Monthly Review Press

Why the sudden interest in Vietnam era movies? Coauthor of “Dissenting POWs” weighs in

Why the sudden interest in Vietnam era movies? Coauthor of “Dissenting POWs” weighs in

February 20, 2024

"'Why do we go back?' she asked sardonically, 'because they go back,' the pro-war hawks and military establishment. The 'patriarchy,' as she put it, ruminates the defeat in Vietnam like a bad sandwich growling in its stomach through a night that will not end. The defeat in Vietnam struck at a pillar of American manhood. Vietnam veterans would sometimes be chided by older veterans: they had won their war; Vietnam veterans had lost—what kind of men were they?"

Horne on the true source of Chauvin’s crimes (Listen: The Analysis)

Horne on the true source of Chauvin’s crimes (Listen: The Analysis)

February 20, 2024

"The bargain was that if they worked together, they could expropriate the land from the Native Americans and accomplish what came to be called the American Dream, and with a little luck and a lot of pluck, they could then somehow down the road gain free labor from enslaved Africans, and so there was a sort of corrupt bargain at the onset of what is now the United States of America...And still to this very day, you have this kind of class collaboration between some of the ninety-nine percent and some of the one percent. How else can you explain how and why a faux billionaire, Donald J. Trump in November 2020, received almost seventy-five million votes?"

The Chinese Rural Commune with Zhun Xu, author of “From Commune to Capitalism”

The Chinese Rural Commune with Zhun Xu, author of “From Commune to Capitalism”

February 20, 2024

Matt and Christian, hosts of Cosmonaut, join Zhun Xu, author of From Commune to Capitalism: How China’s Peasants Lost Collective Farming and Gained Urban Poverty for a discussion on China’s communes from their construction to their dismantling. They contextualize land reform globally, elaborate on how the Chinese land reform process looked different from the Soviet one, discuss how the communes looked and functioned, and what services they provided as well as their achievements and their points of failure....

“A Poisonous Legacy New York City and the persistence of the Middle Passage”–Gerald Horne in The Nation

“A Poisonous Legacy New York City and the persistence of the Middle Passage”–Gerald Horne in The Nation

February 20, 2024

“In the middle of 1856, the soon-to-be-celebrated poet Walt Whitman visited an impounded slave ship in Brooklyn. The taking of the ship was an unusual occurrence, as it was one of the few illegal slavers seized by an otherwise lethargic Washington, D.C., and Whitman wanted to give his readers a tour of the vessel, which had been designed to add even more enslaved laborers to the millions already ensnared in this system of iniquity, including of its hold, where those victimized were to be 'laid together spoon-fashion.'”

Extraordinary Achievements: Don Fitz’ “Cuban Health Care”

Extraordinary Achievements: Don Fitz’ “Cuban Health Care”

February 20, 2024

Comparing the health systems of Cuba and the United States, Don Fitz' book "Cuban Health Care" presents a startling statistic: The cost of healthcare per person in Cuba is one twentieth that of the US. "Why?" Peter Arkell asks, and Fitz answers: “Poor countries simply cannot afford such an inefficient health system"...

Patnaik on Neoliberalism to Neofascism (Listen: Alternative Radio)

Patnaik on Neoliberalism to Neofascism (Listen: Alternative Radio)

February 20, 2024

From Modi’s India to Erdogan’s Turkey neofascist autocratic regimes have taken hold...The result: widespread immiseration and discontent. In its wake, demagogues exploit the situation. They are coming to power by scapegoating, instigating violence against minorities, coupled with loud calls for 'getting our country back,' and lots of flag waving...

Reason for common cause: A review of “The Robbery of Nature,” from Against the Current

Reason for common cause: A review of “The Robbery of Nature,” from Against the Current

February 20, 2024

"Foster and Clark show that the exploitation of wage labor in the capitalist production process is essentially tied to the expropriation of the natural world, the refusal to socially acknowledge care labor as socially necessary labor, the privatization of our common cultural heritage, the treatment of non-white communities as places where the social pathologies of capitalism (unemployment, poverty, and so on) can be concentrated, and so on. From this perspective workers, environmentalists, feminists, community activists, and anti-racists have good reason to make common cause."

“Dead Epidemiologists:” A personalized, enlivening take on Covid-19

“Dead Epidemiologists:” A personalized, enlivening take on Covid-19

February 20, 2024

Author Rob Wallace made a decision: His new book Dead Epidemiologists would take a personal approach. How could it not? While he introduces his work through this intimate lens, Wallace's perspective is global, tracking "the implications of capitalist agricultural production, distribution and consumption that is harming the web of life...."

Newsletter sign-up

Keep up to date with all the latest socialist news from MR