Class War, Then and Now: Essays toward a New Left

By Wright, Chris, Dr.

Book Id: WPLBN0100751117
Format Type: PDF (eBook)
File Size: 6.36 MB.
Reproduction Date: 9/1/2025

Title:	Class War, Then and Now: Essays toward a New Left
Author:	Wright, Chris, Dr.
Volume:
Language:	English
Subject:	Non Fiction, Social Sciences, Contemporary politics
Collections:	Authors Community, History
Historic Publication Date:	2025
Publisher:	Manhattan Book Group

Member Page:	Chris Wright
Citation APA MLA Chicago Wright, D. C. (2025). Class War, Then and Now: Essays toward a New Left. Retrieved from https://self.gutenberg.org/

Description
Since the 1970s, America's working people have been under relentless attack. Wages have stagnated, inequality has soared, and the vast majority now lives paycheck to paycheck--while trillions of dollars flow upward into the pockets of the wealthiest few. "Class War, Then and Now" is both a searing indictment of this economic and political order and an impassioned call to arms for a new left rooted in class struggle, solidarity, and socialist values. Drawing on a decade of essays and articles originally published in outlets such as Dissent, New Politics, CounterPunch, Socialist Forum, Truthout, and Common Dreams, historian Chris Wright examines the deep roots of capitalism's crises and the failures of the contemporary left to confront them. In sharp, accessible prose, Wright tackles: The centrality of class struggle in building a movement that can unite working people Why identity politics, while important, must not overshadow the fight against capitalism The overlooked necessity of nuclear power in addressing climate change Lessons from labor history, from Jimmy Hoffa to modern union battles The catastrophic consequences of American imperialism and endless war How organized labor remains humanity's most universal force for justice With the urgency of a manifesto and the depth of historical scholarship, Wright argues that only a rational, international, and truly Marxist left can stop the United States--and the world--from sliding into neofascism and ecological collapse. If you care about economic justice, social reform, and the future of democracy, "Class War, Then and Now" will challenge your thinking, sharpen your arguments, and inspire action.

Summary
Nearly fifty years of outright class war against America’s working and middle classes have brought the country to the brink of social and political collapse. According to some sources, 60 percent of Americans live paycheck to paycheck. Since 1975, $80 trillion have been transferred from the bottom 90 percent of earners to the top 1 percent. Meanwhile, little action is being taken to mitigate global warming and ecological destruction, while military budgets, used in part to wage disastrous wars and genocides, climb annually. There isn't much hope for the United States, or indeed for civilization, unless we can forge an international left that prioritizes class struggle above all else. It is time to fight back, by any means necessary, against a ruling class interested in nothing but profits and power. In this book, a historian of the U.S. labor movement attempts to advance this agenda through a series of essays on everything from right-wing libertarianism to the inadequacies of identity politics, from the career of Jimmy Hoffa to the catastrophic consequences of American imperialism. Victory in a war for the future of humanity is far from assured, but we’re lucky enough to be living in a time when there’s still some hope. It is our duty to act on this hope.

Excerpt
It isn’t a secret that the world is in trouble, most ominously from eco- logical collapse and the ever-present possibility of nuclear war. Stated in the simplest terms, the reason is that capitalism is running amok and the left has almost no power across most of the world. Capitalism cares only about making profit; values such as environmental conservation, pres- ervation of human and animal life, the end of war, abolition of nuclear weapons, and human well-being count for little or nothing. The only way such values can rise to prominence is if popular movements fighting against capitalism force them onto the political agenda. But popular movements, including the labor movement, perennially lack sufficient resources to halt or reverse capitalism’s misanthropic tendencies. In the neoliberal era, this perennial problem has become more serious than ever. Hence the prospect of civilization’s collapse in our century...

Table of Contents
Preface PART ONE: VALUES The Value of the Humanities Communism and Human Nature The Necessity of a Moral Revolution Capitalism, Socialism, and Existential Despair Thoughts on Overcoming Despair The Revolutionary Beethoven Classical Music vs. Mediocrity In Kitsch We Trust Free Speech, Hassan Nasrallah, and Other Victims of Internet Censorship The Value of Noam Chomsky PART TWO: HISTORY The Founding Fathers: “Neoliberals” Avant le Mot The Government vs. the Population Our Passive Society The Radicalism of Working-Class Americans The Life and Times of Jimmy Hoffa Capitalism vs. Freedom: A Book Review Capitalism and Colonialism The Rise of Right-wing Libertarianism Since the 1950s Organized Labor and the Crisis of Democracy PART THREE: QUESTIONING DOGMAS On the Use and Abuse of Rage for Life The Significance and Shortcomings of Karl Marx Eleven Theses on Socialist Revolution It’s Time to Embrace Nuclear Energy Renewable Energy Is Not the Answer; Nuclear Is The Second Cold War Is More Dangerous than the First The Left and the Ukraine War What “Security Threat” Does China Pose? NATO’s Endgame Appears to Be Nuclear War PART FOUR: IDENTITY POLITICS Defending Materialism Against Postmodernism “Race Reductionism” Threatens to Doom the Left The Stupefying Mediocrity of Barack Obama Political Correctness Is Getting Out of Hand The Righteous Outrage of Norman Finkelstein The Origins of Patriarchy Postliberalism: A Dangerous “New” Conservatism How to Rebuild the Left