Research Catalog

Title

The revenge of history : Marxism and the East European revolutions / Alex Callinicos.

Author

Callinicos, Alex

Publication

University Park, Pa. : Pennsylvania State University Press, 1991.

Items in the Library & Off-site

Holdings

Details

Description

x, 159 p.; 24 cm.

Summary

"The Revenge of History is a frontal assault on the widely accepted idea that the East European revolutions of 1989 mark the death of socialism." "Alex Callinicos seeks to vindicate the classical Marxist tradition by arguing that socialism in this tradition can only come from below, through the self-activity of the working class. Stalinism from this standpoint was a counter-revolution, erecting at the end of the 1920s a state capitalist regime on the ruins of the radically democratic socialism briefly achieved in October 1917. Callinicos argues that the collapse of Stalinism at the end of the 1980s is one aspect of a world-wide transition from nationally organized to globally integrated capitalism. The result is likely to be greater economic and political instability. Against this background socialism -- in Marx's sense -- is all the more necessary. Callinicos contends that Marx's vision of a classless communist society would be both practically feasible and profoundly democratic." "He concludes that the collapse of Stalinism should be less the moment to abandon socialism than to resume unfinished business. Book jacket."--BOOK JACKET.

Subject

• Communism > Europe, Eastern > History > 20th century
• Europe, Eastern > Politics and government > 1945-1989
• Europe, Eastern > Politics and government > 1989-

Genre/Form

History

Bibliography (note)

• Includes bibliographical references (p.[137]-152) and index.

Processing Action (note)

• committed to retain

Contents

The End of Socialism? -- The Inspired Frenzy of History -- Farewell to Marx? -- Marxism contra Stalinism -- The Ancien Regime and the Revolution -- Revolution and Counter-Revolution -- The Contradictions of Authoritarian Reform -- Political or Social Revolution? -- The Triumph of the West? -- Back to the Future? -- The Great Illusion -- Beyond the Market -- The Necessity of Planning -- Socialist versus Liberal Democracy -- Towards Communism.

ISBN

• 0271007672 (alk. paper)
• 0271007680 (pbk.)

LCCN

^^^91006917^

OCLC

23049380

Owning Institutions

Harvard Library