A Brief Global History of the Left

Author:   Shlomo Sand ,  Robin Mackay
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
ISBN:  

9781509558254


Pages:   271
Publication Date:   24 November 2023
Format:   Paperback
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
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A Brief Global History of the Left


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Overview

What is happening to the Left? It seems to be dying a slow death. While many commentators have predicted its demise, the Left has always defied these bleak prognoses and risen from the ashes in the most unexpected ways. Nevertheless, we are witnessing today a global decline in organized movements on the Left, and while social struggles continue to challenge dominant political regimes, these efforts do not translate into support for traditional left parties or into the creation of dynamic movements on the Left. Bestselling historian Shlomo Sand argues that the global decline of the Left is linked to the waning of the idea of equality that has united citizens in the past and inspired them to engage in collective action.  Sand retraces the evolution of this idea in a wide-ranging account that includes the Diggers and Levellers of seventeenth-century England; the French Revolution; the birth of anarchism and Marxism; the decolonial, feminist, and civil rights revolts; and the left-wing populism of our time. In piecing together the thinkers and movements that built the Left over centuries, Sand illuminates the global and transnational dynamics which pushed them forward. He outlines how they shaped the notion of equality, while also analysing how they were confronted by its material reality, and the lessons that they did – or did not – draw from this.  This concise and magisterial history of the Left will appeal to anyone interested in the idea of equality and the fate of one of the most important movements that has shaped the modern world.

Full Product Details

Author:   Shlomo Sand ,  Robin Mackay
Publisher:   John Wiley and Sons Ltd
Imprint:   Polity Press
Dimensions:   Width: 13.70cm , Height: 2.50cm , Length: 21.60cm
Weight:   0.363kg
ISBN:  

9781509558254


ISBN 10:   150955825
Pages:   271
Publication Date:   24 November 2023
Audience:   General/trade ,  General
Format:   Paperback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   In stock   Availability explained
We have confirmation that this item is in stock with the supplier. It will be ordered in for you and dispatched immediately.

Table of Contents

Introduction: Equality as the Great Modern Myth      1.   From the Levellers to the Enigma of Rousseau 2.   The Revolution, the Terror and the Conspiracy of Equals 3.   Utopia as Refuge, from Politics to Chartism 4.   Springtime of the Peoples: Paris, Capital of the Nineteenth Century 5.   Proudhon, Bakunin and Anarchism as Freedom 6.   Marx, Engels and ‘Scientific’ Socialism 7.   The Fourth Estate, Between Liberalism and Democracy 8.   Confronting Colonialism: The White Socialist’s Burden 9.   Nation and Internationalism: Dying for Your Country 10.  Lenin and the State: Next to the Spinning Wheel and the Bronze Axe 11.  Blackshirts and Brownshirts: Right or Left? 12.  Mao and Chinese Communism: ‘A Hundred Flowers’? 13.  The Socialist Imaginary in Postcolonial Countries 14.  The Welfare State, a Working-Class Triumph? 15.  Latin America and Opposition to the ‘Big Stick’ 16.  From the Civil Rights Movement to the May ’67 Uprising 17.  The Struggle for Gender Equality: The Feminine Mystique 18.  The Rust-Belt Proletariat and the Return of Populism 19.  Consumption and Ecology: The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie A Melancholy Conclusion: Inequality and the Pandemic

Reviews

‘This absorbing and thought-provoking book is the richest and most varied account available of the fate of the idea of equality.  It will be of great value to anyone interested in one of the core political ideas of the modern world and in the political movements – from the Levellers to the contemporary Left – that have championed it.’ Colin Crouch, University of Warwick


‘This absorbing and thought-provoking book is the richest and most varied account available of the fate of the idea of equality.  It will be of great value to anyone interested in one of the core political ideas of the modern world and in the political movements – from the Levellers to the contemporary Left – that have championed it.’ Colin Crouch, University of Warwick ‘A fascinating and very thought-provoking book’ Nick Cohen


Author Information

Shlomo Sand is Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Tel Aviv.

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