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Stop the Killing Train: Radical Visions for Radical Change
This book does not simply say "no" to the "killing train." It says "yes" to justice and liberation, offering detailed glimpses of what society could be like and strategic advice for how to get there.
256 pages, Hardcover
First published July 1, 1994
About the author
Michael Albert
79 books66 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads' database with this name. See this thread for more information.
American activist, speaker, and writer. He is co-editor of ZNet, and co-editor and co-founder of Z Magazine. He also co-founded South End Press and has written numerous books and articles. He developed along with Robin Hahnel the economic vision called participatory economics.
Albert identifies himself as a market abolitionist and favors democratic participatory planning as an alternative.
During the 1960s, Albert was a member of Students for a Democratic Society, and was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement.
Albert's memoir, Remembering Tomorrow: From SDS to Life After Capitalism (ISBN 1583227423), was published in 2007 by Seven Stories Press.
American activist, speaker, and writer. He is co-editor of ZNet, and co-editor and co-founder of Z Magazine. He also co-founded South End Press and has written numerous books and articles. He developed along with Robin Hahnel the economic vision called participatory economics.
Albert identifies himself as a market abolitionist and favors democratic participatory planning as an alternative.
During the 1960s, Albert was a member of Students for a Democratic Society, and was active in the anti-Vietnam War movement.
Albert's memoir, Remembering Tomorrow: From SDS to Life After Capitalism (ISBN 1583227423), was published in 2007 by Seven Stories Press.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
December 24, 2011
What was I thinking when a bought this book? You probably have a few books like this tucked away on your bookshelves. Having looked at this book, I have a recommendation: Clear abandoned books from your shelves in preference to those you might actually read or re-read.
Stop the Killing Train was published in 1994, another political era. It is unheard of by GoodReads readers: one rating, no reviews. But it is really even older than 1994: it is a collection of essays written between 1988 and 1992. In my seriously environmental past I used the cash register tape as a bookmark. So I know I bought the book from Chuck and Dave’s, an independent bookstore in Takoma Park, on March 29, 1997. It is still as pristine as the day I bought it. Why did I buy this book nearly fifteen years ago? Well, I was trying to be a better radical and, with a foreword by Noam Chomsky, I thought this book was a ticket on that train. But I never climbed aboard until I pulled it off the shelf yesterday.
If you want a litany of the ills of capitalism, you will find many specifics here about war, racism, poverty and sexism.
And he goes on. If you are still curious about what Michael Albert thought we should do about capitalism, you may want to read some of these essays that appeared in Z Magazine as the 1980s changed to the 1990s when social democrats and liberals (those who want to tinker with but not fundamentally change the capitalist system) felt an “aura of hope and possibility” with the election of Bill Clinton. The challenge was for those on the left to be ready “to synchronize strategies, share resources, and not stop pushing until the society is transformed to its roots.”
Since this book was published in 1994, the author could not know that the two term President Clinton would yield to George W. Bush and endless war. We know the history of those years so we know that the anticipated revolution has not happened yet. I would have to say that this collection of twenty year old essays did not have the desired effect. But Z Magazine is still publishing radical news and views and is online at http://www.zcommunications.org/zmag if you want to have a look at more up to date radical writings.
Ready for a blast from the past courtesy of Stop the Killing Train: Radical Visions for Radical Change? Here we go:
If you want to read more about Michael Albert, read Remembering Tomorrow: A Memoir published in 2007 and reissued in January 2011. From the GR page: “In this lucid political memoir, veteran anti-capitalist activist Michael Albert offers an ardent defense of the project to transform global inequality. Albert, a uniquely visionary figure, recounts a life of uncompromising commitment to creating change one step at a time.”
If you want more 20th century Michael Albert and don’t want to buy this particular book used online, email me and I’ll happily ship the book to you gratis. While I can’t throw a book away, I will never open this book again. Where is BookSwap when you really need it?
Stop the Killing Train was published in 1994, another political era. It is unheard of by GoodReads readers: one rating, no reviews. But it is really even older than 1994: it is a collection of essays written between 1988 and 1992. In my seriously environmental past I used the cash register tape as a bookmark. So I know I bought the book from Chuck and Dave’s, an independent bookstore in Takoma Park, on March 29, 1997. It is still as pristine as the day I bought it. Why did I buy this book nearly fifteen years ago? Well, I was trying to be a better radical and, with a foreword by Noam Chomsky, I thought this book was a ticket on that train. But I never climbed aboard until I pulled it off the shelf yesterday.
