Empire's New Clothes: Reading Hardt and Negri by Jodi Dean, Paul Passavant

After September 11 this discussion of Empire's political and legal theories was closely linked with the struggle to redefine America's place in a changed world. The book was read as a diagnosis of our era and a call for liberatory action, while Michael Hardt was acclaimed as the next Jacques Derrida. Framing the debate about this landmark work, Empire's New Clothes brings together leading scholars to make sense of Empire's new vocabulary and tackle its claims head on. Does the authors' vision accurately describe the power structure of today's world? Do the processes of "globalization" today represent a fundamental break from the past? Is the book really a "communist manifesto" for the new age? Empire's New Clothes investigates these and other key issues, giving academics, students, and lay readers a handle on a work that touches the most vital themes of current political, social, and economic life.

Here’s Doug Henwood on Empire, incase your interested

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Late Capitalism by Ernest Mandel

Late Capitalism represents the first ever attempt to combine the general theory of the 'laws of motion' of the capitalist mode of production developed by Marx with the concrete history of capitalism in the twentieth century. Mandel sketches the structure of the world market and develops a bold schema for the 'long-waves' of expansion and contraction in the history of capitalism.

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The Revolution Betrayed by Leon Trotsky

Written in 1936 and published the following year, this brilliant and profound evaluation of Stalinism from the Marxist standpoint prophesied the collapse of the Soviet Union. Trotsky employs facts, figures, and statistics to show how Stalinist policies rejected the enormous productive potential of the nationalized planned economy engendered by the October Revolution.

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Wall Street by Doug Henwood

**This book is now out of print and has been released to the public under the Creative Commons license.**

“Doug Henwood's engaging book is a razor-sharp dissection of the world of high finance... Henwood has the natural-born teacher's ability to make the obscure transparent.”

-- Gary Mongiovi, The Nation

“If Karl Marx wrote as well as Doug Henwood, who knows what course history might have taken?”

-- James Grant, author of The Trouble with Prosperity

“Indispensable to anyone who wants to know where our economy is, where it is going, and why."

-- Eric Foner, author of The Story of American Freedom

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[If you enjoy this book, you can donate here to the author]

Specters of Marx by Jacques Derrida

Linking Hamlet's ghost with the opening of the Communist Manifesto, the noted French philosopher meditates on the state and future of Marxism since the fall of the Berlin Wall. Developing two highly expanded lectures, Derrida notes that the current talk of the "new world order" and "the end of history" is the recurrence of a old debate, an attempt to exorcise the "spirit" represented by Marxism, just as Marx was concerned with the "ghosts" and "conjuring" of capitalism. Derrida argues that the deconstructive doctrine of "differance" and Marxism as an act posit many Marxisms. It is therefore the interpreter's duty to preserve the spirit of Marxism by pursuing the ghosts and laying bare the conjurings. This is Derrida's first major statement on Marx; an important book for academic collections.

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The George Orwell Collection

George Orwell was a lot of things.  He was an anti-fascist, an anti-imperialist and an anti-Stalinist.  He fought with the Troskyist POUM in the Spanish Civil War and never experienced much fame or fortune within his lifetime.  Whatever your thoughts of the specifics of his politics, he was a genuine leftist and an iconic novelist of the English language.  Here is a collection of his works.

INCLUDES:

• 1984
• Animal Farm
• Coming Up For Air
• Homage to Catalonia
• Reflections on Gandhi
• A Clergeyman’s Daughter
• Burmese Days
• Down and Out in Paris and London
• Keep the Apidistra Flying
• The Road to Wigan Pier

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The case for a “left-Kautskyan” approach

I’ll have some more releases coming later in the day, but I just read this article, which basically condenses the CPGB’s Mike McNair’s thoughts on revolutionary strategy into a short post.

In the 21st century in the developed world at least I’m a proponent of a retreat from the post-political identity politics of the left today into I suppose something more traditional.  The left has been reacting far too much, throwing support behind reactionary forces and betraying it’s principles left and right (no pun intended). Despite my respect for Trotsky and the Trotskyist tradition I think there is a lot to be learned from the lessons of the SPD.  Read the article and let me know what you think in the comment box.

You can stop listening to me and go back to leeching ebooks now :).

For They Know Not What They Do by Slavoj Zizek

 

With the disintegration of state socialism came the re-emergence of aggressive nationalism and racism. The lid of repression lifted, the desires that emerged have been far from democratic. To explain this apparent paradox, socialist critical thought must turn to psychoanalysis says Slavoj Zizek. For they know not what they do seeks to understand the status of enjoyment within ideological discourse, from Hegel through Lacan to these political and ideological deadlocks. The author's own enjoyment of popular culture makes this an engaging and lucid exposition.

