November 12, 2021 - Event Registration for Panel Presentation - Eventbrite:

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Monthly Review magazine and Monthly Review Press have been leading publishers of left scholarship since 1949. The first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949) featured Albert Einstein's classic essay, "Why Socialism?"

Our mission since then has been to offer readers a responsible platform for neglected and emerging scholarship grounded in critical analyses of capitalism, on a wide range of progressive issues. Monthly Review Press is an educational publisher, featuring a small and selected, but influential school of scholarly analysis which fills a demonstrable gap in the arena of socialist scholarship. Monthly Review’s distinctive contribution to the world of ideas has advanced an analysis that helps to explain the tendency of contemporary capitalism toward slow growth and stagnation, the growing environmental catastrophe, the continuing and deepening economic inequality between the rich and poor nations, and between the rich and poor everywhere.

Here the new editor of Monthly Review Press, Arun Kundnani, talks about one of the books that inspired him to join MRP: Intan Suwandi's "Value Chains". If you care about hundreds of millions of industrial workers in the Global South, pick up a copy: https://monthlyreview.org/9781583677810/

"Value Chains" examines the exploitation of labor in the Global South. Focusing on the issue of labor within global value chains—vast networks of people, tools, and activities needed to deliver goods and services to the market and controlled by multinationals—Intan Suwandi offers a deft empirical analysis of unit labor costs that is closely related to Marx’s own theory of exploitation.

"Value Chains" uncovers the concrete processes through which multinational corporations, located primarily in the Global North, capture value from the Global South. We are brought face to face with various state-of-the-art corporate strategies that enforce “economical” and “flexible” production, including labor management methods, aimed to reassert the imperial dominance of the North, while continuing the dependency of the Global South and polarizing the global economy. Case studies of Indonesian suppliers exemplify the growing burden borne by the workers of the Global South, whose labor creates the surplus value that enriches the capitalists of the North, as well as the secondary capitals of the South. Today, those who control the value chains and siphon off the profits are primarily financial interests with vast economic and political power—the power that must be broken if the global working class is to liberate itself. Suwandi’s book depicts in concrete detail the relations of unequal exchange that structure today’s world economy. This study, up-to-date and richly documented, puts labor and class back at the center of our understanding of the world capitalist system.

See Suwandi’s “explainer” video on Value Chains: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9WyOb6Q2Qf0

Also see two other MRP Classics that inspired Kundnani to join MRP:
-James Boggs' 'Racism and the Class Struggle": https://youtu.be/FjE6E20apy4?si=CO7HG6yOI48aSIri
-Aimé Césaire's 'Discourse on Colonialism': https://youtu.be/tFICq8Gq75I

ABOUT MONTHLY REVIEW:

Monthly Review is an educational publisher, featuring a small and selected, but influential school of scholarly analysis which fills a demonstrable gap in the arena of socialist scholarship.

Monthly Review Magazine and Monthly Review Press have been leading publishers of left scholarship since 1949. The first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949) featured Einstein's classic essay, "Why Socialism?" (now available as a book.) Other seminal works include "Discourse on Colonialism," "Eurocentrism," "Open Veins of Latin America," among many others. Our mission since the start has been to offer readers a responsible platform for neglected and emerging scholarship grounded in critical analyses of capitalism, on a wide range of progressive issues. Monthly Review’s distinctive contribution to the world of ideas has advanced an analysis that helps to explain the tendency of contemporary capitalism toward slow growth and stagnation, the growing environmental catastrophe, the continuing and deepening economic inequality between the rich and poor nations, and between the rich and poor everywhere.

James Boggs' "Racism and the Class Struggle" became a seminal text for the Civil Rights and Black Power Movement activism of the 1960s.

And it was one of the books that inspired Arun Kundnani to join Monthly Review Press as our new editor.

Jimmy Boggs saw what was coming...and today we are living it.

We are experiencing the apex and the implosion of the American empire.
The beginning of the end of the American empire was visible in Detroit half a century ago.

In "Racism and the Class Struggle" Detroit organizer James Boggs wrestled with the problems of the specific character of American capitalism and American democracy, the historic mission of the black revolution in the United States, and the need for the 1960s black movement to develop theoretically and organizationally.

