Category: Monthly Review Press /

The first war the U.S. lost: Korea, not forgotten, hidden (Tim Beal in ‘Pearls and Irritations’)

February 20, 2024

Wars never start on the date given in history books. There is always a pre-history, a series of events and decisions that lead to the outbreak of fighting. The war in Korea has been called in America the ‘Forgotten War’ and it is not difficult to see why it was soon shunted out of public sight, consigned to oblivion. It was the first war that the United States did not win and it ended in an armistice, a concession of stalemate, but also an ominous indicator of unfinished business...

Theory that brings us closer to a world that places “capitalism” firmly in the past (The Dialectics of Dependency reviewed in ‘Systemic Disorder’)

February 20, 2024

Rather than believe in Santa Claus or fairy tales, far better that the dynamics of capitalism be grasped in their full dimensions. Only by understanding how and why, and drawing appropriate conclusions, rather than simply observing, can the world’s exploited — the vast majority of humanity — hope to see a better world come into being, a world that will have put capitalism into the history books.

“So much drama, infighting, passion” (Radek: A Novel reviewed during #Germanlitmonth)

February 20, 2024

Admittedly he was Lenin’s man rather than Stalin’s. He was a passenger on Lenin’s famous sealed train. He made the mistake, however, of aligning himself for ideological reasons with Trotsky after Lenin died, a decision he never really recovered from. I got the impression, from Heym’s telling, that Stalin played cat to Radek’s mouse ever afterward.

Many millions gone (Endless Holocausts reviewed in ‘Counterpunch’)

February 20, 2024

Ron Jacobs, of Counterpunch: "David Michael Smith and Monthly Review Press have done us a favor by publishing this book. Not only is it honestly refreshing, it is perhaps the most important history of the United States published in recent years. There are no excuses here, no rationales; just an accounting of the essential truth in the making and maintenance of the US empire. It is harsh. It is relentless. It cannot be any other way. The endless death described in its pages does not allow another interpretation."

An inspiration and a warning (Ross’ How the Workers’ Parliaments Saved the Cuban Revolution reviewed in ‘Morning Star’)

February 20, 2024

Cuba’s continuing economic crisis has produced a social malaise that manifests itself in many ways. One of them has been a political detachment including a decrease in political and electoral participation. Ross’s account of Cuba’s survival is at the same time an inspiration to everyone struggling for socialism, and a warning of the challenges to be faced in building it...

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