Tony Blair says that his programme of making New Labour a "party of business" is the modern form of socialism, or, at least, "social-ism". The Chinese Communist Party says that fierce repression of workers' rights, together with fast and furious cutting of deals with capitalist multinationals and the open and avid pursuit of individual profit for the privileged, is socialism in a form suitable to China today. For others, socialism is what used to exist in the USSR and is now - to the sorrow of some, the joy of others - off the agenda. What is socialism? Even 150 years ago, in the Communist Manifesto, Marx and Engels marked off their working-class socialism sharply from a wide range of other socialisms, which they called reactionary socialism, bourgeois socialism, petty-bourgeois socialism, and utopian socialism. They had already criticised what they called the "crude communism" of levelling-down to equally shared poverty. Early radical socialists in Britain, people like William Morris, argued against anarchists but also saw a huge gulf between their own working-class politics and "state socialism", which they regarded as no better, or worse, than capitalism. Yet the accomplished fact often weighs heavier than a thousand good theories. The fact that state-owned industry gave the Stalinist USSR something approximately socialist in common with the heroic years of the revolutionary Russian workers' state after 1917 convinced many that there must be some real continuity. The USSR must, at the very least, be a distorted version of a system moving towards socialism, if not actually reaching it, and therefore deserved the loyalty of the labour movement. The events of 1989-91 put an end to all such hopes, and compelled many socialists to rethink. This book will be an immensely valuable contribution to that rethinking. It presents, with clear and informative commentary, the key "lost texts of critical Marxism" from a long-dispersed, long-marginalised, but brilliant, group of radical thinkers who demonstrated the fundamental conflict between working-class socialism and bureaucratic statism in the era when the USSR was at the peak of its political influence.

Well I've read this book and quite frankly, I wasn't particulary impressed. But you have to hand it to Mr Matgamna, he sure does know how to write an introduction! In many ways, the intro is more useful, though I would wholeheartedly disagree with many of the points made, than much of the "critical texts" included thereafter.

The fact is, Shachtman went over to the right wing at the end of his life afterleading the SWP for many years. I blame his views on the USSR and one notices how many ex-trots do this. Obviously their views on the USSR have a lot of factual basis to them , but it was the best we had and therefore worth defending to the hilt and fighting for. Stalinism was "actually exisiting socialism" and anyone who denys this, contradicts the actually existing state of play at the time up until the end of the Cold War, and in particular, up to the mid 1960s.

Any socialist who wants to be educated should read this book, and then argue with it!

The Fate of the Russian Revolution Lost Texts of Critical Marxism Vol.1 Edited by Sean Matgamna. Published by Phoenix Press London ISBN 0-9531864-0-7

This book opens with a quotation from Albert Einstein, stating the case for socialism. Einstein, like almost every great mind of the 20th century who concerned himself or herself with the welfare of the working people, wanted common ownership and a democratic planned economy. But Einstein was stumped by the enigma of the USSR. He saw that there "the planned economy" was "accompanied by the complete enslavement of the individual" and so was "not yet socialism". It seemed to represent, on the one hand, a step in the right direction, because of the planned economy, but on the other hand, not a step that Einstein wanted to take.

Very few thinkers got anywhere near resolving the paradox. The greatest was Leon Trotsky. But Trotsky got no further than assessments of the USSR which he himself described as provisional and needing review if the system proved to have some solidity and viability, rather than being only a freak concatenation of counter posed forces.

When the Stalinist USSR showed that it did have that viability - by becoming the world's second superpower, in the 1940s - the task of reworking Trotsky's analysis had to be undertaken, not by well-provided professors in famous research institutes, but by tiny groups of Marxists harassed by the exigencies of day-to-day political activity in hostile circumstances. They have not become as famous as Einstein, or Trotsky. Their names - Max Shachtman, Joseph Carter, Hal Draper, C L R James - are largely unknown.

But the "lost texts" of those "critical Marxists" - here unearthed for the first time from dusty archives, and well-presented with a substantial introduction - are a central part of the intellectual history of the 20th century. Every educated person needs to know about them, just as much as he or she needs to know about Einstein's theory of relativity.