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Needless to say if you want to support the site, figuring out how to do isn’t exactly rocket science.  If you get Lacan you can probably figure it out :)

A People’s History of the United States by Howard Zinn

(EBOOK, not AUDIO)

An iconic work. No description is needed, but here’s one anyway:

A People's History of the United States is a 1980 non-fiction book by American historian and political scientist Howard Zinn. In the book, Zinn seeks to present American history through the eyes of those rarely heard in mainstream histories. A People's History, though originally a dissident work, has become a major success and was a runner-up in 1980 for the National Book Award. It has been adopted for reading in some high schools and colleges across the United States and has been frequently revised, with the most recent edition covering events through 2003.

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Empire by Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt

Empire is a text written by Marxist philosophers Antonio Negri and Michael Hardt. The book, written in the mid 90s, was published in 2000 and quickly sold beyond its expectations as an academic work. In general, the book theorizes an ongoing transition from a "modern" phenomenon of imperialism, centered around individual nation-states, to an emergent postmodern construct created amongst ruling powers which the authors call Empire (the capital letter is distinguishing), with different forms of warfare.

HERE IS A CRITIQUE OF EMPIRE by Peter Di Nardo

If anyone has a copy of Multitude please share.

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Spaces of Hope by David Harvey

"[Harvey's] ideas, which, whether you agree with them or not, are generally brilliant. His 'spatiotemporal utopianism' is a bit of a mouthful, yet it is thought-provoking and shimmers with hope."

—The Nation

"There is no question that David Harvey's work has been one of the most important, influential, and imaginative contributions to the development of human geography since the Second World War. . . . His readings of Marx are arresting and original--a remarkably fresh return to the foundational texts of historical materialism."

—Derek Gregory, author of Geographical Imaginations

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Confessions of an Economic Hitman by John Perkins

John Perkins started and stopped writing Confessions of an Economic Hit Man four times over 20 years. He says he was threatened and bribed in an effort to kill the project, but after 9/11 he finally decided to go through with this expose of his former professional life. Perkins, a former chief economist at Boston strategic-consulting firm Chas. T. Main, says he was an "economic hit man" for 10 years, helping U.S. intelligence agencies and multinationals cajole and blackmail foreign leaders into serving U.S. foreign policy and awarding lucrative contracts to American business. "Economic hit men (EHMs) are highly paid professionals who cheat countries around the globe out of trillions of dollars," Perkins writes. Confessions of an Economic Hit Man is an extraordinary and gripping tale of intrigue and dark machinations. Think John Le Carré, except it's a true story. 

Perkins writes that his economic projections cooked the books Enron-style to convince foreign governments to accept billions of dollars of loans from the World Bank and other institutions to build dams, airports, electric grids, and other infrastructure he knew they couldn't afford. The loans were given on condition that construction and engineering contracts went to U.S. companies. Often, the money would simply be transferred from one bank account in Washington, D.C., to another one in New York or San Francisco. The deals were smoothed over with bribes for foreign officials, but it was the taxpayers in the foreign countries who had to pay back the loans. When their governments couldn't do so, as was often the case, the U.S. or its henchmen at the World Bank or International Monetary Fund would step in and essentially place the country in trusteeship, dictating everything from its spending budget to security agreements and even its United Nations votes. It was, Perkins writes, a clever way for the U.S. to expand its "empire" at the expense of Third World citizens. While at times he seems a little overly focused on conspiracies, perhaps that's not surprising considering the life he's led.

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Spaces of Capital by David Harvey

Harvey (anthropology, CUNY Graduate Sch.) is one of the most influential geographers of the later 20th century, especially as concerns the relationship among politics, capitalism, and the social aspects of geographical theory. His previous and still cogent works include Explanation in Geography, Social Justice and the City, and Spaces of Hope. His new book provides the daring reader with an introduction to fields of inquiry collectively termed the new geography or critical geography. Harvey delves deeply into the collective psyche of geography as a discipline and attacks long-held assumptions of scientific neutrality within it, particularly in the chapter titled "Population, Resources, and the Ideology of Science." He also gives a chronology of his own geographic thought and his philosophical underpinnings such as Hegel, Marx, Kant, Heidegger, and the like and a unique perspective on capitalism as a driving force in shaping the physical arrangement of societies. Most geographers may take much of this book as an indictment against their chosen field, but Harvey certainly gives us much to consider. Appropriate for larger public libraries and academic libraries.

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For Marx by Louis Althusser

I’m proud to host this one, it’s quite rare.

This collection of essays includes the seminal moments of many concepts still alive in Marxism and academia at large. The essays on "Contradiction and Overdetermination", "On the Young Marx", "Marxism and Humanism", and on the 1844 Manuscripts deserve to be revisited by a wider audience today in light of the growing interest in Marxism informed by post-structuralist thought. Much of Derrida's work owes an unacknowledged debt to the interpretations presented here (e.g. Althusser's concept of overdetermination, and his principled anti-humanism). Highly recommended to those interested in Marxist philosophy.

