World Revolution 1917-1936: Rise and Fall of the Communist International (Revolutionary Studies S.) - Softcover

James, C.L.R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0391037900 ISBN 13: 9780391037908

Publisher: Humanities Press International Inc.,U.S., 1993

Synopsis

Cyril Lionel Robert James (1901 – 1989), who sometimes wrote under the pen-name J.R. Johnson, was an Afro-Trinidadian historian, journalist, socialist theorist and essayist. His works are influential in various theoretical, social, and historiographical contexts. His work is a staple of subaltern studies, and he figures as a pioneering and influential voice in postcolonial literature. His work is often associated with Caribbean and Afro-nationalism, though James himself contended that the "either-or" was a false dichotomy, and that Caribbean peoples were indebted to European as much as African cultural traditions. A tireless political activist, James's writing on the Communist International stirred debate in Trotskyist circles.

About this title

Review

"This incisive and wide-ranging work by the Trinidadian Marxist, C. L. R. James, was one of the first analyses of the rise of Stalin’s tyranny and the subordination of the needs of the international Communist movement to the needs of the Soviet state. Christian Høgsbjerg provides a marvelous introduction to James’s life and to the political context in which he wrote this remarkable work." (S. A. Smith, author of Revolution and the People in Russia and China: A Comparative History)

“Published in 1937, close to the ‘Midnight in the Century’ when Hitler and Stalin dominated global politics, C. L. R. James’s World Revolution affirms the actuality of Marxism even as it confronts the degeneration of the Russian Revolution of October 1917. In telling the story of the advance and retreat of the great revolutionary wave at the end of the First World War, James displays his qualities as a theorist, historian, and writer. This new edition includes an invaluable introduction by Christian Høgsbjerg that sets World Revolution in its place in the politics of the British left in the 1930s and in James’s own rich intellectual development.” (Alex Callinicos, author of The Revolutionary Ideas of Karl Marx)

About the Author

C. L. R. James (1901–1989), a Trinidadian historian, political activist, and writer, is the author of The Black Jacobins, an influential study of the Haitian Revolution. He is also the author of The Life of Captain Cipriani, Toussaint Louverture: The Story of the Only Successful Slave Revolt in History, and Beyond a Boundary, all also published by Duke University Press.

Christian Høgsbjerg is a historian and works for Leeds University Centre for African Studies. He is the author of C. L. R. James in Imperial Britain and the coeditor of The Black Jacobins Reader, both also published by Duke University Press.

Edition details

• Publisher: Humanities Press International Inc.,U.S.
• Publication date: 1993
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0391037900
• ISBN 13: 9780391037908
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 464