The letters of Rosa Luxemburg is the first instalment of a valuable ongoing endeavor to publish all her collected works in English; it makes available a wealth of letters, including many that were not previously available in English.
Lenin Reconsidered
3 November 2011, byFew historical figures on the international revolutionary left have been the subject of as much historical myth-making as Lenin. Born V.I. Ulyanov in 1870, the son of a liberal Tsarist educational official, Lenin (the pseudonym he adopted in the 1890s) became a central leader of the Russian socialist movement, in particular its Bolshevik (majority) wing. The Bolsheviks not only led the world’s first successful workers revolution in 1917, but launched the revolutionary Communist International in 1919.
The 33-Day War: Israel’s War on Hezbollah in Lebanon & its Consequences
1 September 2011, byGilbert Achar, Michel Warschawski
Paradigm Publishers (pb) 978-1-59451-409-8 $16.96 €11.40
Achar and Warschawski teamed up following the events of October 2006 to assess the causes and consequences of Israel’s very own “Vietnam”. The book dissects the strategic and political background behind Israel’s actions and the effects on Lebanon’s own population.
Achar, who lived in Lebanon for many years before moving to France, is a regular contributor to Le Monde Diplomatique.
Warschawski (…)
The Socialist Workers Party After the 1960s
9 July 2011, byTHE SOCIALIST WORKERS (SWP), now a curious sidebar in the history of radicalism, is a linear descendant of the political movement initiated in the United States by pro-Bolshevik followers of Leon Trotsky on the eve of the Great Depression.For 45 years, until the mid-1970s, the movement associated with the SWP was at the crossroads of the Far Left.
Reform and revolution today: The strategic puzzle
13 March 2011, byBetween 1945 and 1979, capitalism was overthrown in substantial parts of the planet. Alongside bureaucratic tyrannies, this yielded promising experiments like the Sandinista revolution, and a wealth of material for debates on socialist democracy and strategy. After 1979, with capital on the offensive, the strategic debates fell still. Only in the new century have we seen the beginning of what Daniel Bensaïd called ‘the return of the strategic question’. Flemish socialist Matthias Lievens’ new book on socialism and democracy in the 21st century provides a welcome opportunity to continue the discussion (which should not be restricted to those who can read it in Dutch).
Socialism and Democracy
13 March 2011, byLet me first thank Jet for having read the book and written this review. By doing this in English, she threw the book in the midst of a debate that is raging internationally in the left, thus amplifying my voice far beyond the audience the book was originally meant for. I have great doubts whether the book deserves this attention. But I can only thank her for giving me the occasion to explain some of its central ideas to an English-speaking audience
The book appeared in a very precise (…)
