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Swedish Communism--End of an Interlude
“The Twenty-Second Congress of the Swedish Communist Party—since 1967 called Left Party (Communist) or VPK—on September 19th–21st put an end to a period in the history of the party, hitherto unique in the annals of the international movement. A balance-sheet of this period and of the congress . . .” read more
Fighting to Win
“This Penguin edition of Clausewitz contains Books I, II and III of Vom Kriege complete, all but one chapter of Book IV, and most of the incomplete Book VIII, i.e., well under half of the original three volumes. The selection is introduced by a 70-page essay on Clausewitz’s . . .” read more
The Pompidou Regime
“The eventual consequences of the May—June revolt are perhaps only now starting to become visible in France. The months since the great explosion have been marked by swift changes in both the economy and polity of French capitalism: the monetary crisis of November last year, the April referendum . . .” read more
Limits of British Anthropology
“Anthropological studies in Britain grew up in the context of European, and especially British colonialism as a part of the colonial situation. Anthropologists for the most part did not question the colonial situation and the fact that they participated in it by investigating subjugated peoples. As they took . . .” read more
The Popular Front in Finland
“Since March 1966, Finland has been governed by a Popular Front coalition which includes the agrarian Centre Party, the Social-Democratic Party, and the Communist Party. The Finnish Popular Front is so far a unique phenomenon in Europe: it is the first time for 20 years that a Communist . . .” read more
Trotsky’s Marxism: A Rejoinder
“Nicolas Krassó attempted to explain Stalin’s victory in the inner-party struggle of the Bolshevik party during the twenties by two alleged basic weaknesses of ‘Trotsky’s Marxism’: his ‘sociologism’, i.e. his constant underestimation of the autonomous role of political institutions; and his ‘administrativism’, which tended to identify him with . . .” read more
Lucien Goldmann: Humanist or Marxist?
“In recent years we have seen in Britain a systematic identification of Marxism with neo-Hegelianism, by left political groups and by bourgeois commentators alike. Neo-Hegelianism views society as a homogeneous totality revolving around one central contradiction; constituent elements are dissolved into an undifferentiated unity, and the internal contradictions . . .” read more
Re-examination of the Concept of Revolution
“The concept of revolution in Marxian theory telescopes an entire historical period: the final stage of capitalism; the transitional period of proletarian dictatorship, and the initial stage of socialism. It is in a strict sense a historical concept, projecting actual tendencies in the society; and it is a . . .” read more
Class Struggle and Dictatorship in Greece
“The resistance to the Germans during the Second World War brought into existence a popular movement without precedent in modern Greek history: the defeat of the Left forces in 1945, and above all the civil war of 1946–49, not only checked that development, but also disoriented and destructured . . .” read more
Dialectic of Religion and Class in Ulster
“The six most north-easterly counties of the Irish mainland form a colony 16 miles from the coast of the Mother Country. A third of its population owe it neither historical, nor religious, nor political allegiance. The industry of these six counties has been in decline for over a . . .” read more
Discussion on the Strategy of Peoples Democracy
“This interview with leading members of People’s Democracy took place in Derry on the evening of April 20 1969, as the crisis which was finally to unseat O’Neill opened. Three days previously, Bernadette Devlin had been elected in Mid-Ulster. On the previous evening, a march through Burntollet had . . .” read more
S.F. State: History takes a leap
“No previous American university struggle has been as long, violent and bitter as the strike now being fought at San Francisco State College. None has sent shock waves through so much of the society, or created as deep a polarization. Only in American colonies and dependencies abroad, or . . .” read more
Where Is America Going?
