Category: Monthly Review Press Blog

Grappling with “Capital’s” entirety: Not just for first-time readers (Heinrich reviewed by ‘Marx & Philosophy Review of Books’)

Grappling with “Capital’s” entirety: Not just for first-time readers (Heinrich reviewed by ‘Marx & Philosophy Review of Books’)

February 20, 2024

Heinrich’s close attention to the original German, contrary to many anglophone scholars, is another element of his textual approach that strengthens the accuracy of the interpretation…..to say that “How to Read Marx’s ‘Capital’” is not only for first-time readers may be to state the obvious. It is a commentary that is straightforward in its exposition and indispensable for beginners, yet still challenges those who have already long dedicated themselves to a study of ‘Capital’….

The Return of Nature wins ASA’s Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Award

The Return of Nature wins ASA’s Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Award

February 20, 2024

MR editor John Bellamy Foster’s The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology (New York: Monthly Review Press, 2020) was the recipient of the Paul Sweezy Outstanding Book Award of the Section on Marxist Sociology of the American Sociological Association for 2022…

WATCH! MR CONVERSATIONS: Capitalism in the Anthropocene by John Bellamy Foster (Plus: EXCERPTS)

WATCH! MR CONVERSATIONS: Capitalism in the Anthropocene by John Bellamy Foster (Plus: EXCERPTS)

February 20, 2024

…For many, willing to resign humanity to its “fate,” the idea of a way out of our current dilemma, fundamentally altering society in order to avoid the socioecological chasm before us, will undoubtedly sound utopian. But utopia, a pun coined in the sixteenth century by Thomas More meaning both “nowhere” and “good place,” and therefore often seen as representing a kind of dream state or wishful projection into the future, loses its idealistic connotation in the context of a planetary dystopia where catastrophe, measured against historical precedents, has now become normal and threatens to become irreversible on a planetary scale, due to the inherent apocalyptic tendencies of the current mode of production…

Marxism and the Climate Crisis (John Bellamy Foster on the ‘Historical Materialism podcast’)

Marxism and the Climate Crisis (John Bellamy Foster on the ‘Historical Materialism podcast’)

February 20, 2024

In this wide-ranging interview with Lukas Slothuus and Ashok Kumar of the Historical Materialism Podcast, John Bellamy Foster discusses, among other things, his lecture on “The Return of the Dialectics of Nature,” the influence of mechanistic worldviews on the field of ecology and 20th century Socialist thought, fundamental assumptions on the part of many Western Marxists regarding the nonexistence of a “dialectics of nature,” misunderstandings about Lukács’ supposed rejection of a dialectics of nature, Leibig’s work on the “soil crisis” and the ways that this steered Marx’s concept of the “metabolic rift,” etc. – and moves on from there.

Labor can be used to create wealth for others…or to create life (Work Work Work in ‘Truthout’)

Labor can be used to create wealth for others…or to create life (Work Work Work in ‘Truthout’)

February 20, 2024

On this Labor Day, perhaps it is time for all members of the world’s working class, to ask themselves, why is work so often a “torment,” an “affliction,” done under “compulsion”? Why does it feel as if our bosses are “persecuting” us? Why does it wreck our bodies? Why does it seem so meaningless? It certainly doesn’t have to be and was not for most of our time on Earth….

Work could be different (Yates featured in ‘Labor Notes’)

Work could be different (Yates featured in ‘Labor Notes’)

February 20, 2024

…From the employer’s point of view, our labor power is simply a commodity, no different than the inanimate buildings, machines, tools, and raw materials purchased by businesses. Given our circumstances, we must sell this commodity to survive. But after we do, the employer has no guarantee that our capacity to toil will be converted into actual work effort. Workers have always resisted their commodity status…

Notice what Kohei Saito is reading?

Notice what Kohei Saito is reading?

February 20, 2024

In this image, Kohei Saito holds a copy of “Monopoly Capital,” by Baran and Sweezy. Saito’s book “Capital in the Anthropocene” (Editor’s note: Not to be confused with John Bellamy Foster’s book by a similar name) has become an unlikely hit among young people and is about to be translated into English…

Inextricable connections: war and fascism abroad, and threats to workers at home (!Brigadistas! reviewed in ‘Portside NY’)

Inextricable connections: war and fascism abroad, and threats to workers at home (!Brigadistas! reviewed in ‘Portside NY’)

February 20, 2024

!Brigadistas! is a valuable, accessible textual and visual representation of history. It is recommended for those who are familiar with the Abraham Lincoln Brigade, the Spanish Civil War, and the left of the 1930s and would find refreshing a reminder of its history. And, even more, !Brigadistas! can serve as a vibrant tool for political education for those who would be new to the subject.

The Persecution of Paul Robeson (Horne, on ‘The Chris Hedges Report’)

The Persecution of Paul Robeson (Horne, on ‘The Chris Hedges Report’)

February 20, 2024

When you defy the imperial, capitalist American state, when you denounce the crimes done to its own people, especially the poor, immigrants, and African Americans, as well as the crimes it commits abroad, when you have a global audience in the tens of millions that admires and respects you for your courage and integrity, when you cannot be intimidated or bought off, then you are targeted for destruction….

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