21st Century Socialism: Reinventing the Project

Fernwood Books
Edited by Henry Veltmeyer
Paperback Price: $24.95 CAD
Publication Date: Oct 2011

The growing polarization between the rich and powerful and the poor and powerless, the yawning social and developmental divide and the multidimensional systemic crisis of capitalism have given rise to a fundamental problem of our times: barbarism or socialism? Will we continue on the path of capitalist barbarism or move to a more just socialist system?

Bringing together a passionate group of socialists, 21st Century Socialism participates in the emerging and critical debate concerned with reinventing and rebuilding socialism. Revisiting concepts of class and capital, reinventing Marx, problematizing party politics, re-examining alternative forms of socialist politics and learning lessons from Venezula’s Bolivarian Revolution, 21st Century Socialism explores how socialism needs to be re-imagined to make it relevant to 21st-century.

Contents

Preface • Why Socialism? • Introduction • Socialisms of the 20th and 21st Centuries (James Petras) Part 1 – Reinventing Socialism: Reinventing Socialism and Recovering Marx (Michael Lebowitz) • Cloistering Criticism or Breaking Bonds? (Errol Sharpe) • Western Ideology: Modernisms and the Attack on Marxism (Thom Workman) • Crisis, Movements, Counter-Hegemony: In Search of the New (Bill Carroll) Part 2 – Organization and Strategy: The Political Instrument for Socialist Transformation (Marta Harnecker) • Class Organization (Mauro Casadio & Luciano Vasapollo) • Socialist Strategy, Yesterday and Today (Murray E. G. Smith & Josh Dumont) Part 3 – Prospects and Limitations • The Prospects for Socialism: A Question of Capital and Class (Hugo Radice) • Venezuela Under Chavez: Prospects and Limitations for Socialism (Jeffrey Webber) • Conclusion: Socialism or Barbarism? (James Petras & Henry Veltmeyer)