Socialism or Barbarism: From the American Century to the Crossroads

By István Mészáros

Book Overview

Istv n Mesz ros's bold new study analyzes the historical choices facing us at the outset of the new millennium. Drawing on the theoretical arguments of his monumental and widely-acclaimed work, Beyond Capital, M sz ros shows that the economic boom of the 1990s was built not only on the foundation of new, digital technologies but also on a new social and ethical basis. In the global quest for profit, capitalism has abandoned its claims to serve a larger historical cause. Even in the wealthiest capitalist economies, unemployment has become structural and conditions of life have become more onerous for most of the population.
The failure of capitalism's historical mission is most evident in the end of the project of "Third World modernization" so essential to the claims of U.S. global power to represent an advance on old-style imperialism. M szaros develops an illuminating analysis of the roots and tensions of the politics of U.S. global power from the time of Roosevelt's "Open Door" policy to the present. Against this historical background, he examines the dilemmas which will be faced in the making of U.S. foreign policy towards Chinathe largest and most rapidly-expanding national market in the global economy and the newly-emerging rival to U.S. global dominance. M sz ros shows how this process is rooted in the historical logic of contemporary capitalism, and is neither accidental nor temporary. In the process, he gives new meaning and urgency to the alternatives posed by Rosa Luxemburg at the beginning of the 20th century: socialism or barbarism.
M sz ros also explores the conditions for the emergence of a radical alternative to capitalism, arguing that a critical re-examination of earlier movements and struggles is an essential task for the emergence of such an alternative. As a sequel to his essay, an extended interview deals with more reflectively with the main categories underlying his analysis and relates it to developments within the broader analysis of modern society.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1583670521
• ISBN13: 9781583670521
• Release Date: September 2002
• Publisher: Monthly Review Press
• Length: 128 Pages
• Weight: 0.35 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.3" x 5.3" x 8.0"

Customer Reviews

For students of philosophy and political science

Istvan Meszaros is one of the foremost Marxist intellectuals writing and working today. Professor emeritus at the University of Sussex (where he held the chair of Philosophy for fifteen years) his has created an impressive body of erudite scholarship ranging from Marx's Theory Of Alienation and The Work Of Sartre: Search For Freedom to The Power Of Ideology and Beyond Capital. In Socialism Or Barbarism Meszaros analyses the historical choices facing us at the outset of the new millennium. Drawing on the theoretical arguments of his early work, Beyond Capital, Meszaros gives new meaning and urgency to the alternatives posed by Rosa Luxemburg at the beginning of the century. Meszaros also provides a detailed analysis of the roots and development of American global power -- a supremacy that came at the cost of exhausting the universalizing pretensions of capitalism. Meszaros argues persuasively that Capitalism today is potentially more destructive of humankind and the environment than ever before. Socialism Or Barbarism is highly recommended reading for students of philosophy and political science.