Monthly Review Press

“Can We Re-Invent Work?” Work Work Work reviewed in ‘The Bullet’)

“Can We Re-Invent Work?” Work Work Work reviewed in ‘The Bullet’)

Most of what Yates writes about in these essays reflects a deep understanding of Marxism and its application to an understanding of working-class strategy and necessary agendas. His critique of social democracy, as practiced both by elements within the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA) and the classical so-called Labour parties, is the kind of thinking that is absolutely necessary to help guide a future working-class strategy.

Work could be different (Yates featured in ‘Labor Notes’)

Work could be different (Yates featured in ‘Labor Notes’)

...From the employer’s point of view, our labor power is simply a commodity, no different than the inanimate buildings, machines, tools, and raw materials purchased by businesses. Given our circumstances, we must sell this commodity to survive. But after we do, the employer has no guarantee that our capacity to toil will be converted into actual work effort. Workers have always resisted their commodity status...

Labor can be used to create wealth for others…or to create life (Work Work Work in ‘Truthout’)

Labor can be used to create wealth for others…or to create life (Work Work Work in ‘Truthout’)

On this Labor Day, perhaps it is time for all members of the world’s working class, to ask themselves, why is work so often a “torment,” an “affliction,” done under “compulsion”? Why does it feel as if our bosses are “persecuting” us? Why does it wreck our bodies? Why does it seem so meaningless? It certainly doesn’t have to be and was not for most of our time on Earth....

Inextricable connections: war and fascism abroad, and threats to workers at home (!Brigadistas! reviewed in ‘Portside NY’)

Inextricable connections: war and fascism abroad, and threats to workers at home (!Brigadistas! reviewed in ‘Portside NY’)

!Brigadistas! is a valuable, accessible textual and visual representation of history. It is recommended for those who are familiar with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the Spanish Civil War, and the left of the 1930s and would find refreshing a reminder of its history. And, even more, !Brigadistas! can serve as a vibrant tool for political education for those who would be new to the subject.

The Return of Nature wins ASA’s Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Award

The Return of Nature wins ASA’s Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Award

MR editor John Bellamy Foster’s The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2020) was the recipient of the Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Award of the Section on Marxist Sociology of the American Sociological Association for 2022...

Notice what Kohei Saito is reading?

Notice what Kohei Saito is reading?

In this image, Kohei Saito holds a copy of "Monopoly Capital," by Baran and Sweezy. Saito’s book "Capital in the Anthropocene" (Editor's note: Not to be confused with John Bellamy Foster's book by a similar name) has become an unlikely hit among young people and is about to be translated into English...