future in the 21st Century society? If not, what is the future for progressive politics? After Socialism deals with the collapse of socialism both as an idea and movement. This book scrutinizes the economic and social realities that require a critical but much more intelligent alternative of coping with the enormous, mounting challenges that the world confronts. This is a major contribution to contemporary social and political thought written by one of the world's leading critical historians. Gabriel Kolko asks difficult questions about where the left can go in a post-Cold War world where neoliberal policies appear to have triumphed in both the West and the former Soviet bloc. In trying to answer this, he discusses: a) the origins and development of socialist ideas; b) the contemporary dynamics of the globalize economy dominated by American military, cultural and political might; c) the failures of contemporary capitalism; d) the poverty and economic and financial instability-- in the United States and industrial nations as well as the Third World - that make our contemporary world so precarious. After Socialism is a synthesis of Kolko's past work and a critical assessment of why and how critical social thought can be reconstructed. While avoiding the temptations of either pessimism or utopianism, Kolko manages to offer an original and practical solution about the way forward for liberal politics."--Book cover.

This is the first complete new translation of Eduard Bernstein's (1850-1932) famous and influential work. It will provide students with an accurate and unabridged edition of the classic defense of democratic socialism and the first significant critique of revolutionary Marxism from within the socialist movement. First published in 1899, at the height of the Revisionist Debate, it argued that capitalism was not heading for the major crisis predicted by Marx, and that socialism could be achieved by piecemeal reform within a democratic constitutional framework. Bernstein's work is the focal point of one of the most important political debates of modern times, and crucial for the light it casts on "the crisis of Communism."

In this social and economic history of the Indian working class of Durban, Bill Freund has woven strands of gender related, political, ethnic, and cultural issues into a complex and intriguing pattern. As "insiders and outsiders," the Indian working class presented an analytical challenge in studying economic history "from below." The result is a skillful representation of the nuances in the interplay of social forces, and the initiatives of particular classes and particular cultural formations, which simultaneously bring the larger picture into focus. The essential underlying concern of this book is to relate the history of this group to the changing nature of South African capitalism in the twentieth century. It unites an interest in people and agency with a conviction that structures are important in limiting the circumstances in which men and women pursue their destiny.

"This provocative book addresses the ideological and political crisis of the Western left, comparing it with the problems facing leftist politics in Russia and other countries. The author presents a radical critique of the current state of the Western left which puts discourse above class interest and politics of diversity above politics of social change. The trajectory away from class politics towards feminism, minority rights, and the coalition of coalitions led to the destruction of the basic strategic pillars of the movement. Some elements of this broad progressive agenda became mainstream, but in fact this made the crisis of the left even deeper and contributed to the disintegration of the left's identity. The author demonstrates that a simple return to 'the good old times' of classical socialist politics of the industrial age is not possible, suggesting that class politics must be redefined and reinvented through the experience of new radical populism. This book speaks directly to the way the identity politics / class politics divide has been framed within the English-speaking world. It will be of great interest to scholars and students of political science and political sociology, international relations, security studies, and global studies, as well as socialist activists"--

Book by Kalecki, Michal

About the Author SILVIU BRUCAN has had a long and distinguished career as an activist, diplomat, and scholar. He participated in the anti-fascist underground during World War II and was a leading dissident of the Ceausescu dictatorship and one of the leaders of the revolution of December 1989. He served as Romania's ambassador to the United States (1956-59) and to the United Nations (1959-62). He is the author of six earlier books in English, including The Wasted Generation and Pluralism and Social Conflict (Praeger, 1990). Product Description Brucan, a former Romanian ambassador to the United States and the United Nations, provides the first social history of the remarkable transition from communism to capitalism in Russia and Eastern Europe after the collapse of the Soviet Union. He begins with an examination of the old social structure in communist societies, which used to be cosmetically advertised by the party and officialdom, paying particular attention to the nomenklatura, who have miraculously transformed themselves into big businessmen and bankers. A chapter is devoted to the decline of the working class, whom Brucan shows to be the big loser in the revolution.He then examines the new social stratification, illustrating how the new classes are taking shape under the conditions created by market reform. The symbiosis between capital and power is analyzed in depth, and Ambassador Brucan concludes his study with a look at the direction the social transformations are pushing these societies, particularly the separate paths being followed by Russia and Eastern Europe. This is an important study for researchers, scholars, and policy makers involved with Russia and Eastern Europe. Review ?Brucan's is a thoughtful and a well-written book, reflecting the skill of an accomplished writer. Its sociological approach is a valuable addition to the discourse on the process of change in post-communist societies.?-Canadian Slavonic Papers"Brucan's is a thoughtful and a well-written book, reflecting the skill of an accomplished writer. Its sociological approach is a valuable addition to the discourse on the process of change in post-communist societies."-Canadian Slavonic Papers

