The rise of neo-liberalism has had a devastating impact on the institutions and organisations with which the left has traditionally been associated. Boris Kagarlitsky examines this crisis and explores areas of opportunity for the left.
He begins by focusing on the decline of trade unions in the West and the attempts to revive them, contrasting this with the rapid growth of unions in the nations of the developing world and the new industrial countries. He argues that trade unionism has a vital role to play in the twenty-first century.
Kagarlitsky then provides a critique of the post-modernist left, arguing that the experiences of Eastern Europe and of the Third World demonstrate the vital need for a universal left as the only viable alternative to the emerging 'new barbarism'.
The state of the contemporary left is explored, with an assessment of the contributions of the 'third left' and 'third socialism' and the new wave of left parties and movements, such as the German Party of Democratic Socialism, the Workers' Party in Brazil, and the Zapatistas in Mexico.
Rezensionen / Stimmen
'This ambitious trilogy offers an intriguing diagnosis of the plight of the Left at a moment when its fortunes may be starting to change for the better' -- Times Literary Suplement
Sprache
Verlagsort
Zielgruppe
Für höhere Schule und Studium
Für Beruf und Forschung
Produkt-Hinweis
Maße
Höhe: 215 mm
Breite: 135 mm
Gewicht
ISBN-13
978-0-7453-1596-6 (9780745315966)
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Schweitzer Klassifikation
Boris Kagarlitsky is a Russian Marxist theoretician and sociologist who has been a political dissident in the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. He is the author of many books, his latest being The Long Retreat: Strategies to Reverse the Decline of the Left. In 2023 he was detained under Putin's regime for speaking out against the war in Ukraine, and in February 2024 he was sentenced to five years in a penal colony. Since then, the Daniel Singer Foundation designated him as the recipient of its 2024 Prisoner of Conscience Award.
Preface
Introduction
1. Does Trade Unionism have a Future?
2. Beyond Identities
3. The Third Left or the Third Socialism
Notes
Index
Introduction: Pride and Protest
1. Does trade unionism have a future?
The crisis of unionism
The post-Soviet trade unions
South Korean activism
South African militancy
Third World workers form fighting unions
New social unionism in Europe
Changing the concept of unionism
2. Beyond Identities
Changing fashions
Identity politics
Discoursive struggles
Feminism: from protest to career politics
Individualist mass movements
Moving East
The real differences
The Marxist approach
Hegemony and postmodernist strategy
Universalism and democracy
Affirmative action
From defensive struggles to corporatism
Leftist strategies
Non-governmental organizations
Class politics comes back
3. The Third Left or the Third Socialism
"The third left"
The third socialism
The Zapatistas
Return to the arms
Protests and programs
Rifondazione in Italy
Party of Democratic Socialism in Germany
The Workers Party in Brazil
Struggles in Eastern Europe
Pluralist left
Between resistance and 'constructive work'
From networking to challenging the system
Conclusion: The Stage we are in
