Marxism and the USA

by Alan Woods

Marxism and the USA by Alan Woods was the first title produced by Wellred USA. Out of print for some time, it will soon be back with a new cover and an updated introduction by John Peterson, editor of Socialist Revolution.



The book was written at a time when George W. Bush was president, a time when many around the world - including many on the left - considered the U.S. to be one reactionary bloc, devoid of class struggle or revolutionary potential. Woods' aim was to dispel these misconceptions, draw on the marvelous traditions of struggle throughout U.S. history, and inspire those new to the ideas of Marxism to learn more - and get involved. Providing one example after another, he showed how the ideas of socialism and communism are not recent, "foreign" importations, but have deep roots in the American tradition itself.



He also debunks many of the common misconceptions Americans have about socialism, taking up the question of socialism and religion, freedom vs. dictatorship, an explanation of what happened in the Soviet Union and more. Today there is an immense polarization of wealth in the U.S. between the extremely rich and the extremely poor. The years of boom have come to an end. In spite of its immense power, U.S. capitalism has entered a phase of terminal decline along with the rest of the world. This is reflected in the questioning by many ordinary working Americans of the society they live in. The ideas of Marxism can explain why society finds itself in this impasse and also offer a way out to American workers and youth. The American people and above all the American working class have a great revolutionary tradition. On the basis of great historical events they are destined to rediscover these traditions and to stand once more in the front line of the revolution as they did in 1776 and 1861. The future of the entire world ultimately depends on this perspective. And although today it may seem very far off, it is not so incredible as one might think. Marxism and the USA will serve as an introduction to the rich revolutionary history of the United States. The expanded second edition includes appendices on the 1934 Minneapolis Teamsters strike, the early history of the Socialist Party, Shays's Rebellion, and Engels on the need for a labor party.

Genres: History, Politics, American History, Theory, Philosophy, Nonfiction

250 pages, Paperback

First published October 30, 2020

About the author

Alan Woods is a Trotskyist political theorist. He is one of the leading members of the British group Socialist Appeal as well as its parent group, the International Marxist Tendency (IMT). He is political editor of the IMT's In Defence of Marxism website.

Woods supported the Militant tendency within the UK Labour Party until the early 1990s, when he and Ted Grant were expelled from the tendency and founded the Committee for a Marxist International (soon renamed International Marxist Tendency) in 1992. They continued with the policy of entryism into the Labour Party.

Woods has been particularly vocal in his support for the Bolivarian Revolution in Venezuela, and has repeatedly met with the socialist Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez, leading to speculation he was a close political adviser.

Reviews

[Juan Pablo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Overall, it’s a decent introduction to working class history in the USA as well different insight into the founding of this nation.

My only gripe is the seeming appearance of trying to make the founding fathers more radical or progressive than they really were. Words of liberty, freedom, justice etc ring hollow from people who owned slaves & profited from said ownership. Even more so when you understand them as an emerging bourgeois class with none of the trappings of feudalism to overthrow. It’s just lip service & I feel like the aforementioned ideals precede them, although it would look different under every mode of production or epoch & is unnecessary to tie them to these kinds of people.

The history of U.S. politics post American Revolution to the Civil War to the intervening years leading up to WWI are given careful but brief analysis. The years leading up to WW II including the crash of ‘29 are juxtaposed against Russia post revolution, particularly considering the triumph of central planning while much maligned by the west in general & pertinently for the subject of the book, the U.S., the latter of which used central planning to bolster supply effort for WW II.

The post WW II boom & imperialism is analyzed as well & the inevitable decline.

The concluding chapter ends on a strong note analyzing current problems & the necessity of moving forward away from the capitalist system.

A great book for an introduction to working class history of the USA & how the acts of the bourgeois government has affected development of the working class as well as the challenges presented by the growing power of the USA.

[Jake Garrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wide-reaching yet very accessible book that highlights the history of class struggle in the United States. It's a general treatment of broad social processes, but succeeds in showing that revolutionary ideas are from being a foreign import in the US, and that the potential for revolution "in the belly of the beast" is not only high, but central to the character of a country as developed as the United States is. In a country with such a socially powerful working class and high level of technical advancement, the conditions for socialism are evidently more ripe in the States than practically anywhere else. The problem seems to lie precisely in the fact that working people are not aware of the potential they have, and have no political expression of their own interests. This book seeks to retie that knot, connecting the modern workers' movement to the class-struggle heritage of the nation.

[Elias Wigerfelt Lans · Rating 5 out of 5]

Jag har glömt hur rolig den här appen var. Jag läste den här boken för några veckor sedan. Trots sin unga ålder så är USA sannerligen ett land rikt på historia.

Rekommenderar starkt den här boken till de som är intresserade av att se USA i ett nytt ljus.

[Kars Lohlfürst · Rating 5 out of 5]

Excellent book! Great summary of the working class history and marxist tradition in the U.S. And I especially enjoyed the Appendixies, so don't skip them! ;)

[J · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting background and perspective on the founding of the USA, and subsequent development from a Marxist. Especially clear and informative section on the US strikes of 1934, what tactics and strategies were developed, and what that year meant for the modern, US industrial state and society.