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1921 edition. Excerpt: ... Chapter iv the nature of the russian revolution vThe Russian revolution seemingly mocked the specific forecasts of Marx and Engels as it defied the generally accepted Marxian law of social evolution./. It was neither preceded nor supplemented by a general working class revolution in the West. It did not spring from the village community. That institution had been rapidly and steadily declining until 1917. It did not succeed an outworn_capitalist-system.' CapitalismoccupTeoTa comparatively insignificant part in the economic life of Russia. The Russian reyolution owes morp to the unusual conditions created by the war tnartto thYliormal "course of the country's economic or political development."" Thejnain factors of its success were: / 1. The sudden collapse of the whole organization of national life. A 2. The utter demoralization of the bureaucracy. y3. A weak and unorganized bourgeoisie, y 4. An impoverished, war-weary, rebellious and desperate population. 5. An overwhelmingly large and land-hungry peasantry. 6. Millions of workers and peasants organized into an army and suddenly freed from military discipline--a liberated and armed people available for revolutionary service. 7. Spontaneously created but relatively strong and well-knit organizations of industrial workers in the large cities, who represented the only active and cohesive social force of the country. 8. A small but resolute group of Socialists trained in European theories of Socialism and ready to assume and to exercise leadership. The early Socialist movement of Russia has been characterized as the 'lilleyitimate chil(Lof-Asiatic-R-ttssia and European Capitalism " jfFrom the point of view of the conventional Marxian historian the Russian revolution may be described as the...

First published in 2004, this book tells the stories of four remarkable British women, whose lives were scorched by Stalin's purges. One was shot as a spy; one nearly died as a slave labourer in Kazakhstan; and two saw their husbands taken away to the gulag and had to spirit their small children out of the country. We think of the horrors of the middle of the twentieth century- the Holocaust in Central Europe, the purges in the Soviet Union- as something foreign: terrible, but remote. Rosal Rust, Rose Cohen, Freda Utley, and Pearl Rimel were all Londoners. Like hundreds of young, idealistic Britons in the 1930s, they looked to the Soviet Union for inspiration, for a way in which society could be run better, without the exploitation and poverty which unrestrained capitalism had created. They were less fortunate than most of us: they saw their dreams fulfilled. In this book, Francis Beckett draws on personal letters, interviews with surviving relatives and archivists to create a picture of four courageous, intelligent, and very different women. The result is a harrowing human document with vivid and unforgettable insights into the world of Stalin's Russia: its secret trials, labour camps, random disappearances, and concealed executions.

"Translated from the original Russian, this book analyzes the economic development of leading European empires and the United States of America. The author exposes the myths of the spontaneous emergence of the market economy and the role of government as a disincentive towards private initiative, when for centuries the state power has been carrying out a "coercing to the market" with all its strength. This book presents a somewhat epic depiction of the development of Western hegemonic powers within the capitalist world system, from the struggles of the late Middle Ages to the rise and crisis of the American Empire. It both develops and questions some of the traditional assumptions of the world-system theory, arguing that it was very much the political form of the state that shaped capitalism as we know it and that, though the existence of a hegemonic power results from the logic of the system, hegemony is often missing in reality.A major work of historical Marxist theory, this book is essential reading for students of international political economy, globalisation and the crisis of capitalism. This book is also ideal for students of politics, history, economics and international relations"--