After the Fall: The Failure of Communism and the Future of Socialism - Softcover

Blackburn, Robin

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0860915409 ISBN 13: 9780860915409

Publisher: Verso Books, 1992

Synopsis

The fall of Communism has been an epoch-making event. The distinguished contributors to After the Fall explain to us the meaning of Communism's meteoric trajectory - and explore the rational grounds for socialist endeavour and commitment in a world which remains dangerous and divided.

The contributors include the Italian political philosopher Norberto Bobbio, the British historian Eric Hobsbawm, the French economist André Gorz, and the German social theorist Jürgen Habermas. Eduardo Galeano explains how the world now looks from the South, Diane Elson explores how the market might be socialized, Ralph Miliband writes on the harshness of Leninism, Hans Magnus Enzenberger argues that the capitalist 'bad fairy' granted the Left's wishes in disconcerting ways. Lynne Segal looking at the condition of women sees no reason to abandon her libertarian, feminist and socialist convictions, while Maxine Molyneux considers the implications for women of the fall of Communism. Giovanni Arrighi asks whether Marxism understood the 'American Century', Fredric Jameson pursues a conversation on the new world order, Iván Szelényi explains who will be the new rulers of Eastern Europe, and Robin Blackburn reflects on the history of socialist programmes, with the benefit of hindsight. Fred Halliday and Edward Thompson disagree about how Communism ended but share worries about what is in store for the post-Communist countries. Alexander Cockburn regrets the death of the Soviet Union. And Göran Therborn eloquently proves that it is still possible to imagine a future beyond capitalism... and beyond socialism?

About this title

About the Authors

Robin Blackburn is the critically acclaimed author of The Making of New World Slavery, The Overthrow of Colonial Slavery and The American Crucible. He is Emeritus Professor at the University of Essex and was a Distinguished Visiting Professor at the New School in New York. He lives in London

Alexander Cockburn (1941-2012) was the coeditor of CounterPunch and the author of a number of titles, including Corruptions of Empire, The Golden Age Is in Us, Washington Babylon (with Ken Silverstein) and Imperial Crusades. One of three brothers, all journalists, he is the son of the journalist and author Claud Cockburn. Born in Ireland and educated in Scotland and England, he moved to America in 1972, soon establishing himself as a radical reporter and commentator, writing for the Village Voice, the New York Review of Books, Esquire and Harpers. He also wrote regular columns for the Nation, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, New Statesman, and his influential newsletter CounterPunch. In 1991 he settled in Petrolia, a rural hamlet in Humboldt County, Northern California, where he remained until his death.

E. P. Thompson was an English historian whose many books include The Making of the English Working Class.

For more on Dorothy and Edward Thompson visit their website.

Eduardo Galeano is also the author of Open Veins of Latin America, Days and Nights of Love and War, The Book of Embraces, We Say No, and other works. He is a regular contributor to The Nation. He lives in Montevideo, Uruguay.

A Fellow of the British Academy and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Eric Hobsbawm is the author of more than twenty books of history, including The Age of Revolution and The Age of Extremes. He lives in London.

Edition details

• Publisher: Verso Books
• Publication date: 1992
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0860915409
• ISBN 13: 9780860915409
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 327