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Socialist Thought: A Documentary History
"In Socialist Thought: A Documentary History, Fried and Sanders set socialism within its historical context from prerevolutionary France to the present by using major turning points such as 1789, when the French Revolution launched socialism, to establish a chronological framework. The authors contend that though its roots can be traced to the Bible, socialism truly came into being at the end of the eighteenth century, the age of democratic ideas, as a response to the Industrial Revolution and an attempt to change the consciousness of society and its material organization.
"The readings, emphasizing utopian socialists and Marx, demonstrate that socialist aspirations throughout history have been as varied as the individuals expressing them: over the past centuries socialists have embraced both antiauthoritarianism and totalitarianism, class struggle and cooperation, revolution and democracy."
-- from the book's back cover
"The readings, emphasizing utopian socialists and Marx, demonstrate that socialist aspirations throughout history have been as varied as the individuals expressing them: over the past centuries socialists have embraced both antiauthoritarianism and totalitarianism, class struggle and cooperation, revolution and democracy."
-- from the book's back cover
621 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1964
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
August 12, 2010
During high school I had two groups of friends, roughly distinguishable by age. My older friends were generally self-identified radical intellectuals, most of them of the left, one of them, notably, of the libertarian right. My younger friends were counter-culturals of one sort or another, sympathetic to the left but not identified with it.
My admiration was largely confined to the older friends and I strove to emulate and understand them by extensive reading. Many of the books were recommended by one or more of them. This collection is representative.
My admiration was largely confined to the older friends and I strove to emulate and understand them by extensive reading. Many of the books were recommended by one or more of them. This collection is representative.
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October 28, 2022Read for my class Socialism: History of an Idea
Full transparency, I didn't read everything in here, just what was assigned. Now as a collection of Socialist writings, I find this book severely lacking. I also wrote this at work before Midnight.
My main complaint is the texts they chose to include and the obvious texts they kept out. Where is Rosa Luxemburg, Thomas Sankara, Eugene Debs, Angela Davis, Fred Hampton, or Mao Zedong? Just to name a few. A total lack of women socialist thinkers and those of the Global South and in just people of color in general. These names would have been known in the 1990's, so it is all on the editors of this collection for not including socialists, if you agree with them or not, into this book. I don't agree with Mao, but there is no doubt in my mind that he is a very significant Socialist.
On to Marx and Engels; where is the manifesto? I have seen many a collection of texts include the manifesto when discussing Socialist thought, what is modern socialism if not the manifesto? There is a segment of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, an important text, but not the fucking Communist Manifesto, ah but yes, let's add letters from Marx and Engels, and Engel's notes on Capital, texts that can be ignored easily, they may be important, but do not hold the same weight as the Manifesto and an actual section from Capital. Also where is the First half of the Brumaire or the Civil War in France? Two other key texts from Marx, that are a lot more interesting to read.
This book set out to do something, but it flopped, too much of a heavy reliance on what came before Marx and Engels, which then can lead to misunderstandings, and then too few of Marx and Engel's contemporaries that have done a lot for Socialism, good and bad. I'm almost glad this book hasn't had a new edition since 1992, because that it would allow for the continue ignorance among Socialists of more interesting writers and orators. To just disregard Debs' famous quote, "While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free." One could even make an argument for the inclusion of the poetry of Langston Hughes. Not to forget Claudia Jones. Here are three Americans who added to Socialist cannon, and were ignored and forgotten for decades.
I end this with the words of the famous Marxist Historian Howard Zinn, "History is important, if you don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything, and you have no way of checking up on it." These are not the only Socialist thinkers to read and understand, these are not their only texts, search out through history and you will find more.
Full transparency, I didn't read everything in here, just what was assigned. Now as a collection of Socialist writings, I find this book severely lacking. I also wrote this at work before Midnight.
My main complaint is the texts they chose to include and the obvious texts they kept out. Where is Rosa Luxemburg, Thomas Sankara, Eugene Debs, Angela Davis, Fred Hampton, or Mao Zedong? Just to name a few. A total lack of women socialist thinkers and those of the Global South and in just people of color in general. These names would have been known in the 1990's, so it is all on the editors of this collection for not including socialists, if you agree with them or not, into this book. I don't agree with Mao, but there is no doubt in my mind that he is a very significant Socialist.
On to Marx and Engels; where is the manifesto? I have seen many a collection of texts include the manifesto when discussing Socialist thought, what is modern socialism if not the manifesto? There is a segment of Socialism: Utopian and Scientific, an important text, but not the fucking Communist Manifesto, ah but yes, let's add letters from Marx and Engels, and Engel's notes on Capital, texts that can be ignored easily, they may be important, but do not hold the same weight as the Manifesto and an actual section from Capital. Also where is the First half of the Brumaire or the Civil War in France? Two other key texts from Marx, that are a lot more interesting to read.
This book set out to do something, but it flopped, too much of a heavy reliance on what came before Marx and Engels, which then can lead to misunderstandings, and then too few of Marx and Engel's contemporaries that have done a lot for Socialism, good and bad. I'm almost glad this book hasn't had a new edition since 1992, because that it would allow for the continue ignorance among Socialists of more interesting writers and orators. To just disregard Debs' famous quote, "While there is a lower class, I am in it, while there is a criminal element, I am of it, and while there is a soul in prison, I am not free." One could even make an argument for the inclusion of the poetry of Langston Hughes. Not to forget Claudia Jones. Here are three Americans who added to Socialist cannon, and were ignored and forgotten for decades.
I end this with the words of the famous Marxist Historian Howard Zinn, "History is important, if you don't know history it is as if you were born yesterday. And if you were born yesterday, anybody up there in a position of power can tell you anything, and you have no way of checking up on it." These are not the only Socialist thinkers to read and understand, these are not their only texts, search out through history and you will find more.
March 17, 2022
A great collection of writings, but of course it is dated.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews