The Abyssinia Crisis (Paperback)

Allison Drew

ISBN 10: 1854891618 / ISBN 13: 9781854891617

Published by Rivers Oram Press, London, 2006

About this Item

Paperback. 2005 marks the seventieth anniversary of Italy's invasion of Ethiopia - final humiliating step in Europe's colonisation of Africa; bloody symptom of the collapse of collective security in Europe; harbinger of the world war to come. In this issue of "Socialist History" our contributors offer provocative reassessments of this key episode, set in its broader contemporary context by the issue's editor, Allison Drew. Exploding the myth that Italian fascism was not marked by the racism of Nazism, Willie Thompson's article describes the stark brutality displayed in Abyssinia by Italian troops and the key role which the conflict played in Mussolini's domestic and international calculations. The conflict also had a significant impact upon the international left and the challenges simultaneously posed it by the rise of fascism, the reconfigurations of democracy and imperialism and the uncertainties of Soviet foreign policy. In his article, Christian Hogsbjerg explores the major impact which the Abyssinian struggle had on the Trinidadian intellectual C.L.R. James, who was then in Britain working on his masterful study of the Haitian Revolution The Black Jacobins.James in this period identified strongly with the non-Stalinist left in Britain, and the predicaments of this socialist anti-war movement are evaluated here by Andrew Flinn and Gidon Cohen. If socialists and internationalists seemed preoccupied with the issue, the same cannot be said of the wider British public. In our final feature, David Howell shows that in the 1935 general election voters were generally far less interested in Abyssinia than either politicians or political activists. Perhaps, Howell suggests, the same cannot be said so confidently of the last general election and the impact of Iraq. The issue concludes with a discussion of the contemporary Moscow arts scene by Margarita Tupitsyn and our usual reviews section. 2005 marks the seventieth anniversary of Italy's invasion of Ethiopia - final humiliating step in Europe's colonisation of Africa. This issue offers reassessments of this key episode, set in its contemporary context. It concludes with a discussion of the contemporary Moscow arts scene. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability.

Seller Inventory # 9781854891617

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Abyssinia Crisis (Paperback)
• Publisher: Rivers Oram Press, London
• Publication Date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1854891618
• ISBN 13: 9781854891617
• Binding: Paperback
• Condition: new

About this title

Synopsis

In this issue of Socialist History Journal contributors from a variety of backgrounds explore the historical context and contemporary ramifications of Italy's invasion of Ethiopia in the decade before the second World War. Their reassessments are provocative, reaching from the politics of the mid-1930s up to the recent general elections in Britain and the situation in Iraq.