The Left in History: Revolution and Reform in Twentieth-Century Politics

At the close of the 20th century, belief in a feasible socialism has virtually evaporated. A loss of confidence and nerve, resignation to the terms and agendas set by the Right (in whatever guise), in a world of international capital unfettered by social or political control: these are the conditions under which the Left approaches the millennium. In this book, the author argues that only if the Left can develop a clear understanding of its own historical lessons can it hope to play any part in the agenda of the new century. The author sets the current impasse in a wider historical context, looking back to the roots of the catastrophe in the contradictions in the Soviet state. He examines the forces which determined the shape of communism as a world movement, and at the schisms between revolution and reform which have characterised many parts of the Left. He looks at existing socialist states and at the abandonment of Marxist rhetoric by former Soviet allies in Africa and elsewhere. He also questions the impact of the social movements of the 1950s and 1960s and asks how far they have marked a radical departure.