Monthly Review Press

Making an ecological worldview: International Socialism reviews “The Return of Nature”

February 20, 2024

Since John Bellamy Foster published Marx’s Ecology in 2000, the idea that Karl Marx had little to say on environmental issues has become untenable. Marx’s Ecology has rightly become a classic. Beginning with Marx’s doctoral thesis on ‘The Difference Between the Democritean and Epicurean Philosophy of Nature’, and tracing the development of his thought throughout his life, Foster’s book demonstrated the way that ecological questions were at the heart of Marxism—a ‘broad ecological worldview’...

Gerald Horne back on Diaspora Music, via Black Power 96 Radio…

February 20, 2024

Historian and prolific author Gerald Horne talks with host Norman “Otis” Richmond (aka Jalal) about a wide range of current topics, and his most recent book, The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century. The book is a riveting revision of the “creation myth” of settler colonialism and how the United States was formed...

Roots of Slavery, Black Lives Matter, Defund Police: Gerald Horne talks to Radio KZSZ

February 20, 2024

John Malkin, host of Transformation Highway on radio KZSC/88.1FM Santa Cruz, talks to Dr. Gerald Horne, author of the recently published The Dawning of the Apocalypse: The Roots of Slavery, White Supremacy, Settler Colonialism, and Capitalism in the Long Sixteenth Century about the roots of slavery, current Black Lives Matters uprisings, and calls to defund the police...

When Washington (Almost) Went Socialist: Seattle’s General Strike of 1919: Listen to Cal Winslow tell it…

February 20, 2024

Cal Winslow, labor activist, educator, and author of the recently released Radical Seattle: The General Strike of 1919, talks about the amazing popular takeover of of Seattle over a hundred years ago, when, on a grey winter morning in February 1919, 110 local unions shut down the entire city. Start listening, about 8 minutes into Letters and Politics, hosted by Mitch Jeserich, on Radio KPFA...

New! Cuban “Health Care: The Ongoing Revolution”

February 20, 2024

Quiet as it’s kept inside the United States, the Cuban revolution has achieved some phenomenal goals, reclaiming Cuba’s agriculture, advancing its literacy rate to nearly 100 percent—and remaking its medical system. Cuba has transformed its health care to the extent that this “third-world” country has been able to maintain a first-world medical system, whose health indicators surpass those of the United States at a fraction of the cost. In Cuban Health Care, Don Fitz combines his broad knowledge of Cuban history with his decades of on-the-ground experience in Cuba to bring us the story of how Cuba’s health care system evolved and how Cuba is tackling the daunting challenges to its revolution in this century....

How Big Agriculture & Capitalism Are Making Pandemics Like Coronavirus More Likely: Rob Wallace on RT

February 20, 2024

Rob Wallace, author of Big Farms Make Big Flu: Dispatches on Infectious Disease, Agribusiness, and the Nature of Science, talks to Afshin Rattans, host of RT's Going Underground, about how, in recent history, deforestation and land use changes driven by global capital have caused more epidemics, and why the emergency response to the latest Coronavirus is ineffective at solving problems such as deadly pathogens...

Seattle’s General Strike 100 Years Ago Shows Us Hope for Today: Labor Notes reviews Cal Winslow’s book

February 20, 2024

For five days in 1919, union members took control of the city of Seattle. They arguably ran it better, and certainly more justly, than it had ever been run before. ¶ Thousands of workers volunteered to keep Seattle’s essential services operating. People were fed at 21 different locations; on February 9, volunteers served more than 30,000 meals. Milk distribution was organized at 35 locations. Garbage was picked up. No crime was reported during these five days.... ¶ Contrast Seattle 1919 with today’s unfolding horror. We’re all witnessing what it looks like when a shutdown and the provision of essential services are administered by capital and a pro-corporate government. ¶ The Seattle General Strike was not just an event in labor history. It was a testament to what workers can achieve when they organize, and it has sharp lessons for today....

JONUS, Journal of Nusantara Studies, reviews “Can the Working Class Change the World?”

February 20, 2024

Can the Working Class Change the World? is not written suddenly. Throughout the last decade, capitalism has been increasingly discussed and debated, both by the right and left wing. This is because many people are struggling with economic downturn, wide income gap, unemployment, poverty and environmental crisis. The Lehman Brothers collapse in 2008, almost brought down the global financial system. Later in 2011, the Occupy Wall Street movement began and spread to several countries to protest against the 1%. And in 2018, Ray Dalio, a multibillionaire who is also the founder of Bridgewater Associates, himself admits that capitalism does not function for most people. Today, the assets of the 26 richest individuals in the world is equivalent to the assets of half the world’s citizens (Elliott, 2019). But, if capitalism now has failed, the question is: who fix it?

Senior Women Web reviews “Mythologies of State and Monopoly Power” by Michael E. Tigar

February 20, 2024

This is a law book written for a general audience. Tigar has been a law professor most of his life; in these pages one can learn much from his vast legal and historical knowledge. ¶ Multiple chapters are spread out over five "mythologies": Racism, Criminal Justice, Free Expression, Worker Rights and International Human Rights. ¶ His discussion of these mythologies is not neutral; he has a point of view and it's generally from the left....

Las Vegas Democratic Socialists of America review “What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism”

February 20, 2024

Fred Magdoff and John Bellamy Foster’s excellent 2011 book, What Every Environmentalist Needs to Know About Capitalism, is essential reading for ecosocialists and environmentalists of any political tendency. At 160 pages, the book does an exceptional job of describing how capitalism is directly connected to ecological degradation and why its abolition is necessary in preventing ecological catastrophe. This review will attempt to summarize the fundamental arguments of the book and its case for ecosocialism. The book goes over more than discussed below, so make sure to read the whole thing for more useful information and details....