Monthly Review Press

“Open Veins of the Global South”: Imperialism in the 21st Century reviewed by Left Voice

“Open Veins of the Global South”: Imperialism in the 21st Century reviewed by Left Voice

February 20, 2024

Dhaka, April 24, 2013. On that day, the capital of Bangladesh hit the headlines around the world after the collapse of Rana Plaza, a monstrous eight-story building that housed several textile factories, a bank, and a few shops. It was one of the worst disasters ever seen in a workplace, causing the tragic death of 1,133 garment workers and injury of another 2,500. ¶ This crime is the starting point of the recently-published Imperialism in the Twenty-First Century: Globalization, Super-Exploitation, and Capitalism’s Final Crisis, in which John Smith presents the key pillars on which the current world capitalist system rests.

Facing the Anthropocene reviewed in Socialism and Democracy

February 20, 2024

This book underscores the depth of the environmental crisis and, with its thorough grounding in the scientific literature, situates the onset of the crisis in geological as well as historical time. These two time-scales now converge, signifying the end of the ecological conditions that allowed the human species to flourish. ¶ Herein lies the drama—and, with it, the challenge—that we are now living....

Cuba: Its Hidden History and the U.S. Empire: 2 MRP books reviewed in International Socialism

Cuba: Its Hidden History and the U.S. Empire: 2 MRP books reviewed in International Socialism

February 20, 2024

A Hidden History of the Cuban Revolution: How the Working Class Shaped the Guerrillas’ Victory
By Steve Cushion
Cuba and the U.S. Empire: A Chronological History
By Jane Franklin
The last year and a half have left no doubt that the history of the Cuban Revolution will need to be revisited and probably rewritten. From the moment that Raúl Castro and Barack Obama met, and the American president visited the island, everything changed.

Imperialism in the 21st Century: “novel forms, old problems”: International Socialism review

Imperialism in the 21st Century: “novel forms, old problems”: International Socialism review

February 20, 2024

The significance of John Smith’s book lies in his powerful critique of mainstream economics and official statistics as he attempts a renewal of dependency theory. Mobilising Marxist value theory to this end he argues that the Global South’s formal independence masks an abiding economic and political subordination to the imperialist powers and powerful Northern capitals. The book’s impact is reflected in the critical commentary that it has provoked, including on Michael Roberts’s blog.

“Live issue on the eco-left”: Facing the Anthropocene reviewed by Socialist Resistance

February 20, 2024

This book is the best I have seen, from a Marxist point of view, on the issue of the Anthropocene and its implications for life on this planet. It combines a clear warning of the scale of the crisis we face with a well informed exposition of what the Anthropocene is and why we need to take it seriously. ¶ It is an unequivocal declaration the Anthropocene is here, at that its implications, in terms life on this planet, including our own, are dangerous in the extreme, and that it now determines the framework in which the struggle to save the biosphere of the planet as a habitable space now takes place.

Marta Harnecker on “The Best Homage We Can Pay Fidel”

Marta Harnecker on “The Best Homage We Can Pay Fidel”

February 20, 2024

“Over half a century ago, as Latin American households were celebrating the start of a new year, some good news arrived from Cuba: a guerrilla army with a social base among the peasantry triumphed on the Caribbean island, liberating the country from the tyrannical Batista regime. A political process began that not only aimed to overthrow a dictator, but sought to follow a consistently revolutionary line: genuinely transform society for the benefit of the great majority….”

Ottawa Valley Faces Ian Angus (and the Anthropocene)

Ottawa Valley Faces Ian Angus (and the Anthropocene)

February 20, 2024

in which Ian Angus, author of Facing the Anthropocene: Fossil Capitalism and the Crisis of the Earth System, talks to Jennifer Estendorp of Inside Ottawa Valley
“What is the Anthropocene you ask?
‘Geologists divide the history of our world into increments, based on what they know about eras,’ explained Ian Angus, local author. ‘Currently, we’re in the Holocene epoch.’

“Facing the Anthropocene: climate change is a ‘global emergency’”

February 20, 2024

This summer, a panel of geologists voted to recognize today as an age where human activities match or exceed natural forces and are globally significant. They named it the Anthropocene. On September 13, Ian Angus, an author and eco-socialist activist, spoke at a colloquium organized by UBC’s geography department, addressing this proposed geological epoch and introducing his new book, Facing the Anthropocene.

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