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Who Paidthe Pipers of Western Marxism? offers a crash course in the history ofimperialist propaganda, as well as in the Marxist method for analyzingculture and ideology. Author Gabriel Rockhill demonstrates the explanatoryand transformative superiority of a dialectical and historical materialistapproach, while elucidating how the world of ideas is a crucial site of classstruggle. He then engages in a meticulous counter-history of the FrankfurtSchool—which made a foundational contribution to Western Marxism—by situatingit within the global relations of class struggle and the imperialist war onactually existing socialism. With the explicit and direct backing of powerfulelements in the capitalist ruling class and the world’s leading imperialist state,the Frankfurt School developed a widely promoted form of compatible criticaltheory as an ersatz for dialectical and historical materialism. The volumeconcludes by bringing to the fore the positive project that serves as theguiding methodological framework for the work as a whole: a thoroughlyanticolonial and anti-imperialist Marxism dedicated to building socialism inthe real world. Drawing on extensive archival research to pull back thecurtain on ruling class machinations, Rockhill’s book elucidates how theintellectual world war on the socialist alternative has sought to shore upand promote a “compatible left” intelligentsia while misrepresenting,maligning, and trying to destroy the revolutionary left.

Theimmanent dialectic of the ancient Greek materialist philosopher, Epicurus(341-270 BCE), helped inspire Karl Marx, and formed the subject of hisdoctoral dissertation. Marx’s detailed study of Epicurus led him to develophis own materialist dialectic in distinction to the idealist philosophy ofG.W.F. Hegel. Until now, however, there has been no full scholarly treatmentof the relation of Epicurus to Marx, paying equal attention to both thinkersand examining the long-term impact of Epicureanism on Marxist thought. Breaking the Bonds of Fate: Epicurus and Marx fills this gap. Taking intoconsideration today’s revolution in the understanding of Epicurus—resultingfrom the recovery of fragments of his major work On Nature in the carbonizedpapyri that survived the burying in volcanic ash of the Roman townHerculaneum when Mt. Vesuvius erupted in 79 CE—it demonstrates that this newinterpretation corresponds closely to Marx’s nineteenth-century treatment ofEpicurus. The result is to fundamentally transform our contemporaryunderstanding of both Epicurus and Marx. The last (though logically the first) book to be written in a trilogythat also includes John Bellamy Foster’s Marx’s Ecology: Materialism andNature (2000) and his The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology (2020),Breaking the Bonds of Fate: Epicurus and Marx provides a detailed historicaland textual analysis grounding the argument of all three works. Not only doesthis clarify Marx’s relation to materialism and ecology, but also hisanalysis of the of freedom and necessity. Both Epicurus’ philosophy and thatof Marx are given new meaning in our time, highlighting questions ofsubstantive equality, dialectical naturalism, and sustainable community.

This is the first systematic discussion of the Marxian political economy of Paul Baran, Paul Sweezy, Harry Magdoff, and Samir Amin. John Foster explains their theoretical contributions and situates these in the context of on-going debates on economic theory. While orthodox economics takes account of the preeminent role of the giant, monopolistic corporation under capitalism only in passing, John Bellamy Foster's new study belongs to a distinguished tradition in Marxian social science which sees the rise of concentrated capital as the fundamental aspect of accumulation in the twentieth century, accounting for the tendency toward economic stagnation, helping to explain the growth of militarism and imperialism, and complicating the problem of radical social transformation. In this analysis of recent debates in Marxian political economy-the first to provide a sympathetic and thorough treatment of the pioneering work of Baran and Sweezy in particular-Foster focuses on the debates surrounding the theory of monopoly capitalism, imperialism and dependency theory, and the contentious issue of socialist construction in postrevolutionary societies.This book will be useful for all those-students and general readers alike-who want to understand the issues and debates, now and in the past, that Marxian political economy addresses.

This work challenges the spiritualism prevalent in the modern Green movement, pointing toward a method that offers more lasting sustainable solutions to the ecological crisis. Marx's writings on agriculture, soil ecology, philosophical naturalism and evolutionary theory are outlined.