This collection of essays includes Bogg's remarkable "The City Is the Black Man's Land," an article anticipating the black nationalist programs that were to emerge in the later 1960s. Boggs hails the coming of what was at the time the new slogan of the black revolution with an essay called, "Black Power: A Scientific Concept Whose Time Has Come." In further essays, he hammers at his theme of the "second civil war" and black control of the cities. In his concluding piece, written especially for this book, Boggs evaluates and analyzes the movement of the late 1960s and its various groups. See: https://monthlyreview.org/9781583678763/

Also see two other MRP Classics that inspired Kundnani to join MRP:
-Aimé Césaire's 'Discourse on Colonialism': https://youtu.be/tFICq8Gq75I
-Intan Suwandi's 'Value Chains': https://youtu.be/v6S-t_HbIgs?si=O7gxqQuE03WJcgKO

MONTHLY REVIEW BACKGROUND:

Monthly Review is an educational publisher, featuring a small and selected, but influential school of scholarly analysis which fills a demonstrable gap in the arena of socialist scholarship.

Monthly Review Magazine and Monthly Review Press have been leading publishers of left scholarship since 1949. The first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949) featured Einstein's classic essay, "Why Socialism?" (now available as a book.) Other seminal works include "Discourse on Colonialism," "Eurocentrism," "Open Veins of Latin America," among many others. Our mission since the start has been to offer readers a responsible platform for neglected and emerging scholarship grounded in critical analyses of capitalism, on a wide range of progressive issues. Monthly Review’s distinctive contribution to the world of ideas has advanced an analysis that helps to explain the tendency of contemporary capitalism toward slow growth and stagnation, the growing environmental catastrophe, the continuing and deepening economic inequality between the rich and poor nations, and between the rich and poor everywhere.

“Fascism is colonialism coming home", says Arun Kundnani.
"Trump is the War on Terror coming home."

Here Kundnani talks about one of the books that inspired him to join MRP: “Discourse on Colonialism”, by Aimé Césaire: https://monthlyreview.org/9781583670255/

Also see two other MRP Classics that inspired Kundnani to join MRP:
-Intan Suwandi's 'Value Chains': https://youtu.be/v6S-t_HbIgs?si=O7gxqQuE03WJcgKO
-James Boggs' 'Racism and the Class Struggle": https://youtu.be/FjE6E20apy4?si=CO7HG6yOI48aSIri

We conducted this interview with Arun Kundnani, the new editor of Monthly Review Press, just a day before the United States mired itself in another imperialist war. This war is supposedly starting in the Middle East, but of course it will not end there. A forthcoming book Kundnani has been editing, about “Refugees, Resistance, and Europe’s War on Asylum”, was fresh on his mind. He finished his comments with a focus on the migrants and refugees that imperialist wars are generating, and the border regimes that are trying to restrain their free movement.

ABOUT MONTHLY REVIEW:

Monthly Review is an educational publisher, featuring a small and selected, but influential school of scholarly analysis which fills a demonstrable gap in the arena of socialist scholarship.

Monthly Review Magazine and Monthly Review Press have been leading publishers of left scholarship since 1949. The first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949) featured Einstein's classic essay, "Why Socialism?" (now available as a book.) Other seminal works include "Discourse on Colonialism," "Eurocentrism," "Open Veins of Latin America," among many others. Our mission since the start has been to offer readers a responsible platform for neglected and emerging scholarship grounded in critical analyses of capitalism, on a wide range of progressive issues. Monthly Review’s distinctive contribution to the world of ideas has advanced an analysis that helps to explain the tendency of contemporary capitalism toward slow growth and stagnation, the growing environmental catastrophe, the continuing and deepening economic inequality between the rich and poor nations, and between the rich and poor everywhere.

See: https://monthlyreview.org/product/hidden-history-of-the-korean-war-new-edition/

ALSO WATCH The People's Forum book launch for the new edition, with the writers of its new introduction, Gregory Elich and Time Beal, hosted by Christine Hong and Marty Hart-Landsberg of Korea Policy Institute:
https://www.youtube.com/live/e8-H71AGwZg?feature=share

ABOUT 'THE HIDDEN HISTORY OF THE KOREAN WAR'

Today, proxy wars are openly practiced for the sake of securing economic dominance. When it came to news coverage of the Korean War, the story was buried as soon as its dead were cold...

At the height of the McCarthy era and the inception of the Cold War, the great journalist I.F. Stone released The Hidden History of the Korean War, a courageous work of investigative journalism that demolished the official story about America’s so-called “forgotten war.”

As the war spiraled to its conclusion, Stone closely analyzed openly available U.S. intelligence narratives on the war’s official start, and the actions of key players like John Foster Dulles, General Douglas MacArthur, and Chiang Kai-shek.

