Revolution Today

Susan Buck-Morss asks: What does revolution look like today? How will the idea of revolution survive the inadequacy of the formula, “progress = modernization through industrialization,” to which it has owed its political life? Socialism plus computer technology, citizen resistance plus a global agenda of concerns, revolutionary commitment to practices that are socially experimental and inclusive of difference—these are new forces being mobilized to make another future possible. Revolution Today celebrates the new political subjects that are organizing thousands of grass roots movements to fight racial and gender violence, state-led terrorism, and capitalist exploitation of people and the planet worldwide. The twenty-first century has already witnessed unprecedented popular mobilizations. Unencumbered by old dogmas, mobilizations of opposition are not only happening, they are gaining support and developing a global consciousness in the process. They are themselves a chain of signifiers, creating solidarity across language, religion, ethnicity, gender, and every other difference. Trans-local solidarities exist. They came first. The right-wing authoritarianism and anti-immigrant upsurge that has followed is a reaction against the amazing visual power of millions of citizens occupying public space in defiance of state power. We cannot know how to act politically without seeing others act. This book provides photographic evidence of that fact, while making us aware of how much of the new revolutionary vernacular we already share. Susan Buck-Morss is distinguished professor of political philosophy at the CUNY Graduate Center, NYC. Her work crosses disciplines, including art history, architecture, comparative literature, cultural studies, German studies, philosophy, history, and visual culture.

A classic thought-experiment in the true meaning of resistance.

Leading historians from around the world reflect on the great revolutions of modern history and explore their lasting legacies. Whether it’s because their rhetoric—“liberty, fraternity, equality”—articulates those ideals to which we most aspire, or because we are shocked by the destructive forces that are unleashed when social conventions break down, revolutions hold a distinct place in the popular imagination. And while all revolutions are born of civil unrest, each is unique in that it’s a product of its time, its society, and its people, and the outcomes vary dramatically, from liberal reform to cruel dictatorship. In Revolutions, the follow-up to the bestselling Histories of Nations, twenty-four leading historians—most writing about their country of origin—consider global revolutions, from England’s Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the American Revolution in 1776 to the Irish Revolution in the early twentieth century and the Arab Spring of 2011. Reflecting not only on their causes, crises, and outcomes, but also on their legacies and implications in today’s society, these historians answer key questions: What were the main events and dominant ideologies? Who were the leading protagonists? Are revolutionary pasts remembered critically in national history, mythologized, or even hidden? And why? Authoritative and enlightening, Revolutions reflects on the events, ideologies, and legacies of twenty-four revolutions from the seventeenth century to the present day, providing an overview of some of the most politically significant events in modern history.

Following the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, a child of the Ukrainian diaspora challenges her formative ideologies, considers innocence and complicity, and questions the roots of patriotism.

After a century of failed radical projects, the concept of revolution itself is in crisis. By asking deep questions about the nature of humanity, work, capitalism, organization, and resistance, John Holloway looks sharply at modern protest movements and provides tools for creating new strategies. A profound search for a theory of social change, Change the World Without Taking Power clears away the cobwebs of revolutionary socialism in order to renew the fight for the ending of capitalism and the construction of a new, fairer world. With a new preface from the author, this update of a classic work in revolutionary thought is published to coincide with Pluto Press's fiftieth anniversary.

Welcome to 1968 — a revolution in a book. Essays, memoirs, and more by fourteen award-winning authors offer unique perspectives on one of the world’s most tumultuous years. Nineteen sixty-eight was a pivotal year that grew more intense with each day. As thousands of Vietnamese and Americans were killed in war, students across four continents took over colleges and city streets. Assassins murdered Dr. King and Robert F. Kennedy. Demonstrators turned out in Prague and Chicago, and in Mexico City, young people and Olympic athletes protested. In those intense months, generations battled and the world wobbled on the edge of some vast change that was exhilarating one day and terrifying the next. To capture that extraordinary year, editors Marc Aronson and Susan Campbell Bartoletti created an anthology that showcases many genres of nonfiction. Some contributors use a broad canvas, others take a close look at a moment, and matched essays examine the same experience from different points of view. As we face our own moments of crisis and division, 1968 reminds us that we’ve clashed before and found a way forward — and that looking back can help map a way ahead. With contributions by: Jennifer Anthony Marc Aronson Susan Campbell Bartoletti Loree Griffin Burns Paul Fleischman Omar Figueras Laban Carrick Hill Mark Kurlansky Lenore Look David Lubar Kate MacMillan Kekla Magoon Jim Murphy Elizabeth Partridge

Revolution: It Ain’t No New Thing is an extraordinarily well-written exposé uncovering promising possibilities of another era of American generational consciousness evolution. Using analogical arguments to support his bold new assertions and predictions, Dr. Harris examines in great historical detail the evolution of political consciousness and how it has evolved over many millennia. In the prologue, he defines political consciousness as being both individual and group awareness derived from a common set of beliefs and values or value regimes. He further details how ancient civilization’s political societies evolved, dating back to Babylon, Prussia, Egypt, and the Middle East, to the founding of America’s democratic republic and today’s societal efforts toward a more perfect union. Revolution: It Ain’t No New Thing exposes an unambiguous contrast between revolution and evolution. Whereas an act of revolution always ushers in a complete political regime change, evolution involves a modification of an existing political regime by changing its political and civic polity. In order to drive home this point, Andrew tells his personal story of being politically radicalized as a young Black boy in the suburbs of New York City during the civil rights movement. In chapter 6, he brilliantly conceives a political conceptual framework entitled “The EING Factors” (exclusivism, inclusivism, nationalism, and globalism) that identifies and contextualizes different political regime eras, beginning with the American Revolutionary War, the Great Depression and World War II, the civil rights movement, to today’s millennial generation crisis. Dr. Harris concludes by addressing some questions surrounding how America can prepare for a new political consciousness evolution, providing several key empirical observations and a fresh new perspective on instituting realistic changes.