Antonio Gramsci is a giant of Marxian thought and one of the world's greatest cultural critics. Antonio A. Santucci is perhaps the world's preeminent Gramsci scholar. Monthly Review Press is proud to publish, for the first time in English, Santucci's masterful intellectual biography of the great Sardinian scholar and revolutionary. Gramscian terms such as "civil society" and "hegemony" are much used in everyday political discourse. Santucci warns us, however, that these words have been appropriated by both radicals and conservatives for contemporary and often self-serving ends that often have nothing to do with Gramsci's purposes in developing them. Rather what we must do, and what Santucci illustrates time and again in his dissection of Gramsci's writings, is absorb Gramsci's methods. These can be summed up as the suspicion of grand explanatory schemes, the unity of theory and practice, and a focus on the details of everyday life.With respect to the last of these, Joseph Buttigieg says in his foreword: Gramsci did not set out to explain historical reality armed with some full-fledged concept, such as hegemony; rather, he examined the minutiae of concrete social, economic, cultural, and political relations as they are lived by individuals in their specific historical circumstances and, gradually, he acquired an increasingly complex understanding of how hegemony operates in many diverse ways and under many aspects within the capillaries of society. The rigor of Santucci's examination of Gramsci's life and work matches that of the seminal thought of the master himself.

Since its U.S. debut a quarter-century ago, this brilliant text has set a new standard for historical scholarship of Latin America. It is also an outstanding political economy, a social and cultural narrative of the highest quality, and perhaps the finest description of primitive capital accumulation since Marx.Rather than chronology, geography, or political successions, Eduardo Galeano has organized the various facets of Latin American history according to the patterns of five centuries of exploitation. Thus he is concerned with gold and silver, cacao and cotton, rubber and coffee, fruit, hides and wool, petroleum, iron, nickel, manganese, copper, aluminum ore, nitrates, and tin. These are the veins which he traces through the body of the entire continent, up to the Rio Grande and throughout the Caribbean, and all the way to their open ends where they empty into the coffers of wealth in the United States and Europe.Weaving fact and imagery into a rich tapestry, Galeano fuses scientific analysis with the passions of a plundered and suffering people. An immense gathering of materials is framed with a vigorous style that never falters in its command of themes. All readers interested in great historical, economic, political, and social writing will find a singular analytical achievement, and an overwhelming narrative that makes history speak, unforgettably.This classic is now further honored by Isabel Allende's inspiring introduction. Universally recognized as one of the most important writers of our time, Allende once again contributes her talents to literature, to political principles, and to enlightenment.

Winner of the first Paul A. Baran-Paul M. Sweezy Memorial Award for an original monograph concerned with the political economy of imperialism, John Smith's Imperialism in the TwentyFirst Century is a seminal examination of the relationship between the core capitalist countries and the rest of the world in the age of neoliberal globalization.Deploying a sophisticated Marxist methodology, Smith begins by tracing the production of certain iconic commodities-the Tshirt, the cup of coffee, and the iPhone-and demonstrates how these generate enormous outflows of money from the countries of the Global South to transnational corporations headquartered in the core capitalist nations of the Global North. From there, Smith draws on his empirical findings to powerfully theorize the current shape of imperialism. He argues that the core capitalist countries need no longer rely on military force and colonialism (although these still occur) but increasingly are able to extract profits from workers in the Global South through market mechanisms and, by aggressively favoring places with lower wages, the phenomenon of labor arbitrage.Meticulously researched and forcefully argued, Imperialism in the TwentyFirst Century is a major contribution to the theorization and critique of global capitalism.

