Monthly Review Press

Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War against Apartheid reviewed in the Daily Maverick

Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War against Apartheid reviewed in the Daily Maverick

February 20, 2024

As 2013 bled into 2014, I read two books that on the surface, had nothing to do with each other. Yet they led me to a startling realisation that made me think perhaps they should be set reading for all South Africans ... a 'history' that should be recognised as a definitive account of the struggle era and some of its key actors, is the recently published Joe Slovo and Ruth First in the War against Apartheid, by Alan Wieder.

Steve Early discusses Save Our Unions on Alternative Visions Radio

Steve Early discusses Save Our Unions on Alternative Visions Radio

February 20, 2024

Steve Early is the author of Save Our Unions: Dispatches from a Movement in Distress, recently published by Monthly Review Press. He is interviewed by Dr. Jack Rasmus, discussing the strategic implications of the past four decades of partial victories, and numerous defeats, suffered by union labor in America, and what 'needs to be done' going forward if unions are to rise again to play the economic and social role in the future they once did in the past.

Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War against Apartheid reviewed in the Morning Star

Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War against Apartheid reviewed in the Morning Star

February 20, 2024

Alan Wieder has put his oral history expertise together with already existing material on Ruth First and Joe Slovo to construct a remarkable record of these two heroes of South African emancipation. When Nelson Mandela went to Camden Town's Lyme Street to unveil a blue plaque on the house where they lived in exile from 1966 to 1978, he noted their description as freedom fighters. "This means they were Communists," he explained to his audience, for some of whom this bluntly positive assessment of a political current that was supposed to be over and done was a little disquieting.

Registering Class reviewed in The Spokesman

Registering Class reviewed in The Spokesman

February 20, 2024

The Socialist Register 2014 is the 50th edition of the journal which was founded by Ralph Miliband and John Saville in 1964 to advance socialist analysis and discussion. It was an offshoot of the New Left, but reflected a different approach from that of the New Left Review editors, Perry Anderson and Tom Nairn. Over the years, it has produced a rich collection of contributions on socialist ideas.

Back in Print! Value and Crisis: Essays on Marxian Economics in Japan by Makoto Itoh

Back in Print! Value and Crisis: Essays on Marxian Economics in Japan by Makoto Itoh

February 20, 2024

Value and Crisis opens with a long and highly informative essay on the development of Marxian economics in Japan, and contains a number of the author's important and original contributions to this stream of thought. Itoh discusses the major points of view on Marx's theory of value, on theories of crisis, and on problems of Marx's theory of market value. The essays demonstrate a wide-ranging familiarity with all the major theoretical schools of Marxist thought. In dealing with theories of crisis, for example, Itoh succinctly summarizes and criticizes the points of view of Tugan-Baranovsky, Hilferding, Bauer, Kautsky, Bukharin, and Luxemburg, as well as Grossman, Sweezy, and the Japanese Marxist Kozo Uno, together with the relevant parts of Capital. The book includes a section on the 1930s Great Depression in the context of the theoretical discussion about crisis theory.

Ronnie Kasrils discusses Nelson Mandela on Democracy Now!

Ronnie Kasrils discusses Nelson Mandela on Democracy Now!

February 20, 2024

Ronnie Kasrils was a leader of the anti-apartheid movement in South Africa, Minister of Intelligence in the post-apartheid government, and author of The Unlikely Secret Agent, published by Monthly Review Press. He's interviewed on Democracy Now!, discussing his relationship with Nelson Mandela and how the ANC's economic views have shifted.

Henry Giroux interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters

Henry Giroux interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters

February 20, 2024

Henry Giroux is the author of America's Education Deficit and the War on Youth, published this year by Monthly Review Press. He was interviewed on Background Briefing with Ian Masters, discussing his recent appearance on Bill Moyers, "zombie politics," student activism, and more. Background Briefing is broadcast by KPFK in Los Angeles and syndicated around the United States.

Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War against Apartheid reviewed by Counterfire

Ruth First and Joe Slovo in the War against Apartheid reviewed by Counterfire

February 20, 2024

A remarkable political biography of two activists who devoted their lives to the struggle for equality in South Africa... Given its wealth of detail, the wide range of interviews that Weider has conducted, and the letters to which he has been granted access, it deserves to remain the definitive biography of First and Slovo for a long time... This timely book should be read by all who seek to understand the remarkable couple and the struggle against apartheid in South Africa in depth.

NEW! Save Our Unions: Dispatches from A Movement in Distress by Steve Early

NEW! Save Our Unions: Dispatches from A Movement in Distress by Steve Early

February 20, 2024

Save Our Unions: Dispatches From A Movement in Distress brings together recent essays and reporting by labor journalist Steve Early. The author illuminates the challenges facing U.S. workers, whether they're trying to democratize their union, win a strike, defend past contract gains, or bargain with management for the first time. Save Our Unions contains vivid portraits of rank-and-file heroes and heroines, both well-known and unsung. It takes readers to union conventions and funerals, strikes and picket-lines, celebrations of labor's past and struggles to insure that unions still have a future in the 21st century. The book's insight, analysis and advocacy make this an important contribution to the project of labor revitalization and reform.

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