Category: Monthly Review Press /

Lettuce Wars reviewed in the Huffington Post

February 20, 2024

The author of Lettuce Wars has produced a most compelling work. It will be of particular interest to other former "colonizers" who got active in the labor movement in the 1970s as members of various left-wing groups, including the RCP. Lettuce Wars should be also be read by their younger, union-backed counterparts, who are now "salting" non-union hotels, warehouses, and fast food joints in the pursuit of goals more modest than world revolution.

The Implosion of Contemporary Capitalism reviewed by Systemic Disorder

February 20, 2024

...[A]n international movement that brings together the peoples of the global North and the global South, with a common goal of nationalizing the monopolies that currently have a stranglehold on the world's economy and a commitment to "de-financialization" (a "world without Wall Street") is not only possible but indispensable, argues Samir Amin in his latest book, The Implosion of Contemporary Capitalism. These would not be ends unto themselves, but rather the first necessary steps on a long road toward a sustainable and equitable future.

"Bold New Era or Hard Times for Organized Labor?" Seattle MRP event w/ Steve Early and Arun Gupta

February 20, 2024

Is this a Bold New Era or Hard Times for Organized Labor? Find out at a Monthly Review Press book event and discussion of workers' movements in the U.S. and abroad, on Monday, May 5, 7 P.M., at Elliott Bay Books in Seattle! Meet former CWA organizer Steve Early, author of Save Our Unions, and Arun Gupta, contributor to In These Times and Registering Class, the 2014 edition of Socialist Register. Singers from the Seattle Labor Chorus will perform!

Read an Excerpt from Silvertown in LINKS: International Journal of Socialist Renewal

February 20, 2024

Read an exclusive excerpt from historian John Tully's new book, Silvertown: The Lost Story of a Strike that Shook London and Helped Launch the Modern Labor Movement, in which Tully describes living and working conditions in the Silvetown district of London leading up to a massive strike in 1889.

NEW! Magnus Hirschfeld: The Origins of the Gay Liberation Movement by Ralf Dose

February 20, 2024

Magnus Hirschfeld (1868-1935) was one of the first great pioneers of the gay liberation movement. This biography, first published to acclaim in Germany, follows Hirschfeld from his birth in the Prussian province of Pomerania to the heights of his career during the Weimar Republic and the rise of German fascism. Ralf Dose illuminates Hirschfeld's ground-breaking role in the gay liberation movement and explains some of his major theoretical concepts, which continue to influence our understanding of human sexuality and social justice today.

NEW! Silvertown: The Lost Story of a Strike that Shook London and Helped Launch the Modern Labor Movement by John Tully

February 20, 2024

In 1889, Samuel Winkworth Silver's rubber and electrical factory was the site of a massive worker revolt that upended the London industrial district which bore his name: Silvertown. Once referred to as the "Abyss" by Jack London, Silvertown was notorious for oppressive working conditions and the relentless grind of production suffered by its largely unorganized, unskilled workers. These workers, fed-up with their lot and long ignored by traditional craft unions, aligned themselves with the socialist-led "New Unionism" movement. Their ensuing strike paralyzed Silvertown for three months. Historian and novelist John Tully tells the story of the Silvertown strike in vivid prose. He rescues the uprising—overshadowed by other strikes during this period—from relative obscurity and argues for its significance to both the labor and socialist movements.

NEW! PolyluxMarx: An Illustrated Workbook for Studying Marx’s Capital

February 20, 2024

by Valeria Bruschi, Antonella Muzzupappa, Sabine Nuss, Anne Stecklner and Ingo Stützle; translated by Alexander Locascio. Reading Capital can be a daunting endeavor and most readers need guidance when tackling this complex work. PolyluxMarx provides such guidance. Developed by scholars and political activists associated with the Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung (Foundation), one of the leading political education institutions in Germany, this book has been field tested with groups studying Marx's masterpiece over several years. It consists of a large set of PowerPoint presentations, combined with detailed annotations and suggestions for ways to discuss the material.

Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War Against Apartheid reviewed in International Socialism

February 20, 2024

Joe Slovo and Ruth First were South Africans who spent their lives (and in Ruth's case gave her life) in the struggle against apartheid. They were also members of the South African Communist Party (SACP) for most of their adult lives. They married in the late 1940s and despite a stormy relationship remained together until Ruth First was murdered in Mozambique's capital Maputo in 1982. Their lives are worthy of celebration (and study) and Alan Wieder has written the first thorough account of their lives. The book details the struggle in South Africa in the 1940s and 1950s and their life in exile in Britain, and across sub-Saharan Africa. Wieder presents the politics of this revolutionary couple with the sympathetic though critical attention they deserve.

America’s Education Deficit and the War on Youth reviewed in CHOICE

February 20, 2024

In comparison to other books and their focus on education reform, Giroux (McMaster Univ., Canada) provides a much more poignant and global perspective on the social and political disenfranchisement of today's youth and how the social and political impact education (and vice versa). Such issues are honed (almost) exclusively with a concern for youth from impoverished and/or diverse backgrounds, but done so with fairness and well-sustained arguments. Throughout the book, Giroux maintains a methodical approach to the discussion and cites specific and (surprisingly) contemporary examples of skewed social perceptions of youth from diverse backgrounds (e.g., hoodie politics).

The Endless Crisis reviewed in Labour / Le Travail

February 20, 2024

The authors, eminent representatives of the Monthly Review or monopoly capital school, argue that giant corporations, not free or efficient markets, dominate the economy. We live in a perverse world where powerful firms extract high profits but this becomes an economic problem as core national economies suffer from weak final demand, industrial overcapacity, and lack of investment. Foster and McChesney also challenge nationalist perspectives, insisting the economy should be conceived as a global whole.