The Great Reversal is the first critical study of the widely heralded reforms currently transforming China's economy. From his long experience in Chinese agriculture, Hinton first examines the course of agricultural reform over the past decade, then looks at its consequences in different areas of the countryside and considers its implications for the country as a whole. He raises troubling questions about China's capitalist future-the growing landlessness, increasing inequality, and above all, the destruction of the nation's natural resources and the collectively built infrastructure that was the great achievement of the revolution. In so doing he sheds new light on the sources of discontent behind the demonstrations that culminated in the Tiananmen massacre of June 1989. Recognized inside and outside China as an expert on the country's agriculture, Hinton spent five or six months there every year but one since 1978, when the wave of reform was first introduced. He witnessed the events of June 1989 first hand. This experience gives authority to an analysis that digs deeper and more widely than anything else available.His essays open up a new perspective on Mao and his successors, one that has been totally obscured by the Western media.

For over a century, Karl Marx’s critique of capitalism has been a crucial resource for social movements. Now, recent economic crises have made it imperative for us to comprehend and actualize Marx’s ideas. But without a knowledge of Karl Marx’s life as he lived it, neither Marx nor his works can be fully understood. There are more than twenty-five comprehensive biographies of Marx, but none of them consider his life and work in equal, corresponding measure. This biography, planned for three volumes, aims to include what most biographies have reduced to mere background: the contemporary conflicts, struggles, and disputes that engaged Marx at the time of his writings, alongside his complex relationships with a varied assortment of friends and opponents. This first volume will deal extensively with Marx’s youth in Trier and his studies in Bonn and Berlin. It will also examine the function of poetry in his intellectual development and his first occupation with Hegelian philosophy and with the so-called “young Hegelians” in his 1841 Dissertation. Already during this period, there were crises as well as breaks in Marx’s intellectual development that prompted Marx to give up projects and re-conceptualize his critical enterprise. This volume is the beginning of an astoundingly dimensional look at Karl Marx – a study of a complex life and body of work through the neglected issues, events, and people that helped comprise both. It is destined to become a classic.

A sweeping history of the full range of human laborFew authors are able to write cogently in both the scientific and the economic spheres. Even fewer possess the intellectual scope needed to address science and economics at a macro as well as a micro level. But Paul Cockshott, using the dual lenses of Marxist economics and technological advance, has managed to pull off a stunningly acute critical perspective of human history, from pre-agricultural societies to the present. In How the World Works, Cockshott connects scientific, economic, and societal strands to produce a sweeping and detailed work of historical analysis. This book will astound readers of all backgrounds and ages; it will also will engage scholars of history, science, and economics for years to come.

In his new extensively revised and expanded edition of this book, Samir Amin suggests new approaches to Marxian analysis of the crisis of the late capitalist system of generalized, financialized, and globalized oligopolies following on the financial collapse of 2008. Considering that Marx's Capital, written before the emergence of imperialism as a decisive factor in capitalist accumulation, could provide no explanation for the persistent "underdevelopment" of the countries of the "global South," Amin advances several important theoretical concepts extending traditional Marxian views of capitalist evolution. Most strikingly, he proposes adding to the model of reproduction in Volume II of Capital a Third Department of Production devoted to surplus absorption, necessitated by the capitalist tendency constantly to produce an economic surplus too large to be realized by the consumption and investment purchases generated within Marx's original two-department model.Equally interesting is his theoretical concept of "imperialist rent," derived from the scaling of radically different wages paid for the same labor in countries of the North and the South, whose effect has been to provide Northern capital with sufficient profits to permit it to pacify for a long period its conflict with the Northern proletariat. To account for this new type of rent he extends the Marxian "law of value" in the form of a "law of globalized value" whose operations determine such changes in the polarized world system as the industrial growth of many Third-World nations within the global imperialist context. Amin sees the present crisis as a moment in the second long crisis of the capitalist system, dating from the early 1970's (the first long crisis, he maintains, lasted from 1873 until 1945). He sees no exit from repeated crises under capitalism except the descent into barbarism. The challenge is not to escape from the crisis of capitalism-a hopeless project-but to escape from capitalism in crisis. And Amin reasserts his historical optimism as to the socialist project.He expects a "second wave" of socialist attempts that will stem from the self-liberating efforts of the nations and peoples of the South which, by eliminating the imperialist rent, will lead to an awakening of the Northern popular classes to join the awakening of the global South. This book has an important place among the theoretical resources for anyone involved in the study of contemporary Marxian economic and political theory.