“Today, profound forces are working to undermine the social and economic equilibrium which has reigned in the United States for more than 25 years, since the big depressions of 1929–32 and of 1937–38. Some of these are forces of an international character, linked with the national liberation struggles . . .” read more
The Belgrade Student Insurrection
“The Explosion: A troop of actors was scheduled to perform free of charge on the second of June before an audience of ‘Youth-Action’ workers camped near a large complex of student dormitories in New Belgrade, a suburb of Belgrade. Student representatives had requested that the performance be held . . .” read more
The Greek Communist Party
“At the 12th plenary session of its Central Committee, which met between the 3rd and 12th February 1968, the Greek Communist Party split. A captive of its myths, transplanted into a foreign environment, institutionalized in the framework of a dubious legality, cut off from the political and social . . .” read more
Two Tactics
“the four firsts: ‘First place must be given to man in handling the relationship between man and weapons; to political work in handling the relationship between political and other work; to ideological work in relation to routine tasks of political work; and in ideological work to the . . .” read more
Strategy and Revolution in France 1968
“Bourgeois revolutions, like those of the 18th century, storm swiftly from success to success; their dramatic effects outdo each other; men and things seem set in sparkling brilliance; ecstasy is the everyday spirit; but they are short lived; soon they have obtained their zenith, and a long crapulent . . .” read more
The PCF and its History
“The socialist revolution in France cannot be a repetition of the May events, any more than the 1917 Revolution (February and October) was a repetition of 1905. The May events were a tremendous explosion, in which (through tracts, meetings, newspapers and even sometimes through the distorted accounts in . . .” read more
Lessons of May
“The revolutionary wave of May 1968 constitutes an immense reservoir of social experience. The inventory of this experience is as yet far from complete. What characterized that wave was precisely the irruption onto the historical stage of the creative energy of the masses, multiplying forms of action, initiatives . . .” read more
The Budget, Gold and the Incomes Policy
“This year’s budget was the most severe and deflationary of any since the end of the last war. Altogether, it withdrew nearly £1,000 million of spending power from the economy—an unprecedented amount. The devaluation of last November, the January cuts in Government spending, and the budget in March . . .” read more
From Petrograd to Saigon
“The staggering blows that the National Liberation Front has now dealt the American military expedition in Vietnam have changed history. When some half a million American troops with enormous technological superiority are no longer capable of keeping even the us Embassy in Saigon safe, the most rabid . . .” read more
Reply to Ernest Mandel
“Ernest Mandel’s reply to my critique of Trotsky’s Marxism requires some comment. It may be most rewarding to consider the three fundamental questions he raises, and focus discussion on these. Most of the local issues at dispute will be resolved in so doing. The whole aim of my . . .” read more
The Unknown Marx
“When he assessed his intellectual career in 1859, Karl Marx condemned to deserved obscurity all of his previous works but four. The Poverty of Philosophy (1847) first set forth the decisive points of his scientific views, although in polemical form, he wrote; and he implied that the same . . .” read more
Trotsky’s Marxism: An Anti-Critique
“Nicolas Krassó’s critique of Trotsky’s political thought and activities, which appeared in issue No. 44 of the New Left Review, provides a welcome occasion to unravel some of the misconceptions and prejudices about the historical role of the founder of the Red Army, which still haunt a large . . .” read more
Revolution from Above
“The decision taken at the end of 1929 to proceed to the mass collectivization of Soviet agriculture has always been something of a puzzle. Pronouncements of party leaders up to that time had given no reason to expect so far-reaching a measure. It was followed by disastrous consequences . . .” read more
Communists and the Australian Left
“The political fortunes of the Australian Left have reached a low pass. In the national elections late in 1966, the Australian Labour Patty sustained its greatest electoral defeat of all time, recording the lowest percentage of the total vote since 1906. More galling for the left wing inside . . .” read more
Sociology and Psychology (Part I)
“For more than 30 years, the tendency has been emerging among the masses of the advanced industrial countries to surrender themselves to the politics of disaster instead of pursuing their rational interests and, chief of all, that of their own survival. While they are promised benefits, the idea . . .” read more
White Africa’s Black Ally
“In the first few days of September 1964, the Prime Minister of Malawi, Dr H. K. Banda, dismissed three of his most able ministers, O.E. Chirwa, qc, Minister, of Justice, W. M. K. Chiume, Foreign Minister, and Augustine Bwanausi Minister of Development; the response to this was . . .” read more
The Crisis in Nasser’s Egypt
“During September 1966, there was a significant governmental shift in Egypt. Zakariyya Mohieddin, for long the régime’s strong man, was replaced by a Colonel of Engineers, Sidky Soliman, who had for several years been Minister responsible for the Aswan High Dam. Interpretations of this shift differed; but in . . .” read more
The Syrian Enigma: What Is the Baath?
