Category: Monthly Review Press /

NEW! Race in Cuba: Essays on the Revolution and Racial Inequality by Esteban Morales Domínguez

NEW! Race in Cuba: Essays on the Revolution and Racial Inequality by Esteban Morales Domínguez

February 20, 2024

Esteban Morales Domínguez is one of Cuba's most prominent Afro-Cuban intellectuals and its leading authority on the race question. Available for the first time in English, the essays collected here describe the problem of racial inequality in Cuba, provide evidence of its existence, constructively criticize efforts by the Cuban political leadership to end discrimination, and point to a possible way forward.

The Contradictions of "Real Socialism" reviewed in International Critical Thought

The Contradictions of "Real Socialism" reviewed in International Critical Thought

February 20, 2024

In The Contradictions of Real Socialism Lebowitz provides an insightful and penetrating analysis of the problems with the 'vanguard' leadership and he offers a partial blueprint for the socialism of the future. This new type of socialism will be founded upon the full and democratic participation of the workers and its goal will be the production of richly developed human beings. While scholars of Marxism and socialism are likely to be more appreciative of the complexities and details of Lebowitz's book, its overall outlines are sufficiently clear to the general reader. Furthermore, this book seems to be intended not just for the socialist audience, but appears to be designed for an even larger group of readers. Anyone interested in the complimentary problems of real leadership and of involving workers in determining their own destinies will find Lebowitz's thought-provoking book of considerable interest.

What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism reviewed on Critical-Theory.com

What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know about Capitalism reviewed on Critical-Theory.com

February 20, 2024

You have that friend. You know, the well-intentioned liberal who thinks that by recycling your Coca Cola cans and composting your GMO fruits and vegetables, all of the sudden, everything will be okay. Capitalism? "Well, we can't escape that," they say "So I'm just going to keep drinking Naked Juice and wearing an obscene amount of patchouli." Fred Magdoff and John Bellamy Foster's "What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism," is a remedy for this quixotic crusader. A "Citizen's Guide to Capitalism and the Environment," Magdoff and Foster write with great lucidity the case against a "green capitalism."

David McReynolds on the '63 Freedom March and A Freedom Budget for All Americans

David McReynolds on the '63 Freedom March and A Freedom Budget for All Americans

February 20, 2024

In connection with the events this month there is a new book out by Paul Le Blanc and Michael D. Yates, A Freedom Budget for All Americans. This is published by Monthly Review Press, is due for print in September (I have the uncorrected proof, which Paul Le Blanc was kind enough to send me). Bayard had been very concerned that the March would not lead to the next steps, which he felt should be an effort to put forward a political and economic program to give the civil rights movement a "floor", a program for full employment ... It is good to have two socialist thinkers sketch out not only the history of the original Freedom Budget, but also give us an updated look at what such a budget might look like today.

NEW! Capitalist Globalization: Consequences, Resistance, and Alternatives by Martin Hart-Landsberg

NEW! Capitalist Globalization: Consequences, Resistance, and Alternatives by Martin Hart-Landsberg

February 20, 2024

This book examines the historical record of globalization and restores agency to the capitalists, policy-makers, and politicians who worked to craft a regime of world-wide exploitation. It demolishes their neoliberal ideology – already on shaky ground after the 2008 financial crisis – and picks apart the record of trade agreements like NAFTA and institutions like the WTO. But, crucially, Hart-Landsberg also discusses alternatives to capitalist globalization, looking to examples such as South America's Bolivarian Alliance for the Americas (ALBA) for clues on how to build an international economy based on solidarity, social development, and shared prosperity.

America's Education Deficit and the War on Youth reviewed in the Progressive Populist

America's Education Deficit and the War on Youth reviewed in the Progressive Populist

February 20, 2024

In America's Education Deficit and the War on Youth, Henry A. Giroux focuses on the dysfunctional nature of US culture and politics. Giroux offers an alternative to the corporate-teaching model prevailing in US K-12 schools now. To this end, he analyzes mainstream assumptions and conclusions about the social purpose of education. He terms our present moment as an era of "casino capitalism." In this time of an ultra-rich minority calling the cultural and political shots, Giroux is a vital voice against corporate education reformers that talk progress for students and fund tests that restrict classroom curriculum and subvert critical thought.

Back in Print! The Longer View: Essays Toward a Critique of Political Economy by Paul Baran

Back in Print! The Longer View: Essays Toward a Critique of Political Economy by Paul Baran

February 20, 2024

These essays by the author of The Political Economy of Growth and co-author of Monopoly Capital cover the working range of a strong and original mind. They are as diverse as his well-known discussion of Marxism and psychoanalysis, and his expert handling of the politics and economics of development. The themes of Baran's major works were expressed in these shorter essays with a vigor and personal style that preserves much of the flavor of Baran's day-to-day reflections. They display, as John O'Neill says in his introduction, "a breadth of sociological and economic analysis which represents a unique conquest of mind in its ability to situate itself in an environment where disorientation and abdication threaten many social thinkers." Edited with an introduction by John O'Neill and with a preface by Paul M. Sweezy.

The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy reviewed on Systemic Disorder

The Rise of China and the Demise of the Capitalist World Economy reviewed on Systemic Disorder

February 20, 2024

The world is not limitless, yet growth without limits is touted as a permanent economic elixir. But natural resources aren't infinite, nor can demand be infinite. What happens when the limits of growth are reached? We aren't supposed to ask that question about capitalism; the assumption is that economic activity will always grow. The insertion of China into the world capitalist system has created the opportunity for more growth as a country of 1.3 billion people has been thrown open to the world's markets. But what if, rather than throwing capitalism a lifeline in the form of a vast pool of consumers who will drive demand, China instead will fatally destabilize an already weakened world economic system?

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