Monthly Review Press

NEW! Radek: A Novel, by Stefan Heym (EXCERPTS)

NEW! Radek: A Novel, by Stefan Heym (EXCERPTS)

...Stalin asked, "So you think my truth needs improvement?"
"The truth," Radek replied, "can’t be improved. The truth is true, or it is not. But a line of evidence can gain a great deal by new and better evidence..."

A 300-year excursion through the history of the global economy (‘International Affairs’ reviews the Patnaiks)

A 300-year excursion through the history of the global economy (‘International Affairs’ reviews the Patnaiks)

Patnaik and Patnaik unpick the realities of capitalism: First, as thriving on exogenous rather than endogenous stimuli––namely colonialism followed by state intervention after the Second World War––thus negating its capacity to be self-contained and perpetual; and second, leading to high unemployment through deindustrialization and land grabs for export crops and property accumulation which push petty producers and peasants into joblessness.

“In Seattle, for a time, they did things differently…” (HISR reviews Cal Winslow)

“In Seattle, for a time, they did things differently…” (HISR reviews Cal Winslow)

Winslow studied at Warwick University under E. P. Thompson, the undisputed pioneer in this approach, in the late 1960s and early 1970s. In his Introduction he cites another founder of the new labor history, Herbert Gutman, to the effect that ‘Studying a single event cannot answer the basic questions, not even the general strike ... We need the background, of the discontent of working people in the Pacific Northwest as well as of the Seattle social and economic structure.’ This Winslow provides in considerable detail...

WATCH MR Classics: Nkrumah’s ‘Consciencism,’ with Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Layla Brown (Plus excerpts)

WATCH MR Classics: Nkrumah’s ‘Consciencism,’ with Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Layla Brown (Plus excerpts)

Announcing a new series charting movement memory, titled "MR Classics," starting with Kwame Nkrumah's thought, the philosophy he called 'Consciencism." We are honored that Dr. Charisse Burden-Stelly and Dr. Layla Brown will be here to guide us through this seminal work, its contemporary relevance, the issues that it raises that remain unresolved and the questions it continues to inspire.

The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI): A proposal from MR author Robert W. McChesney

The Local Journalism Initiative (LJI): A proposal from MR author Robert W. McChesney

"In short, the principle is that journalistic organizations will be paid in advance, and what they produce primarily with public monies will be instantly put in the public domain and made available to all for free. The best check on abuses will be popular voting to determine the recipients. The process will be overseen by the U.S. Postal Service, with elections taking place online and with print ballots available at or through the Postal Service. This is a renewal of the Postal Service’s historic mission of sustaining independent and competitive journalism..."

No Factchecking for Right-Wing Migration Myths (David Wilson, in ‘Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’)

No Factchecking for Right-Wing Migration Myths (David Wilson, in ‘Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting’)

Fox News White House correspondent Peter Doocy asked a bizarre question at President Joe Biden’s November 3 press briefing. The president seemed to misunderstand the question, which referred to potential settlements of a lawsuit stemming from the Trump administration’s notorious 2017–18 family separation policy. Biden bungled his response, apparently calling reports about the settlement “garbage.” Not surprisingly, the media ran with the story of Biden’s blunder. Doocy’s question, on the other hand, was mostly ignored or played down....

Cuba’s defiant contributions to the fight against racism and white supremacy (Works by Horne and Fitz cited by ‘Latin America in Movement’)

Cuba’s defiant contributions to the fight against racism and white supremacy (Works by Horne and Fitz cited by ‘Latin America in Movement’)

Anti-American, anti-Jim Crow sentiment and against the white supremacist domination project were already present on the island well before the revolution....generating a revolt that was not only against foreign domination, but against a deeply racist domination that tried to impose the same 'Jim Crow' system on Cuba, trying to transform a society with racism into a racist society according to the model of white supremacy...

EXCERPTS: INEQUALITY, CLASS AND ECONOMICS, by Eric Schutz

EXCERPTS: INEQUALITY, CLASS AND ECONOMICS, by Eric Schutz

The economic expansion just prior to the pandemic seemed to justify optimism about inequality. But Covid-19 showed just how little grounds there were for optimism. The pandemic demonstrated how poorly prepared for such a crisis a society could be that fails to provide universal, high-quality health care to a significant proportion of its population, as the case and death rates in the United States have demonstrated...