Palgrave Macmillan, 2012. 288 p. ISBN : 9780230280373 (Hardback).

Editor’s Presentation

The history of the left is usually told as one of factionalism and division. This collection of essays casts new light on this history showing in more detail how the boundaries between marxism and anarchism have been more porous and more productive than is conventionally recognized. Bringing together original and ground-breaking pieces on some of the best and least known actors in twentieth-century socialism, this book promises to break new ground by providing a fresh outlook on left wing synthesis in the twenty-first Century. The political and social thought of Gramsci, Sorel, and the Trinidadian, C. L. R. James, amongst others, are discussed alongside key movements in 20th century socialism including the Situationist International, Socialisme ou Barbarie and lesser known council communists, carnival anarchists and anarchic currents in the American civil rights movement. This is a must read for students and scholars interested in the development of socialist ideologies.

Introduction ; R.Kinna & A.Prichard
The Struggle for Freedom and Democracy : Marxism, Anarchism and the Problem of Human Nature ; P.Blackledge
Anarchism, Individualism and Communism : William Morris’s Critique of Anarcho-Communism ; R.Kinna
The Syndicalist Challenge in the Durham Coalfield before 1914 ; L.H.Mates
Georges Sorel’s Anarcho-Marxism ; R.Llorente
Antonio Gramsci, Anarchism, Syndicalism and Sovversivismo ; C.Levy
Council Communist Perspectives on the Spanish Civil War and Revolution, 1936-1939 ; S.Pinta
A ’Bohemian Freelancer’ ? C.L.R. James, his Early Relationship to Anarchism and the Intellectual Origins of Autonomism ; C.Høgsbjerg
’White Skin, Black Masks’ : Marxist and Anti-Racist Roots of Contemporary U.S. Anarchism ; A.Cornell
The Search for a Libertarian Communism : Daniel Guérin and the ’Synthesis’ of Marxism and Anarchism ; D.Berry
Socialisme ou Barbarie or the Partial Encounters between Critical Marxism and Libertarianism ; B.Challand
Beyond Black and Red : The Situationists and the Legacy of the Workers’ Movement ; J-C.Angaut
Carnival and Class : Anarchism and Councilism in Australasia during the 1970s ; T.Boraman
Situating Hardt and Negri ; D.Bates
Conclusion ; D.Berry & S.Pinta
Bibliography