Ellen Meiksins Wood argues that with the collapse of Communism the theoretical project of Marxism and its critique of capitalism is more timely and important than ever. In this book she sets out to renew the critical program of historical materialism by redefining its basic concepts and its theory of history in original and imaginative ways, using them to identify the specificity of capitalism as a system of social relations and political power. She goes on to explore the concept of democracy in both the ancient and modern world, examining the concept's relation to capitalism.
Ellen Meiksins Wood argues that with the collapse of Communism the theoretical project of Marxism and its critique of capitalism is more timely and im...
This definitive edition of the Communist Manifesto, prepared for its 150th anniversary, includes a foreword by Marxist scholar Paul M. Sweezy, co-editor of "Monthly Review," the full text of the Communist Manifesto, in a distinctive and pleasing hand-set typeface, the important catechism "Principles of Communism," drafted by Engels in 1847 as a basis for the Manifesto, and ""The Communist Manifesto After 150 Years,"" a far-reaching interpretive essay by Ellen Meiksins Wood, co-editor of "Monthly Review."
This definitive edition of the Communist Manifesto, prepared for its 150th anniversary, includes a foreword by Marxist scholar Paul M. Sweezy, co-e...
Without parallel in sophistication of coverage for readers curious about labor, Rising from the Ashes? provides sharp analysis of the hottest issues being debated by labor scholars and activists.
Topics covered include the changing composition of the international working class, patterns of work under contemporary capitalism, the relationship of race and gender to class, the promise and limitations of recent eruptions of labor militancy, and the strategic options available to the labor movement today.
Without parallel in sophistication of coverage for readers curious about labor, Rising from the Ashes? provides sharp analysis of the hottest issue...
Exploring the connections between class, ideology and politics In this classic study, which won the Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize, Ellen Wood provides a critical survey of influential trends in "post-Marxist" theory. Challenging their dissociation of politics from class, she elaborates her own original conception of the complex relations between class, ideology and politics. In the process, Wood explores the links between socialism and democracy and reinterprets the relationship between liberal and socialist democracy. In a new introduction, Wood discusses the relevance of...
Exploring the connections between class, ideology and politics In this classic study, which won the Isaac Deutscher Memorial Prize, Ellen W...
In this groundbreaking work, Ellen Meiksins Wood rewrites the history of political theory. She traces the development of the Western tradition from classical antiquity through to the Middle Ages in the perspective of social history--a significant departure not only from the standard abstract history of ideas but also from other contextual methods. Treating canonical thinkers as passionately engaged human beings, Wood examines their ideas not simply in the context of political languages but as creative responses to the social relations and conflicts of their time and place. She identifies...
In this groundbreaking work, Ellen Meiksins Wood rewrites the history of political theory. She traces the development of the Western tradition from cl...
The controversial thesis at the center of this study is that, despite the importance of slavery in Athenian society, the most distinctive characteristic of Athenian democracy was the unprecedented prominence it gave to free labor. Wood argues that the emergence of the peasant as citizen, juridically and politically independent, accounts for much that is remarkable in Athenian political institutions and culture. From a survey of historical writings of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the focus of which distorted later debates, Wood goes on to take issue with influential arguments,...
The controversial thesis at the center of this study is that, despite the importance of slavery in Athenian society, the most distinctive characterist...
A historical essay on old regimes and modern states In this lively and wide-ranging book, Ellen Meiksins Wood argues that what is supposed to have epitomized bourgeois modernity, especially the emergence of a "modern" state and political culture in Continental Europe, signaled the persistence of pre-capitalist social property relations. Conversely, the absence of a "modern" state and political discourse in England testified to the presence of a well-developed capitalism. The fundamental flaws in the British economy are not just the symptoms of arrested development but the...
A historical essay on old regimes and modern states In this lively and wide-ranging book, Ellen Meiksins Wood argues that what is supposed...
