Category: Monthly Review Press /

THE SYRIZA WAVE reviewed  by Dromos tis Aristeras (The Road Left)

THE SYRIZA WAVE reviewed by Dromos tis Aristeras (The Road Left)

Helena Sheehan did not become a friend of Greece only because of the crisis. She begins her new book The Syriza Wave writing, “Greece lived in my imagination long before I set foot in it….” Sheehan studied philosophy, became a philosopher, a professor at Dublin University, and wrote important books like Marxism and the Philosophy of Science: A Critical History. For 25 years, she monitored the political situation in Greece. At the start of the crisis, she was one of the first in Europe to highlight the rise of the left in the south and to play a part in the creation of a dynamic pan-European solidarity movement.

“SYRIZA Self-Destructs”: Helena Sheehan interviewed by HuffPost Greece

“SYRIZA Self-Destructs”: Helena Sheehan interviewed by HuffPost Greece

From her youth, Irish philosopher and historian Helena Sheehan admired ancient Athens, both its democracy and Socratic dialogues. In a rich academic life, she has explored philosophy of history and Marxist theory. In the 1990s she traveled often to our country with her partner Sam Nolan, secretary of Dublin Council of Trade Unions and political activist. She discovered the world of the Greek left and the birth of Synaspismos.

Haiti at a Crossroads: Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 4 – with Gerald Horne

Haiti at a Crossroads: Los Angeles, Saturday, Feb. 4 – with Gerald Horne

Come to a fundraiser for the Haiti Emergency Relief Fund, where Gerald Horne will talk about his book, Confronting Black Jacobins: The United States, the Haitian Revolution, and the Origins of the Dominican Republic, and Pierre Labossiere, co-founder of the Haiti Action Committee, will give an update on the current situation in Haiti.

Celebrate Rosa Luxemburg’s birthday (her 146th) and, against all odds, bring on a swift transition to socialism!

Celebrate Rosa Luxemburg’s birthday (her 146th) and, against all odds, bring on a swift transition to socialism!

To celebrate Red Rosa’s March 5 birthday, to mark the inarguable fact that, even in death, Rosa Luxemburg is the antithesis of Donald Trump, and to lament the injustice that, while she went to prison, nobody in the Trump administration is there yet…

Monthly Review Press is proud to offer a 50% discount on all our books
—both print and electronic—
Starting midnight, March 5 and ending midnight, March 10
Just enter the coupon code: 50OFFMAY510 to receive 50% off at checkout

“Socialism or Nothing” – Imperialism in the 21st Century reviewed by PM Press

“Socialism or Nothing” – Imperialism in the 21st Century reviewed by PM Press

John Smith opens his study Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century with a flashback to the collapse of Rana Plaza in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in April 2013. With more than 1000 garment workers killed, it was ‘one of the worst workplace disasters in recorded history.’ Smith emphasizes that its occurrence in a country with some of the most exploited workers on the planet is hardly coincidental. Rather, it is a stark reminder of a brutal global regime serving the interests of capital and disregarding the lives of millions of people feeding it, most of whom live in what was once known as the ‘Third World’ and is today commonly referred to as the ‘Global South.’

Organized labor against Batista: International Journal of Cuban Studies reviews A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution

Organized labor against Batista: International Journal of Cuban Studies reviews A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution

London-based trade union activist Steve Cushion has written an invaluable contribution to our understanding of victory of the Cuban revolutionary forces in 1959 by focusing on the role of organized labor in the defeat of the Batista dictatorship. Leaning heavily on the labor archives of the Institute of Cuban History in Havana and interviews with participants in the struggles, Cushion fashions a well-written and well-researched account of the role of the working class struggles and their interplay with the rural guerrilla army and the armed urban under-ground….

Marta Harnecker: “Nobody can deny that a new revolutionary subject has been created in Venezuela”

Marta Harnecker: “Nobody can deny that a new revolutionary subject has been created in Venezuela”

Q: You are coming to Greece for a Conference on the actuality of Marx’s theoretical system. In the midst of a severe international financial crisis, what lessons can we draw from Marx’s critique of political economy?
MH: I believe it is incredible how Marx anticipated what would happen in the world in regards to the development of the capitalist mode of production. To name only a few things: he announced the tendency to concentrate more and more in less hands (look at transnationals today), the conscious technical application of science to the process of production in general and especially to the exploitation of soil (look at robotic and transgenic agriculture), the entanglement of all peoples in the net of the world market, and, with this, the growth of the international character of the capitalist regime (look at globalization), and so on.

New! Union Power: The United Electrical Workers in Erie, Pennsylvania

New! Union Power: The United Electrical Workers in Erie, Pennsylvania

The United Electrical Workers Union, built by hundreds of rank-and-file worker-activists in the quintessentially industrial town of Erie, Pennsylvania, was able to transform the conditions of the working class largely because it went beyond the standard call for living wages to demand quantum leaps in worker control over workplaces, community institutions, and the policies of the federal government itself. James Young’s book is a richly empowering history told from below, showing that the collective efforts of the many can challenge the supremacy of the few.