If you want a litany of the ills of capitalism, you will find many specifics here about war, racism, poverty and sexism.
Is there some compelling new argument against being a revolutionary that I’ve missed? Is there some new evidence that private ownership, markets, bourgeois democracy, racism, and patriarchy offer a context for self-fulfillment? Does the recent return of tuberculosis, spread of AIDS, extinction of species, and dissolution of the ecology, mitigate the need for fundamental change? If not, why aren’t we holding the banner of revolution higher, instead of behind our backs?
Is there some new argument against seeking diversity, solidarity, self-management, and equity? If not, why don’t we create new institutions to foster these goals?
Is the degradation of living out of garbage cans or toiling for 40 years as a wage slave, and of economic alienation less now than 25 years ago? If not, why is the capitalist economy and competitive market system believed eternal, even on the left?
And he goes on. If you are still curious about what Michael Albert thought we should do about capitalism, you may want to read some of these essays that appeared in Z Magazine as the 1980s changed to the 1990s when social democrats and liberals (those who want to tinker with but not fundamentally change the capitalist system) felt an “aura of hope and possibility” with the election of Bill Clinton. The challenge was for those on the left to be ready “to synchronize strategies, share resources, and not stop pushing until the society is transformed to its roots.”
Since this book was published in 1994, the author could not know that the two term President Clinton would yield to George W. Bush and endless war. We know the history of those years so we know that the anticipated revolution has not happened yet. I would have to say that this collection of twenty year old essays did not have the desired effect. But Z Magazine is still publishing radical news and views and is online at http://www.zcommunications.org/zmag if you want to have a look at more up to date radical writings.
Ready for a blast from the past courtesy of Stop the Killing Train: Radical Visions for Radical Change? Here we go:
January 1989
Highly noticed and excoriated for at least two decades, racial and sexual imbalance in communicative and organizing projects can be eliminated as soon as we really want to eliminate it rather than merely discuss it.
September 1989
If our current temporary reversals teach us anything, it ought to be that in the absence of solidarity we are weak and that nothing less than complete victory will be comprehensive or permanent.
January 1990
No amount of criticism of capitalism’s failings will alone cause citizens to actively reject its defining relations. Only compelling visions of an alternative way to live and convincing formulations of how to attain it can turn knowledge of oppression into desires for change. We who write about the world need not only shift our focus toward vision and strategy, but also make sure our message is heard loud and clear.
February 1990
The U.S. has invaded a sovereign country – again. The only impediment to unfettered militarism has been international opinion and modest Panamanian resistance.
March 1990
Whether we’re talking about winning a pay raise tomorrow or winning decentralized participatory socialist forms down the road, our arguments and ethics must always operate in our own minds and in all our discussions with potential allies. But for capitalists, we should have only distain and regular reminders of our growing might.
February 1991
Iraq could have been forced out of Kuwait by a combination of sanctions plus diplomacy. Yet the historical record shows that at every turn the U.S. rejected diplomacy and favored war.
November 1991
In no particular order, here are a few thoughts about the [Clarence] Thomas hearings and Thomas’s ascension to the Supreme Court.
March 1992
People with $10 million don’t seek $11 million dollars and people with $100 million don’t seek $200 million because they have their eye on a new bauble and need extra cash to make the purchase. Their motives to plunder beyond all possibility of consumption are more often to fulfill their destiny and increase their power.
If you want to read more about Michael Albert, read Remembering Tomorrow: A Memoir published in 2007 and reissued in January 2011. From the GR page: “In this lucid political memoir, veteran anti-capitalist activist Michael Albert offers an ardent defense of the project to transform global inequality. Albert, a uniquely visionary figure, recounts a life of uncompromising commitment to creating change one step at a time.”
If you want more 20th century Michael Albert and don’t want to buy this particular book used online, email me and I’ll happily ship the book to you gratis. While I can’t throw a book away, I will never open this book again. Where is BookSwap when you really need it?
Displaying 1 of 1 review