Overview

Inspired by Raymond Williams’ cultural materialism, H.F. Pimlott explores the connections between political practice and cultural form through Marxism Today’s transformation from a Communist Party theoretical journal into a ‘glossy’ left magazine. Marxism Today’s successes and failures during the 1980s are analysed through its political and cultural critiques of Thatcherism and the left, especially by Stuart Hall and Eric Hobsbawm, innovative publicity and marketplace distribution, relationships with the national UK press, cultural coverage, design and format, and writing style. Wars of Position offers insights for contemporary media activists and challenges the neglect of the left press by media scholars.

Full Product Details

Author:   H.F. Pimlott
Publisher:   Brill
Imprint:   Brill
Volume:   248
Weight:   1.042kg
ISBN:  

9789004231894

ISBN 10:   9004231897
Pages:   532
Publication Date:   16 December 2021
Audience:   Professional and scholarly ,  Professional & Vocational
Format:   Hardback
Publisher's Status:   Active
Availability:   Available To Order  
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Table of Contents

Acknowledgements Preface List of Tables and Illustrations Abbreviations Introduction: The Left, Cultural Form and Political Practice  1 Sign(ifier) of the Times?  2 The Production of the ‘Marketplace of the Ideas’  3 Overview of the Book 1 Marxism Today’s Story: An Historical Narrative of a Cultural Form  1 The Left, Cultural Form and Political Practice  2 The Party and the Party Paper: Leninist Communication Practices  3 Leninist Communication Practices: The Party as a Medium of Communication  4 The CPGB’s Practice of ‘Democratic Centralism’  5 Leninist Communication Practices: Agitation and Propaganda  6 Leninist Communication Practices: The Party Paper  7 A Basic Typology of Communist Party Publications  8 The Beginnings of Postwar Reconstruction and Periodical Developments  9 Precursors: The Commission on Party Journals 1953  10 Precursors: Marxist Quarterly (1954–57)  11 Precursors: The Commission on Inner Party Democracy 1957  12 Marxism Today: ‘The First Generation’: 1957–77  13 A Party of Two Wings  14 The Brief Rise of ‘Eurocommunism’  15 Marxism Today’s Transformation: ‘Caution & Compromise’, 1977–83  16 ‘Reaction & Realignment’ 1983–87  17 ‘The Tail Wags the Dog’: 1987–89  18 ‘New Times’, 1989–91  19 Conclusion 2 From ‘New Left’ to ‘New Labour’: Marxism Today’s Political Project and the ‘Retreat from Class’  1 ‘Forward March of Labour Halted?’  2 ‘Thatcherism’  3 Thatcherism: Critiques  4 Separation of ‘The Economic’  5 Alternate Political Explanations  6 Elections, Polling and Public Opinion  7 ‘Common Sense’  8 Thatcherism’s Theoretical Underpinnings: The ‘Wrong’ Gramsci?  9 ‘Ideology’ vs. ‘Discourse’  10 ‘Hegemony’  11 Social Production of Ideologies  12 The Hegemonic Apparatus  13 ‘New Times’: From New Left to New Labour?  14 Part II: ‘From Wars of Position to Cultural Politics’  15 ‘Popular Politics’  16 Feminism and the New Social Movements  17 ‘Municipal Socialism’  18 The Communist Party, Popular Culture and Marxism Today  19 From ‘Rock Against Racism’ to ‘Designer Socialism’  20 Conclusion 3 The Party Line versus the Bottom Line? The Political Economy of Left Magazine Production  1 ‘Passive’ and ‘Active’ Editorships, 1957–91  2 ‘Editorial Control’ or ‘Cultural Circle’?  3 ‘Who Pays the Piper, Calls the Tune?’ Financing Marxism Today  4 Advertising  5 ‘Private Enterprise or Political Commitment?’ Printing and Subscriptions  6 ‘A Little Help From My Friends’: The Process of Magazine Production  7 The Production Process  8 Conclusion 4 From the Party Line to the Politics of Design: Marxism Today’s Cultural Transformation  1 The Theory of the Periodical and Magazine Design in the 1980s  2 Format: ‘From a Journal into a Magazine’  3 The First Format: 1957–79  4 The Second Format: 1979–86  5 The Third Format: 1986–91  6 Front covers  7 Visual Communication, Advertising and Design  8 Editorial Sections: Features  9 Features: Alternative Modes of Presentation  10 Modes of/for Discussion  11 Other Editorial Sections  12 Cultural Coverage: From ‘Reviews’ to ‘Channel Five’  13 The Politics of Form and the Form of Politics  14 Conclusion 5 From the Margins to the Mainstream: Publicity, Promotion and Distribution in the Marketplace of Ideas  1 Party Distribution  2 ‘Out-of-Party’ Distribution  3 In the Marketplace of Left Periodicals  4 ‘Cadres to Consumers’: Changes in Readership, 1957–91  5 Contributors  6 Book Publishing  7 ‘The Art of Talking’: Discussion Groups, Talks, Events, Conferences  8 Promotion  9 Publicity  10 National Press Coverage  11 ‘Thinking the Unthinkable’  12 Conclusion 6 Write Out of the Margins: Communist Ideology and Accessibility, Rhetoric and Writing Style  1 Twentieth-Century Communist Rhetoric  2 Accessibility  3 Marxism Today’s Defensive Rhetorical Strategy 1957–77  4 ‘Solidification’  5 Principles of Good Style  6 Language  7 Plain Style  8 Marxism Today’s Top Two Contributors: Eric Hobsbawm and Stuart Hall  9 Eric Hobsbawm and the Rhetorical Style of ‘Realistic Marxism’  10 Rhetorical Strategy and Writing Style  11 Stuart Hall: Socialist Public Intellectual and Polemical Rhetorician  12 Stuart Hall’s Rhetorical Techniques and Writing Style  13 Qualification and Conditionality  14 Unity and Division on the Left: From ‘Common Sense’ to Caricature?  15 Tropes and Metaphors  16 Stuart Hall’s ‘Realism’  17 Conclusion 7 W(h)ither the Party Paper? What Lessons for the Left Press  1 A Perennial Question  2 Epilogue Illustrations References Index

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Author Information

H.F. Pimlott, PhD (2000, Goldsmiths College), is Associate Professor of Communication Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University. Her publications cover precarious academics, Stuart Hall, punk politics, and print ephemera in journals such as Media, Culture & Society; Socialist Studies; Democratic Communiqué, and Journalism.

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