Monthly Review Press

The Contradictions of “Real Socialism” reviewed in Z Magazine

February 20, 2024

Michael A. Lebowitz explores what did (not) happen in the former Soviet Union and central and eastern European nations during the three decades ended in the 1980s. Why write this book? In the 21st century, such recent history matters. Proof of that is the instability, ecologically and economically, that global humanity faces after the fall of Soviet-style communism. To this end, the author focuses on the daily realities and underlying structures of Real Socialism (RS).

Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti reviewed on Eurasia Review

February 20, 2024

In his book, Paramilitarism and the Assault on Democracy in Haiti, Jeb Sprague focuses on the last two coups against a democratically elected leader, Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Sprague demonstrates point-by-point how that violence mostly benefits the few who sponsor it. Even when recognizing potential critics' accusation of bias against this document for ideological bias, the facts recounted by Jeb are irrefutable.

From Solidarity to Sellout reviewed in Socialism & Democracy

February 20, 2024

Professor Tadeusz Kowalik (1926-2012) was one of the few Polish economists who consistently criticized Poland's transformation to a market economy for failing to satisfy the material and social needs of the majority of the population. From Solidarity to Sellout presents a compilation of Kowalik's writings on the subject over the past twenty years. As one of the leading intellectuals who supported the Polish working-class movement since the '70s (especially during the Solidarity period), the author has an extensive knowledge of both the economic debate and the political meandering that took place in Poland after 1989.

From Solidarity to Sellout reviewed on Systemic Disorder

February 20, 2024

For much of the 20th century, there was a curious mirror effect between orthodox Soviet and Chicago School ideologies — both saw the other as the only other possible economic system. Although both time and the ongoing global crisis of capitalism has begun to chip away at such a ridiculous binary, to a maddening degree this ideological straitjacket continues to assert itself. A straitjacket that does not spontaneously materialize but is crafted for the maintenance of power.

The Endless Crisis reviewed by Counterfire

February 20, 2024

Many people will be aware that our economy is in trouble. And many will also be aware that it will stay in trouble for some time to come. The British government keeps on pushing its austerity agenda, which, in addition to wrecking the lives of hundreds of thousands of families and individuals who have their benefits slashed, further sucks demand out of the economy, making a speedy recovery increasingly unlikely. The developments in mainland Europe are similar. As European leaders force austerity policies on indebted countries, the outlook for the people across the continent is grim, and many will indeed think that what we have been living through since 2007 is an 'endless crisis'.

The Question of Strategy: Socialist Register 2013 reviewed in The Spokesman

February 20, 2024

The 2013 edition of Socialist Register is titled The Question of Strategy. However, because of the themes which this edition addresses, it could be titled 'What is to be Done?' The editors have designed this volume in conjunction with the Registers for 2011 and 2012. The aim of those two volumes was to analyze the global financial and economic crisis. The 2013 volume extends that analysis, but offers a more concentrated focus on the 'choices faced by the Left today, the models of strategy available to it, and the innovations that are being made by groups as they organize in diverse

settings.'

Nancy Stout interviewed on Vancouver Cooperative Radio

February 20, 2024

Nancy Stout is interviewed about her new biography of the Cuban revolutionary Celia Sánchez, One Day in December, on Vancouver Cooperative Radio. Click here to listen to her conversation with Mordecai Briemberg of the Redeye Collective.

NEW! Global NATO and the Catastrophic Failure in Libya: Lessons for Africa in the Forging of African Unity by Horace Campbell

February 20, 2024

In this incisive account, scholar Horace Campbell investigates the political and economic crises of the early twenty-first century through the prism of NATO's intervention in Libya. He traces the origins of the conflict, situates it in the broader context of the Arab Spring uprisings, and explains the expanded role of a post-Cold War NATO. Campbell points out that while political elites in the West were quick to celebrate the intervention in Libya as a success, the NATO campaign caused many civilian deaths and destroyed the nation's infrastructure. Furthermore, the instability it unleashed in the forms of militias and terrorist groups have only begun to be reckoned with, as the United States learned when its embassy was attacked and personnel, including the ambassador, were killed. Campbell's lucid study is essential reading for anyone seeking to understand this complex and weighty course of events.