I have just finished reading the third volume in the excellent Democratic Marxism series published by Wits University Press in South Africa. I was very impressed with the first two, and in my view the third, on The Climate Crisis, is the best so far. Vishwas Satgar surely deserves the Distinguished Achievement Award he received from the World Association for Political Economy for initiating and editing this series.
Each volume contains insightful and often controversial essays by leading Marxist scholars and activists from around the world. As the contents list (see below) shows, they cover a wide range of topics, with a particular focus on socialist and ecological issues in the global south. You won’t agree with all the contributions, but that’s exactly why you should read them. Highly recommended for ecosocialists everywhere!
(I have linked to the publisher’s page for each volume, but they are also available through major book dealers, and of course you should encourage your library to order them)
Ian Angus
Volume 1
MARXISMS IN THE 21ST CENTURY
Crisis, Critique and Struggle
- Marxism and Democracy: liberal, vanguard or direct?
Michelle Williams - Marxism after Polyani
Michael Burawoy - Transnationalising Gramscian Marxism
Vishwas Satgar - Notes on critique
Ahmed Veriava - Marxism and Feminism: ‘Unhappy Marriage’ or creative partnership?
Jacklyn Cock and Meg Luxton - Marx and the eco-logic of fossil capitalism
Devan Pillay - Retrospect: Seven theses about Africa’s Marxist regimes
Daryl Glaser - Socialism and southern Africa
John S. Saul - Uneven and combined Marxism within South Africa’s urban social movements
Patrick Bond, Ashwin Desai and Trevor Ngwane - Critical reflections on the crisis and limits of ANC ‘Marxism’
Mazibuko Jara
Volume 2
CAPITALISM’S CRISES
Class Struggles in South Africa and the World
- From Marx to the Systemic Crises of Capitalist Civilisation
Vishwas Satgar - Activist Understandings of the Crisis of 2008
William K. Carroll - Occupy and the Dialectics of the Left in the United States
Leah-Hunt Hendrix and Isham Christie - Austerity and Resistance: The Politics of Labour in the Eurozone Crisis
Andreas Bieler and Jamie Jordan - Beyond Social Democratic and Communist Parties: Left Political Organisation in Transition in Western Europe
Hilary Wainwright - Brazil: From Neoliberal Democracy to the End of the ‘Lula Moment’
Alfredo Saad Filho - The Global Financial Crisis and ‘Resilience’: The Case of India
Sumangala Damodaran - Real Wage Trends and the Labour Crisis in South Africa
Niall Reddy - Seize Power! The Role of the Constitution in Unifying Social Justice Struggles in South Africa
Mark Heywood
Volume 3
THE CLIMATE CRISIS:
South African and Global Democratic Eco-Socialist Alternatives
- The Climate Crisis and Systemic Alternatives
Vishwas Satgar - The Limits of Capitalist Solutions to the Climate Crisis
Dorothy Grace Guerrero - The Anthropocene and Imperial Ecocide: Prospects for Just Transitions
Vishwas Satgar - The Employment Crisis, Just Transition and the Universal Basic Income
Grant Hein Marais - The Rights of Mother Earth
Pablo Sólon - Buen Vivir: An Alternative Perspective from the Peoples of the Global South
Alberto Acosta and Mateo Martínez Abarca - Challenging the Growth Paradigm: Marx, Buddha and the Pursuit of ‘Happiness’
Devan Pillay - Ubuntu and the Struggle for an African Eco-socialist Alternative
Christelle Terreblanche - The Climate Crisis and the Struggle for African Food Sovereignty
Nnimmo Bassey - The Climate Crisis and a ‘Just Transition’ in South Africa: An Eco-Feminist-Socialist Perspective
Jacklyn Cock - Energy, Labour, and Democracy in South Africa
Michelle Williams - Capital, Climate and the Politics of Nuclear Procurement in South Africa
David Fig - Climate Jobs at Two Minutes to Midnight
Brian Ashley - Deepening the Just Transition Through Food Sovereignty and the Solidarity Economy
Andrew Bennie and Athish Satgoor - Eco-Capitalist Crises in the ‘Blue Economy’: Operation Phakisa’s Small, Slow Failures
Desné Masie and Patrick Bond