I was in Key West Florida a few times. I found this calendar among many to be the most informative, useful and well designed. I had bought two calendars - one for myself as a souvenir and one for my daughter as a gift - she loved it. This is more than just a calendar - it's an information source, a guide and a collectable item. A very beautiful gift that I may buy more of for friends and familly in the near future.

This is a remarkable book. It approaches the social psychology of the decision making process in comparative case study form. Since the dynamics, personal and structural, in the Nixon and Carter administrations were so different, it is a useful education in the methodology of waging internecine feuds.

jake lamotta might be the most eloquent, honest, and despicable man i have ever been exposed to. oddly enough, as much as i hated him throughout his story, i wanted him to win all his fights. it is the straight ahead grit he showed as a fighter and as a storyteller that kept audiences of these two mediums spellbound, amazed, and saddened.

One cannot help but admire the unflinching honesty of Jake La Motta in his autobiography. This book isn't merely a self-serving recounting of La Motta's rise and fall as a boxer. Instead, La Motta creates a geniune classic. There is no air brushing here. La Motta reveals the deepest, darkest secrets of his life: his murder attempt, raping of a virgin, his impotence, domestic violence etc. As a result, one begins to understand his fears and the utter rage that drove him as a boxer. LaMotta also helps explain something about boxing - that mixture of beauty and violence. La Motta's own honesty is the redeeming quality that delivers the book its greatness. I cannot recommend this book highly enough.

Jake La Motta made a good living punching people in the ring, rising in 1949 to the world middleweight championship. He packs the same wallop in his book "Raging Bull," the basis for the powerful 1980 film which was directed by Martin Scorsese and earned Robert De Niro an Oscar for Best Actor.

La Motta paints a brutally vivid picture of a youngster and young man growing up in a brutal Bronx jungle. The fighter they called "The Bronx Bull" writes about seeing rats in the cellar of the tenament where he grew up that were the size of cats. The neighborhood in which he grew up was so tough that he had thousands of fights, explaining that by the time he laced on gloves and became a boxer such conflict had become totally routine. To La Motta a fight was as commonplace as anyone else brushing their teeth, a simple, elementary part of life. He writes about his early life of crime, including the beating of one man he thought he had killed. In perhaps the most dramatic sequence of the book he reveals how he had lived in morbid fear of being apprehended for murder and in guilt for the act itself, after which he was shocked when the man he was convinced he had killed surfaces. Unaware that La Motta was his attacker, the man surfaces in Detroit to wish the fighter luck as he prepares for his winning title bout against champion Marcel Cerdan of France. The man explains that he was hurt badly but finally recovered, and is in town to wish someone from his old neighborhood luck in his title pursuit.

The raw power of the lightning narrative, along with its brutally realistic truth, makes "Raging Bull" one of the all- time great sports books, a true American classic.

Although this book neither as a biography nor as an anthology of the sayings and writings of Will Rogers explores its subject in any depth, this is a very solid introduction to one of the most fascinating individuals in American history. As a biography, Joseph Carter manages to give an excellent, if brief, summation of the major events in Rogers's life. The last part of the book collects a number of Rogers's better-known sayings. This section is a bit more disappointing, since most of the excerpts are presented somewhat out of the larger context. Sometimes, this doesn't matter. But having read some longer pieces by Rogers's, I find that it doesn't enable the reader to get an adequate feel for the kinds of concerns that Rogers had as a political and social thinker.

Rogers was a humorist, but concerns with political and social issues permeate his work. He was also an enormously complex thinker. Although there was a quaint simplicity and humility to the way Rogers expressed himself, he actually worked out a political position that wasn't entirely at home on either the Right or the Left side of the political spectrum. Although he was in most respects of liberal sympathies, he was almost libertarian in the way he yearned for a small central government that didn't intrude into the lives of everyday individuals. He was profoundly suspicious of big government. At the same, time, he was profoundly non-libertarian in being even more suspicious of big business and capitalism. His sympathies, however, were definitely populist.

Rogers was simultaneously one of the most popular stage performers, movie performers, radio personalities, and political writers of his day, and arguably one of the, if not THE, most popular Americans ever to have lived. This excellent volume will provide the neophyte with a good introduction to all these aspects of Rogers's life and career.