With the recent revival of Karl Marx's theory, a general interest in reading Capital has also increased. But Capital – Marx’s foundational nineteenth century work on political economy – is by no means considered an easily understood text. Central concepts such as abstract labor, the value form, or the fetishism of commodities, can seem opaque to us as first time readers, and the prospect of comprehending Marx’s thought can be truly daunting. Until, that is, we pick up Michael Heinrich’s How to Read Marx's Capital. Paragraph by paragraph, Heinrich provides extensive commentary and lucid explanations of questions and quandaries that arise when encountering Marx’s original text. Suddenly, such seemingly gnarly chapters as “The Labor Process and the Valorization Process” and “Money or the Circulation of Capital” become refreshingly clear, as Heinrich explains just what we need to keep in mind when reading such a complex text. Deploying multiple appendices referring to other pertinent writings by Marx, Heinrich reveals what is relevant about Capital, and why we need to engage with it today. How to Read Marx's Capital provides an illuminating and indispensable guide to sorting through cultural detritus of a world whose political and economic systems are simultaneously imploding and exploding.

Harry Braverman's years as an industrial worker gave him insight into the labour process and the conviction to reject the reigning wisdoms of academic sociology. Here, he analyzes the division of labour between the design and execution of industrial production.

FrenchTheory is due for an insider critique, and in Requiem for French Theory,Aymeric Monville and Gabriel Rockhill do just that. Drawing upon decades ofstudying French philosophy in Paris, they build upon the best Marxistcriticisms of postmodernism, while further developing them by situatingpostmodern theory within the global political economy of knowledge andU.S.-driven intellectual imperialism. The result is a broad dialogue ontopics ranging from international class struggle and the dissemination ofideology, to fascism, identity politics, dialectics, actually existingsocialism, and among others. Requiem for French Theory soundly criticizes this tradition’s chameleonicideological permutations under new names, such as postcolonial thought,decolonial theory, new materialism, and other trendsetting discourses. But italso reveals how these theoretical developments are all part of a broaderanticommunist cultural front. Most importantly, Monville and Rockhill developthe positive project of anti-imperialist Marxism as the ultimate antidote toFrench theoretical sophistry. Far from indulging in the political defeatismcharacteristic of the Western Marxist critiques of postmodernism, thisintellectual exchange issues a clarion call for revitalizing revolutionarytheory and putting it into practice.

Since its first publication in 1942, this book has become the classic analytical study of Marxist economics. Written by an economist who was a master of modern academic theory as well as Marxist literature, it has been recognized as the ideal textbook in its subject. Comprehensive, lucid, authoritative, it has not been challenged or even approached by any later study.

Who Paidthe Pipers of Western Marxism? offers a crash course in the history ofimperialist propaganda, as well as in the Marxist method for analyzingculture and ideology. Author Gabriel Rockhill demonstrates the explanatoryand transformative superiority of a dialectical and historical materialistapproach, while elucidating how the world of ideas is a crucial site of classstruggle. He then engages in a meticulous counter-history of the FrankfurtSchool—which made a foundational contribution to Western Marxism—by situatingit within the global relations of class struggle and the imperialist war onactually existing socialism. With the explicit and direct backing of powerfulelements in the capitalist ruling class and the world’s leading imperialist state,the Frankfurt School developed a widely promoted form of compatible criticaltheory as an ersatz for dialectical and historical materialism. The volumeconcludes by bringing to the fore the positive project that serves as theguiding methodological framework for the work as a whole: a thoroughlyanticolonial and anti-imperialist Marxism dedicated to building socialism inthe real world. Drawing on extensive archival research to pull back thecurtain on ruling class machinations, Rockhill’s book elucidates how theintellectual world war on the socialist alternative has sought to shore upand promote a “compatible left” intelligentsia while misrepresenting,maligning, and trying to destroy the revolutionary left.

This landmark text by Paul Baran and Paul Sweezy is a classic of twentieth-century radical thought, a hugely influential book that continues to shape our understanding of modern capitalism.