Whose Millennium? Theirs or Ours?
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Book Overview
Written with droll wit and lyrical elegance, this visionary book challenges the chorus of resignation-the notion that there is no alternative, that profit is the best relationship between people, and that the market guarantees democracy. Daniel Singer insists that a more free and egalitarian society can be won, and he predicts that the new millennium will be an age of confrontation, not consensus, with Western Europe as a probable first battlefield. In social criticism of rare scope and insight, Singer probes the outcome of the Russian Revolution and Russia's post-1989 turmoil, the transformation of the Polish trade union movement Solidarity into a reactionary and clerical force, the failure of social democracy in Western Europe, the emergence of an unbalanced world after the collapse of one superpower, and the massive 1995 strikes and demonstrations in France-which, Singer argues, were the first revolt against the prevailing idea that there is no alternative to market stringency. As alternative, Singer calls for "realistic utopia" a politics engaged with present-day possibilities but daring to pursue a world beyond capitalism, one that would put into consistent practice the ideals of democracy and equality.
Format:Paperback
Language:English
ISBN:0853459460
ISBN13:9780853459460
Release Date:March 1999
Publisher:Monthly Review Press
Length:360 Pages
Weight:1.00 lbs.
Dimensions:1.1" x 6.0" x 9.0"
Customer Reviews
2 ratings
Very best book on next steps for democratic socialism.
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
In an US idiom, Singer brilliantly analyzes the way capitalism has run amok. Globalization of attacks on human rights, dishonest pay for honest work, and privatization of unemployment insurance, social security, and other hard-won benefits for the average guy are all placed in their proper context. Singer is the son of a prisoner of Stalin's gulag. He proposes ultrademocracy in all major public sectors, starting with unions, not ignoring the central banks and their international arms. Singer is a clear, gracious, brainy advocate for human decency above the cruelties of the market, not excluding US executives and speculators getting 400 times the pay of the average wage earner.
A brilliant defense of democratic, revolutionary socialism
Published by Thriftbooks.com User , 25 years ago
Daniel Singer's newest work is a brilliant analysis of contemporary capitalism and a direct and convincing challenge to the notion that "there is no alternative" to the current social system. Singer's defense of the classical Marxist view that capitalism is incapable of providing a meaningful and secure existence for the majority of the world's population is accompanied by an equally merciless critique of both the former bureaucratic regimes in the USSR and Eastern Europe and western social-democracy and liberalism. For Singer, the alternative to both the barbarism of modern capitalism and the failures of stalinism and reformism is a mass, democratic movement of working people. Only such a movement, beginning in the workplaces and extending its challenge to all aspects of social life under capitalism, could have the power to overthrow the existing system and create a humane and democratic socialist alternative.
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