{"product_id":"9781773637327-red-flags","title":"Red Flags","description":"\u003cmeta content=\"text\/html; charset=utf-8\" http-equiv=\"Content-Type\"\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cspan\u003eA Reckoning with Communism for the Future of the Left\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eAn anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian introduction to the history of the USSR, China, and Cuba that asks: Were they actually on the road to communism?\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eIncreasingly, people are responding to the contemporary crises underwritten by capitalism by exploring the politics of communism. Some have taken a sympathetic, even nostalgic, view of “actually existing socialist” (AES) societies past and present, including the USSR, China, and Cuba, and the Marxist-Leninist political tradition associated with them. They see these states as a powerful alternative to capitalism, governed by parties genuinely committed to socialism and staunchly resisting Western imperialism. But were these societies really in transition towards a classless, stateless society of freedom — the original communist goal? Is Marxism-Leninism the political approach that should orient people on the left now? \u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003e  \u003cem\u003eRed Flags\u003c\/em\u003e traces the path from the 1917 Russian Revolution to the construction of the world’s first AES society: the USSR. It also looks at the post-revolution societies created along the same lines in China and Cuba. Using the intellectual tools of historical materialism, \u003cem\u003eRed Flags\u003c\/em\u003e argues that they were not in fact moving towards communism because the social relations remained fixed in class exploitation. The workers were never liberated.\u003c\/p\u003e  \u003cp\u003eAt a time of burgeoning anti-communism from both conservatives and liberals, this book is an accessible, vibrant synthesis of the history of communism that draws on the latest research to develop a rigorous analysis of the contradictions and uneasy truths the left needs to confront if it is to build a genuinely liberatory alternative to capitalism.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003c\/span\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Rarewaves","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":56058824425846,"sku":"9781773637327","price":19.49,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0092\/7504\/8033\/files\/orig_41526410_c0b251cb-4f3a-4523-9f33-23a0fe434fd5.jpg?v=1780549296","url":"https:\/\/www.rarewaves.com\/products\/9781773637327-red-flags","provider":"Rarewaves.com","version":"1.0","type":"link"}