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Review of the Month
Eco-Marxism and Prometheus Unbound: Capitalist versus Socialist Ecomodernism
In Aeschylus’s play Prometheus Bound, the Prometheus is a revolutionary figure. Defying divine interdiction to bring fire to humanity, the Titan has since been adopted by thinkers from the Enlightenment to today to represent revolutionary forces in human existence. So, John Bellamy Foster asks in November’s Review of the Month, what is “Prometheanism,” and how has the term been used (and misused) in discussions of Marx, the ecological crisis, and sustainable human development?
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Article
The World Wants to Advance to Socialism
In this far-reaching analysis, Vijay Prashad enumerates the conditions of the current conjuncture that, despite seemingly intractable capitalist and imperialist hegemony, point to a reinvigorated revolutionary consciousness among the global population. In a world of capitalist degradation, Prashad declares: "A politics to produce dignity is a socialist politics…. Capitalism inherently generates forms of inequality and indignity. Therefore, all undertakings that seek dignity for all are socialist projects."
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Article
Debt as a Tool of Domination: The IMF’s New Loan and Argentina’s Subordination to Global Capital
In a follow-up to their May 2024 article about the IMF'S vise-grip on Argentina's economy, David Barkin and Juan E. Santarcàngelo examine how recent events continue to shape the efforts of the global and domestic ruling classes to dominate Argentine society through debt, currency scams, and political malfeasance. Underlying all of this, they note, is the continued encroachment of the IMF on Argentina's sovereignty, aided and abetted by the far-right president Javier Milei.
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Article
Exploring the Chinese Revolution Today
Helena Sheehan reflects on the evolution of her intellectual political relationship to China, a journey that began with limited knowledge of a seemingly far-away land and ends with a nuanced understanding grounded in her on-the-ground experiences as a visiting professor at Peking University. Through political and cultural analysis, Sheehan gives readers a peek into what how the Chinese Revolution continues to unfold.
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Review
Hubert Harrison: A Giant Remembered
Paul Buhle reviews Hubert Harrison: Forbidden Genius of Black Radicalism, a new biography of the seminal—yet previously lesser known—activist and journalist, Hubert Harrison. Through this new intellectual and cultural study of Harrison's remarkable life and work, Buhle writes, author Brian Kwoba tells a story of a man ahead of his time in challenging white supremacy and capitalism through Black radical thought.
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Review of the Month
Ecological Marxism in the Anthropocene
In this interview with Xu Tao and Lv Jiayi, John Bellamy Foster discuss the history and present of ecological Marxism. Foster explores origins of the term Anthropocene and its predecessors, the concept of degrowth, the continuing influence of metabolic rift theory, and the cutting-edge issues facing young scholars of degrowth today.
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Article
Has the Anthropocene Been Canceled?
Ian Angus illuminates the politics behind the decision by the International Union of Geological Sciences not to recognize the Anthropocene as a formal geological epoch. In recounting the debate, Angus explores how the organization undermined the conclusions of top scientists to oppose the establishment of the Anthropocene, and its implications for the public debate about the planetary crisis.
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Article
Marxism and the History of Philosophy
"Why," Helena Sheehan asks, "have Marxists…put so much emphasis on the history of philosophy?" She adds: "Is the current G. W. F. Hegel revival conductive to coming to terms with the current conjuncture?" In answering these questions, Sheehan elucidates deep truths about the core of Marxist philosophy and practice, and the importance of remaining deeply rooted in the real world.
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Article
The Economics Profession “Discovers” Secular Stagnation
Michael Meeropol, Howard J. Sherman, and Paul D. Sherman give an account of how mainstream economists came to adopt the idea of secular stagnation, even without recognizing its origins in the work of Marxist economist and MR founder Paul M. Sweezy. The turn, they write, came in the wake of the Great Recession, when the tendency toward stagnation in the U.S. economy became undeniable.
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Review
The Long Road of Tariq Ali
Paul Buhle reviews two books by renowned leftist Tariq Ali. In these two texts, Buhle writes, one can read and discern a history of the UK left. Through Ali's autobiography, Buhle writes, readers can experience the ups and downs of various factions, from the Labour Party to Trotskyist journals; through his memoirs, we get a sense of Ali's deep insights, drawn from his extensive travels and a life deeply embedded in history.
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Review
The Ethics and Dialectics of Freedom and Universality: The Sources of Materialist Moral Judgments
Oscar R. Ralda reviews Vanessa Christina Wills's Marx's Ethical Vision (2024). Wills's text, Ralda notes, demonstrates a "facility with which [she] deals with Marx's works, as well as a "strong philosophical case…for the ongoing relevance of a coherent Marxian moral theory." The latter, Rada notes, sheds light on the moral imperative to work toward socialist liberation from a foundation of resolute Marxian values.
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CLASSICS
Unequal Exchange
Open Veins of Latin America
Labor and Monopoly Capital
Albert Einstein’s “Why Socialism?"
Marx’s Ecology
Discourse on Colonialism
Consciencism
Return to the Source
Racism and The Class Struggle
Anarchism
The Art of Democracy
Fanshen
Hidden History of the Korean War
Available now! “Breaking the Bonds of Fate: Epicurus and Marx” (Excerpt)
Praise for: Breaking the Bonds of Fate From David Sedley, The Hellenistic Philosophers (coeditor, cotranslator with A.A.Long): “This is a book we have long needed. A dark corner of the... READ MORE
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Forthcoming: “Silencing Fighting Bob: The Attack on Antiwar Progressives During the First World War” (Excerpt)
From: Chapter 3 “…As governor of Wisconsin, La Follette sought to defend the interests of the small farmer by pushing for greater regulation of the railroads. He successfully pushed through... READ MORE
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In the public eye: “Slavery in the British Empire and its Legacy in the Modern World”
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....
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In The Guardian: William Costa, translator of Rafael Barrett’s “Paraguayan Sorrow”
Anarchist chronicler of ‘Paraguayan sorrow’ – once known only in radical Latin American circles – is finally being recognized in his adopted country....
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