I do believe, however, that we desperately need a good, in-depth anthology of the writings of Will Rogers. I would love to see the Library of America bring out a volume dedicated to Will Rogers. Until they or someone else does this, I am afraid that Rogers will be remembered more as the author of pithy one-liners than as what he was: the most influential political commentator of his day.

Excellent reading book combining both a biography and familiar quotations--and writings--from America's best-loved cowboy humorist who lit up the film screen and the radio airwaves during the Roaring 20s and the New Deal 30s. This is a great book for reading--stop by a local bookstore and check it out!

Every school library should have this book! Todays young people need to know about Will Rogers and this book tells it all in great style.

I'm not sure how to feel about this book. While reading it, I really could not become absorbed by Conrad's dense prose, though, while occasionaly eloquent, is very thick, and, well, British. But now that I am finished with it, I can not get the images the novella invokes out of my head. The conquest of Africa by the Imperialist on the surface, and the corruption of man's very morality underneath. The story is deceptively simple, merely a man working for an Ivory trading company, ominously called "The Company", going up the Congo river to meet up with Kurtz, the archetype of Western Imperialism. During this trip, we are shown the inner workings of man and his heart of darkness. The novella is not perfect though. Conrad's condemnation of Imperialism is uneven. Yes, the only discernable cause of Kurtz's descent into evil and madness is the imperialist ethic of master-slave, and it is fairly clear that Marlowe (conrad) is condemning that ethic, but at the same time, he doesn't work very hard to elevate the view of the African natives any higher in the esteem of his western readers. Anyway, as the novella is only about 100 pages, it is something that can be read in a day. Invest an afternoon in it, and decide for yourself.

Heart of Darkness is a novella that really needs to be read more than just once to fully appreciate Conrad's style of writing. The story is an account of one man's simultaneous journey into the darkness of a river as well as into the shadows of a madman's mind. There is a very brilliant flow of foreshadowing that Conrad brings to his writing that provides the reader with accounts of the time period and the horrible events to come. Through Conrad's illuminating writing style we slowly see how the narrator begins to understand the madness or darkness that surrounds him.

I recommend this particular version of the novella because it contains a variety of essays, which discusses some of the main issues in the reading and historical information. Issues like racism and colonialism are discussed throughout many essays. It also contains essays on the movie inspired by the book Apocalypse Now, which is set against the background of the Vietnam War. I recommend reading Heart of Darkness and then viewing Apocalypse Now, especially in DVD format which contains an interesting directors commentary.

English majors are justly fond of Conrad, who packs his stories with subtlety, symbolism, parallels, and rich imagery. "Heart of Darkness" is a brief and strangely absorbing read. Its plot is simple enough on the surface, about a sailor who guides a steamer up the Congo in search of a vaunted ivory trader. But beneath the surface, in a palpable atmosphere of unease, lie the book's complicated themes. This isn't just a condemnation of European activity in Africa, but a glimpse at the evil within every man. In some ways this book is a precursor to "Lord of the Flies" and other twentieth century books of despair, and yet Conrad does not leave the reader without hope. In skilful, mystical passages about light and dark, black and white, tall and short, jungle and sepulchre, Conrad gives us much food for thought about the nature of humankind and the possibilities for both good and evil. I see this book more as a warning than a simple cry of despair - though it pays ample attention to "the horror" of it all.

This book read very easy and I found myself not wanting to put it down. Joe had a lifetime of stories to tell and some will shock you and others will make you laugh. All of you NASCAR fans will learn how some of the early drivers learned how to handle a car. I would recommend this book to anyone that has an interest in how things were done in the south years ago. Enjoy!

An illuminating miniature on a legendary house that was almost destroyed by the New England hurricane of 1938 and succumbed to fire in 1973. It was NeutraÕs grandestÑand most unlikelyÑcommission: a summer house for a famous Rhode Island family on Fishers Island. John Nicholas Brown picked Neutra after seeing the MoMA exhibition on modern architecture that included the Lovell Health House. Neumann, a professor of architecture at Brown University, recently curated an exhibition on the house that may eventually be shown in LA. Meanwhile we can enjoy his entertaining account of how the patrician client and progressive architect corresponded and faced off, and the camel that resulted from the collaboration of this odd couple. (Michael Webb is the book reviewer for LA Architect magazine.)