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Saviours and Survivors: Darfur, Politics and the War on Terror by Mahmood Mamdani

From the author of Good Muslim, Bad Muslim comes an important book, unlike any other, that looks at the crisis in Darfur within the context of the history of Sudan and examines the world’s response to that crisis.

In Saviors and Survivors, Mahmood Mamdani explains how the conflict in Darfur began as a civil war (1987—89) between nomadic and peasant tribes over fertile land in the south, triggered by a severe drought that had expanded the Sahara Desert by more than sixty miles in forty years; how British colonial officials had artificially tribalized Darfur, dividing its population into “native” and “settler” tribes and creating homelands for the former at the expense of the latter; how the war intensified in the 1990s when the Sudanese government tried unsuccessfully to address the problem by creating homelands for tribes without any. The involvement of opposition parties gave rise in 2003 to two rebel movements, leading to a brutal insurgency and a horrific counterinsurgency–but not to genocide, as the West has declared.

Mamdani also explains how the Cold War exacerbated the twenty-year civil war in neighboring Chad, creating a confrontation between Libya’s Muammar al-Qaddafi (with Soviet support) and the Reagan administration (allied with France and Israel) that spilled over into Darfur and militarized the fighting. By 2003, the war involved national, regional, and global forces, including the powerful Western lobby, who now saw it as part of the War on Terror and called for a military invasion dressed up as “humanitarian intervention.”

Incisive and authoritative, Saviors and Survivors will radically alter our understanding of the crisis in Darfur.

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Ten Days that Shook the World by John Reed

Ten Days that Shook the World (1919) is a book by American journalist and socialist John Reed about the October Revolution in Russia in 1917 which Reed experienced firsthand. Reed followed many of the prominent Bolshevik leaders, especially Grigory Zinoviev and Karl Radek, closely during his time in Russia.

John Reed died in 1920 shortly after the book was finished, and he is one of the few Americans buried at the Kremlin Wall Necropolis in Moscow, a site normally reserved only for the most prominent Soviet leaders.

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Open Veins of Latin America by Eduardo Galeano

It seems like thousands and thousands of people have been looking for this book since Chavez gave it to Obama as a gift… so here it is!

In Open Veins of Latin America Galeano analyzes the history of Latin America as a whole from the time period of the European discovery of the New World to contemporary Latin America arguing against European and later U.S. economic exploitation and political dominance over the region. The Library Journal review stated, "Well written and passionately stated, this is an intellectually honest and valuable study.”

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The New Imperialism by David Harvey

Harvey is scholarly but adamant about the hidden dynamics behind the U.S. war on Iraq. Though the U.S. does not fit the old model of an imperial nation, it nonetheless has shown such predilections for some time. Harvey cites the U.S.' ruthlessness in pressing global hegemony since the 1800s, including the internment of Japanese in World War II and the recent Patriot and Homeland Security Acts. Exploring the geopolitical and economic issues that are driving the hostilities in Iraq, Harvey views the war as a diversion from domestic issues and a perfect opportunity for neoconservatives to press their hegemonic agenda. He examines the symbiotic and parasitic relationship between Wall Street, the U.S. Treasury, and the International Monetary Fund as he explores how the U.S. has used an array of tactics, from trade embargoes to military force, to gain geopolitical influence.

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Change the World Without Taking Power by John Holloway

DISCLAIMER: I respect some of the ideas in this book and I’m certainly in favor of a “socialism from below”, but leftists shouldn’t be afraid of state power.  There needs to be new idea for the future, a new plan, a new type of party, and we need to reassert our commitment to maintaining bourgeois democratic rights, but if your ceding state power to the oppressors your guaranteeing yourself a lifetime of being the oppressed.  That’s the same reason I prefer more substantial politics than “resistance for the sake of resistance”.  Even if we have to make concessions to the market, the idea that we can exert real power outside the state is kind of ridiculous. This book is still worth reading for its great influence on many actors in the anti-globalization movement.

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A Brief History of Neoliberalism by David Harvey

Neoliberalism--the doctrine that market exchange is an ethic in itself, capable of acting as a guide for all human action--has become dominant in both thought and practice throughout much of the world since 1970 or so. Writing for a wide audience, David Harvey, author of The New Imperialism and The Condition of Postmodernity, here tells the political-economic story of where neoliberalization came from and how it proliferated on the world stage. Through critical engagement with this history, he constructs a framework, not only for analyzing the political and economic dangers that now surround us, but also for assessing the prospects for the more socially just alternatives being advocated by many oppositional movements.

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No Logo by Naomi Klein

No Logo: Taking Aim at the Brand Bullies is a book by Canadian journalist Naomi Klein. First published by Knopf Canada in January 2000, shortly after the 1999 WTO Ministerial Conference protests in Seattle had generated media attention around such issues, it became one of the most influential books about the anti-globalization movement and an international bestseller.

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