The result of his investigations was a controversial book that raised questions about the origin of the war, showed that the U.S. government had manipulated the United Nations, and gave evidence that the U.S. military and South Korean oligarchy dragged out the war by sabotaging peace talks. Stone made a strong case that there were those in the U.S. government and military who saw instability in the region as in the U.S. national interest.

ABOUT MR

Monthly Review magazine and Monthly Review Press have been leading publishers of left scholarship since 1949. The first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949) featured Albert Einstein's classic essay, "Why Socialism?"

Our mission since then has been to offer readers a responsible platform for neglected and emerging scholarship grounded in critical analyses of capitalism, on a wide range of progressive issues. Monthly Review Press is an educational publisher, featuring a small and selected, but influential school of scholarly analysis which fills a demonstrable gap in the arena of socialist scholarship. Monthly Review’s distinctive contribution to the world of ideas has advanced an analysis that helps to explain the tendency of contemporary capitalism toward slow growth and stagnation, the growing environmental catastrophe, the continuing and deepening economic inequality between the rich and poor nations, and between the rich and poor everywhere.

In honor of Einstein's birthday on March 13, we asked several actors to read aloud an excerpt of Einstein's well-known article “Why Socialism?”. You can see the three parts below:
WATCH PART 1: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Bse3bqBLCZ8
WATCH PART 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoaOe3op9zk&list=PLG3O6UFukFTF8ORPeyyPi3JuV7ETklEwg&index=35
WATCH PART 3: https://youtube.com/shorts/Cz6WEiTd0dM

TEXT OF ALL 3 PARTS:

PART 1:
ALIENATION = ANNIHILATION
(Read by Quince Marcum)

'I recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of mankind...

Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly, said to me: “Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?”

I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made a statement of this kind.

It is the statement of a man who has striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope of succeeding.

It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation from which so many people are suffering in these days.

...Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life.'

-Einstein, as quoted in, "Albert Einstein's 'Why Socialism?'", Monthly Review Press, 1949/2025

PART 2:
THE PROBLEM = CAPITALISM
(Read by Austin Guest)

'....an “army of unemployed” almost always exists.

The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job....

Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all.

The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions.

Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism....'

PART 3:
THE SOLUTION = SOCIALISM
(THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MONTHLY REVIEW MAGAZINE)
(Read by Anonymous)

“I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion.

A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.

...The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems…

Since, under present circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public service.”

-EINSTEIN, as quoted in, "Albert Einstein's 'WHY SOCIALISM?'", Monthly Review Press, 1949/2025

BACKGROUND:

Monthly Review is an educational publisher, featuring a small and selected, but influential school of scholarly analysis which fills a demonstrable gap in the arena of socialist scholarship.

Monthly Review Magazine and Monthly Review Press have been leading publishers of left scholarship since 1949. The first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949) featured Einstein's classic essay, "Why Socialism?" (now available as a book.) Other seminal works include "Discourse on Colonialism," "Eurocentrism," "Open Veins of Latin America," among many others. Our mission since the start has been to offer readers a responsible platform for neglected and emerging scholarship grounded in critical analyses of capitalism, on a wide range of progressive issues. Monthly Review’s distinctive contribution to the world of ideas has advanced an analysis that helps to explain the tendency of contemporary capitalism toward slow growth and stagnation, the growing environmental catastrophe, the continuing and deepening economic inequality between the rich and poor nations, and between the rich and poor everywhere.

Einstein stills inspires us, from beyond the grave, to do much, much better. For "Why Socialism?" in book form, see: https://monthlyreview.org/9781685900984/

In honor of Einstein's birthday on March 13, we asked several actors to read aloud an excerpt of Einstein's well-known article “Why Socialism?”. You can see the three parts below:
WATCH PART 1: https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Bse3bqBLCZ8
WATCH PART 2: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoaOe3op9zk&list=PLG3O6UFukFTF8ORPeyyPi3JuV7ETklEwg&index=35
WATCH PART 3: https://youtube.com/shorts/Cz6WEiTd0dM

TEXT OF ALL 3 PARTS, BELOW:

PART 1
ALIENATION = ANNIHILATION
(Read by Quince Marcum)

'I recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of mankind...

Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly, said to me: “Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?”

I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made a statement of this kind.

It is the statement of a man who has striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope of succeeding.

It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation from which so many people are suffering in these days.

...Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life.'

-Einstein, as quoted in, "Albert Einstein's 'Why Socialism?'", Monthly Review Press, 1949/2025

PART 2:
THE PROBLEM = CAPITALISM
(Read by Austin Guest)

'....an “army of unemployed” almost always exists.

