Category: Reviews /

In the public eye: Andy Merrifield

"Roses for Gramsci," excerpted: '“The seeds have been very slow in pushing up small sprouts,” he tells Tatiana, again maybe referring to himself and to the life of a Marxist radical; “an entire series obstinately insists on living an underground life.” Each day, Gramsci says, he’s seized by the temptation to pull at them a little, making them grow a little faster.....'

In the public eye: Contributors to “A Land With A People”

The latest from Mohammed Mhawish: "We have to ask ourselves: Do we know Hind? Of course we’ve heard her voice, or maybe have seen the building someone renamed after her at Columbia in her honor — which matters, and which she would have deserved, and which is still not the same as knowing her. But do we know her laughter, the way she moved through a room, what she was afraid of, what she loved, the world she was building inside herself at six years old? We learn none of it from the film. We learn it, if we learn it at all, from the interviews her mother gave on the side, on other people’s platforms. The film that claims her voice does not make space for her life."
In the public eye: Gabriel Rockhill’s “Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?”

In the public eye: Gabriel Rockhill’s “Who Paid the Pipers of Western Marxism?”

The latest: ""...The narrative begins with the CIA’s pursuit of Che Guevara, using it as an entry point to discuss ideological warfare. Rockhill highlights Guevara’s own belief in the importance of media and ideology, shaped by his experience of U.S. propaganda during the Guatemalan coup. The book is structured in three parts: first, outlining the “imperial intellectual apparatus” of the Cold War; second, a detailed examination of the Frankfurt School’s integration into U.S. and West German institutions, with a focused case study on Herbert Marcuse's documented ties to U.S. government projects; and finally, a conclusion contrasting what he terms “imperial” Marxism with anti-imperialist traditions. Rockhill’s work challenges the perception that “Western Marxism” emerged organically solely from within the Western workers’ movement or intelligentsia. He proposes that powerful external forces consciously nurtured certain theoretical directions. His ultimate conclusion is that the dominant Marxist tradition inherited in Western academia is a depoliticized one, shaped by the very powers it claimed to critique, and thus ill-suited for building concrete revolutionary alternatives...."
In the public eye: John Bellamy Foster’s “Breaking the Bonds of Fate”

In the public eye: John Bellamy Foster’s “Breaking the Bonds of Fate”

The latest: "Epicurus set up schools, first in Lampsacus (in modern day Turkey), then later in Athens. Other philosophical schools in the city used public space for lectures and attracted young, well educated, aristocratic Greek men. His critique of the ruling classes that dominated these schools that “'Nothing is enough for those for whom enough is too little' is as applicable today as in his age...."
In the public eye: Steve Cushion’s “Slavery in the British Empire and its Legacy in the Modern World”

In the public eye: Steve Cushion’s “Slavery in the British Empire and its Legacy in the Modern World”

The latest: "And what of those who had been 'freed'? They received precisely nothing, in fact worse than nothing because they were required to remain in their former owners’ service for four years, although this was now referred to as an “apprenticeship”. The change in British law naturally made no difference to the fate of enslaved people in the USA’s southern states but Cushion, rightly, goes to some lengths to show how British capital continued to benefit..." One of the most impressive things about Steve Cushion is his extremely active approach to engaging the public around the topic of reparations, and using his books as a means of pushing for meaningful change on the ground....
William Costa’s translation of “Paraguayan Sorrow”

William Costa’s translation of “Paraguayan Sorrow”

Barrett has always been close to the hearts of Paraguayan radicals, who, along with his progeny, have kept his memory alive. And he is known throughout the Southern Cone of South America, though his work has suffered long periods of relative neglect there. However, there has been a resurgence of interest in his life and work. We hope that with the publication of this first English translation of his major work, which includes his powerful set of essays The Truth of the Yerba Mate Forests, the life and works of Rafael Barrett will inspire readers in the English-speaking world. His words speak to today’s workers and peasants as they did to their Paraguayan counterparts more than 100 years ago....
In the public eye: Helena Sheehan

In the public eye: Helena Sheehan

Socialist History: Issue 67, by Dianne Kirby “The cover of part two of Helena Sheehan’s autobiography, Until We Fall: Long Distance Life on the Left, is inspired by Geliy Korzhev’s... READ MORE