State Capitalism and World Revolution (Revolutionary Classics) - Softcover

C L R James; Raya Dunayevskaya

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0882860798 ISBN 13: 9780882860794

Publisher: Charles H Kerr Pub Co, 1986

Synopsis

Written in collaboration with Raya Dunayevskaya & Grace Lee, this is another pioneering critique of Lenin and Trotsky, and reclamation of Marx, from the West Indian scholar and activist. This edition includes the original introduction from Martin Glaberman, a new introduction from Paul Buhle, and one from the author himself. "Two generations ago, CLR James and a small circle of collaborators set forth a revolutionary critique of industrial civilization. Their vision possessed a striking originality. So insular was the political context of their theoretical breakthroughs, however, and so thoroughly did their optimistic expectations for working class activity defy trends away from class and social issues to the so-called 'End Of Ideology', that the documents of the signal effort never reached public view. Happily, times have changed. Readers have discovered much, even after all these years, to challenge Marxist (or any other) orthodoxy. They will never find a more succinct version of James' general conclusions that State Capitalism and World Revolution. In this slim volume, James and his comrades successfully predict the future course of Marxism." [Paul Buhle, from his Introduction] "When one looks back over the last 20 years to those men who were most far-sighted, who first began to tease out the muddle of ideology in our times, who were at the same time Marxists with a hard theoretical basis, and close students of society, humanists with a tremendous response to and understanding of human culture, Comrade James is one of the first one thinks of." [E P Thompson]

About this title

About the Author

C. L. R. James was known and honored as a historic pioneer of the black movement and is generally regarded as one of the major figures in Pan-Africanism, as well as a leader in developing a current within Marxism that was democratic, revolutionary, and internationalist. He is the author of Beyond a Boundary, Every Cook can Govern, and Revolution. Raya Dunayevskaya was a highly respected and influential philosopher, political activist, and feminist. She was the founder of Marxist Humanism in the United States and the author of Marxism and Freedom and The Power of Negativity. Grace Lee Boggs is an author, lifelong social activist, and feminist. She is known for her years of political collaboration with C. L. R. James and Raya Dunayevskaya. She is the author of The Next American Revolution: Sustainable Activism for the Twenty-First Century. She lives in Detroit, Michigan. Martin Glaberman was an influential American Marxist, teacher, and autoworker. Paul Buhle is a retired senior lecturer at Brown University and author or editor of 35 volumes, including histories of radicalism in the U.S. and the Caribbean, studies of popular culture, and a series of nonfiction comic art volumes. He was founding editor of the journal Radical America, Cultural Correspondence, the director of the Oral History of the American Left archive at New York University, one of the founding figures of the new Students for a Democratic Society, and a leader of the Movement for a Democratic Society. He is the author of The Beats, and Living for Change. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.

Review

"When one looks back over the last 20 years to those men who were most far-sighted, who first began to tease out the muddle of ideology in our times, who were at the same time Marxists with a hard theoretical basis, and close students of society, humanists with a tremendous response to and understanding of human culture, Comrade James is one of the first one thinks of."  —E. P. Thompson, author, The English Working Class

Edition details

• Publisher: Charles H Kerr Pub Co
• Publication date: 1986
• ISBN 10: 0882860798
• ISBN 13: 9780882860794
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 135