The worker is constantly in fear of losing his job....

Technological progress frequently results in more unemployment rather than in an easing of the burden of work for all.

The profit motive, in conjunction with competition among capitalists, is responsible for an instability in the accumulation and utilization of capital which leads to increasingly severe depressions.

Unlimited competition leads to a huge waste of labor, and to that crippling of the social consciousness of individuals which I mentioned before.

This crippling of individuals I consider the worst evil of capitalism....'

PART 3:
THE SOLUTION = SOCIALISM
(THE ESTABLISHMENT OF MONTHLY REVIEW MAGAZINE)
(Read by: Anonymous)

“I am convinced there is only one way to eliminate these grave evils, namely through the establishment of a socialist economy, accompanied by an educational system which would be oriented toward social goals. In such an economy, the means of production are owned by society itself and are utilized in a planned fashion.

A planned economy, which adjusts production to the needs of the community, would distribute the work to be done among all those able to work and would guarantee a livelihood to every man, woman, and child. The education of the individual, in addition to promoting his own innate abilities, would attempt to develop in him a sense of responsibility for his fellow men in place of the glorification of power and success in our present society.

...The achievement of socialism requires the solution of some extremely difficult socio-political problems…

Since, under present circumstances, free and unhindered discussion of these problems has come under a powerful taboo, I consider the foundation of this magazine to be an important public service.”

-EINSTEIN, as quoted in, "Albert Einstein's 'WHY SOCIALISM?'", Monthly Review Press, 1949/2025

Monthly Review magazine and Monthly Review Press have been leading publishers of left scholarship since 1949. The first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949) featured Albert Einstein's classic essay, "Why Socialism?"

Our mission since then has been to offer readers a responsible platform for neglected and emerging scholarship grounded in critical analyses of capitalism, on a wide range of progressive issues. Monthly Review Press is an educational publisher, featuring a small and selected, but influential school of scholarly analysis which fills a demonstrable gap in the arena of socialist scholarship. Monthly Review’s distinctive contribution to the world of ideas has advanced an analysis that helps to explain the tendency of contemporary capitalism toward slow growth and stagnation, the growing environmental catastrophe, the continuing and deepening economic inequality between the rich and poor nations, and between the rich and poor everywhere.

As Einstein's birthday in mid-March approaches, he stills inspires us, from beyond the grave, to do much, much better. For "Why Socialism?" see: https://monthlyreview.org/9781685900984/

In defiance of those who would like to, not only re-write history, but erase the future, please help us get this book out to as wide an audience as possible.

ALIENATION = ANNIHILATION

'I recently discussed with an intelligent and well-disposed man the threat of another war, which in my opinion would seriously endanger the existence of mankind...

Thereupon my visitor, very calmly and coolly, said to me: “Why are you so deeply opposed to the disappearance of the human race?”

I am sure that as little as a century ago no one would have so lightly made a statement of this kind.

It is the statement of a man who has striven in vain to attain an equilibrium within himself and has more or less lost hope of succeeding.

It is the expression of a painful solitude and isolation from which so many people are suffering in these days.

...Unknowingly prisoners of their own egotism, they feel insecure, lonely, and deprived of the naive, simple, and unsophisticated enjoyment of life.'

-Einstein, as quoted in, "Albert Einstein's 'Why Socialism?'", Monthly Review Press, 1949/2025

(We asked several actors to read aloud an excerpt of Einstein's well-known article “Why Socialism?”, in honor of his birthday on March 13. This one was read by: Quince Marcum
For more, watch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WoaOe3op9zk&list=PLG3O6UFukFTHgl-5o-Erzsj6hR59a6DSw&index=3)

BACKGROUND:

Monthly Review is an educational publisher, featuring a small and selected, but influential school of scholarly analysis which fills a demonstrable gap in the arena of socialist scholarship. Monthly Review Magazine and Monthly Review Press have been leading publishers of left scholarship since 1949. The first issue of Monthly Review (May 1949) featured Einstein's classic essay, "Why Socialism?" (now available as a book.) Other seminal works include "Discourse on Colonialism," "Eurocentrism," "Open Veins of Latin America," among others.

Our mission since the start has been to offer readers a responsible platform for neglected and emerging scholarship grounded in critical analyses of capitalism, on a wide range of progressive issues. Monthly Review’s distinctive contribution to the world of ideas has advanced an analysis that helps to explain the tendency of contemporary capitalism toward slow growth and stagnation, the growing environmental catastrophe, the continuing and deepening economic inequality between the rich and poor nations, and between the rich and poor everywhere.