“A few weeks before the Israeli-Arab conflict last June, an uncharitable commentator compared the Baath to Samson. Blinded and weakened like the Biblical hero, he wrote, the party in power in Syria was doing its best to pull down the pillars of the temple which would kill it. . . .” read more
Problems of Revolutionary Strategy in Latin America
“These notes are designed to answer the following question: how has the Cuban Revolution modified the bloody class struggle which opposes the popular masses to imperialism and the national oligarchies in power in Latin America? What is the explanation for the slow tempo and apparent difficulties which revolutionary . . .” read more
Japan--Asian Capitalism
“Japan is now about to become the third industrial power in the world. It is already the second largest car producing country. In 1955 it’s gross national product was slightly less than half Britain’s. This year it will be almost 20 per cent greater. Japan is the only . . .” read more
Trotsky’s Marxism
“For many years, Trotsky was an impossible subject for a Marxist. The struggle in the Bolshevik Party in the twenties produced such a violent polarization of his image within the international working-class movement that all rational discussion of his person and works ceased. The anathema pronounced by Stalin . . .” read more
The Unfinished Revolution: 1917-67
“In 1917 Russia lived through the last of the great bourgeois revolutions and the first proletarian revolution in European history. The two revolutions merged into one. Their unprecedented coalescence imparted extraordinary vitality and élan to the new régime; but it was also the source of severe strains and . . .” read more
Marxist Political Theory in Britain
“In the last few years an important current of Marxist thought has emerged in Great Britain. The editorial committee of New Left Review, particularly Perry Anderson and Tom Nairn, have undertaken a political study of the structures of British society in a number of articles, which include Anderson’s . . .” read more
Revolt at the LSE
“For a week last March normal life in the London School of Economics was violently disrupted. For nine days and nights students maintained permanent occupation of the lse buildings, braving suspension, police intervention and constant obloquy from almost every newspaper, magazine, television commentator. Classes and lectures were . . .” read more
Second Thoughts on Ghana
“The interest of ‘Ghana: End of an Illusion’ far transcends its immediate subject. In reality it exposes two ‘illusions’: on the one hand, the absence of lucidity and consistency in the anti-imperialist and ‘socialist’ strategy applied by the Ghanaian political leadership under Nkrumah; on the other, the willing . . .” read more
India and the Labour Party
“Many questions suggest themselves about the influence that India may have had on the Labour Party, a good deal stronger in all probability than the party’s influence on India; about India as one of the taproots of the peculiar British social-democratic mentality. It could be argued that the . . .” read more
The Communist Party in the 1920s
“For the last 46 years the Communist Party has played a part in left-wing politics in Britain out of all proportion to its membership and electoral support. Other left-wing Socialist groups, organizations, campaigns and journals have come and gone. But the continued existence of the Communist Party, despite . . .” read more
Contradiction and Overdetermination
“In an article devoted to the Young Marx, I have already stressed the ambiguity of the idea of ‘inverting Hegel’. It seemed to me that strictly speaking this expression suited Feuerbach perfectly; the latter did, indeed, ‘turn speculative philosophy back onto its feet’, but the only result was . . .” read more
The Future of the Book
“Every artistic innovation is unique, it has no development. In time different variations on the same theme grow up around innovation, maybe higher, maybe lower, but they will rarely reach the original power of the first. This goes on until long familiarity has made the effect of the . . .” read more
Presentation of Althusser
“In the first half of the 20th century Marxist theory was dominated by two orthodoxies: before 1914 by the Kautskyism of the Second International, and from 1920 to 1950 by Bolshevism, the theory of the Third International. The collapse of Kautskyism was due to the spd’s collapse . . .” read more
Women: The Longest Revolution
“The situation of women is different from that of any other social group. This is because they are not one of a number of isolable units, but half a totality: the human species. Women are essential and irreplaceable; they cannot therefore be exploited in the same way as . . .” read more
Labour and the City: The Predictable Crisis
“At one point in their lives Labour Party spokesmen must have repeated their criticisms of ‘Stop-Go’ even in their sleep. Yet, on July 20th, 1966 Wilson announced the most savage set of deflationary measures since the war. How did this great repudiation come about?” read more
Militarism in Africa
“During the past three years, action initiated or prosecuted by the military has determined the overthrow of no less than eleven African Heads of State, and has seriously endangered four further régimes. Eight of the successor régimes are headed by military men. Over the last six months, coups . . .” read more