Monthly Review Press

Brings homes the seemingly Sisyphean task of a collective revolutionary project, “with theoretical and stylistic aplomb” (Marx & Philosophy Review of Books on “Marx, Dead and Alive”)

Brings homes the seemingly Sisyphean task of a collective revolutionary project, “with theoretical and stylistic aplomb” (Marx & Philosophy Review of Books on “Marx, Dead and Alive”)

February 20, 2024

"Marx, Dead and Alive" packs an extraordinary amount into its 184 pages, both historical detail and in contemporizing Marx with multifarious global contexts and examples.... it would make an excellent introduction for someone just starting to grasp Marx and wanting clear definitions of alienation, capital, class, commodity fetishism, value and wage labour – amongst other key concepts....

Her Majesty’s African-American Allies: A review by Gerald Horne

Her Majesty’s African-American Allies: A review by Gerald Horne

February 20, 2024

It is well-established that African-Americans have sought allies abroad as a way to weaken opposition at home. Often, scholars have tackled this important topic as it manifested during the Cold War. The work at hand emulates previous scholarship in detailing this trend during the antebellum and early postbellum era...

EXCERPTS: INEQUALITY, CLASS AND ECONOMICS, by Eric Schutz

EXCERPTS: INEQUALITY, CLASS AND ECONOMICS, by Eric Schutz

February 20, 2024

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...

Some ways forward after the devastating decline in union membership (Shaun Richman reviewed for Organizing Upgrade)

Some ways forward after the devastating decline in union membership (Shaun Richman reviewed for Organizing Upgrade)

February 20, 2024

The ongoing debate about reviving the U.S. labor movement tries to grapple with the devastating decline in the union membership rate from one-third of the workforce in the 1950s to less than 11% today. In this discussion, occasionally a book comes along that is a great combination of labor history, thoughtful analysis of union organizing, and suggestions for ways forward. Shaun Richman’s "Tell the Bosses We’re Coming: A New Action Plan for Workers in the Twenty-First Century" is such a book.

The Kisan Movement’s Direct Action: A defeat not only to Modi, but imperialism

The Kisan Movement’s Direct Action: A defeat not only to Modi, but imperialism

February 20, 2024

Particular battles often have a significance that goes beyond the immediate context, of which even the combatants may not be fully aware at the time... The battle between the Kisan movement and the Modi government falls into the same genre. At the most obvious level, it has been seen as a climbdown by the Modi government in the face of the incredible resoluteness shown by the agitating peasants. At another level, it has also been seen as a setback for neoliberalism...

Sure to “inspire new directions in research and debate” (“Dissenting POWs” reviewed in H-Soz-Kult, H-NET)

Sure to “inspire new directions in research and debate” (“Dissenting POWs” reviewed in H-Soz-Kult, H-NET)

February 20, 2024

Without trivializing the hardships of often several years in jail, Wilber and Lembcke dissect personal accounts by former POWs. They point out contradictions, distinguish between physical punishment measures and deliberate violence, reconstruct different phases in the history of the prisons, and conclude that brutal treatment and torture were less common and systematic than purported.

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