Capitalism's Crises: Class struggles in South Africa and the world
The contributors to this volume draw on a non-dogmatic Marxist approach to explain the systemic and conjunctural dynamics of crisis inherent in global capitalism. Their analysis asks what is historically specific to capitalism's crises while avoiding catastrophic or defeatist claims. At the same time the volume situates left agency within actual patterns of resistance and class struggle to clarify the potential for transformative change.
The cycle of resistance strengthened by the World Socal Forum and transnational activism is now punctuated by the experience of the Arab Spring, the agency of anti-systemic movements, left think tanks, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, labour unions, left parties in Europe such as Syrizia and Podemos and peoples' budgeting in Kerala, India. On the down side, we are witnessing the waning of the Workers Party in Brazil and serious challenges for South Africa's once powerful labour movement and still formative social justice activism. All these developments are assessed in this volume.
This is the second volume in the Democratic Marxism series. It elaborates on crucial themes introduced in the first volume, Marxism in the 21st Century: Crisis, Critique and Struggle (edited by Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar).

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Capitalism's Crises: Class struggles in South Africa and the world
The contributors to this volume draw on a non-dogmatic Marxist approach to explain the systemic and conjunctural dynamics of crisis inherent in global capitalism. Their analysis asks what is historically specific to capitalism's crises while avoiding catastrophic or defeatist claims. At the same time the volume situates left agency within actual patterns of resistance and class struggle to clarify the potential for transformative change.
The cycle of resistance strengthened by the World Socal Forum and transnational activism is now punctuated by the experience of the Arab Spring, the agency of anti-systemic movements, left think tanks, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, labour unions, left parties in Europe such as Syrizia and Podemos and peoples' budgeting in Kerala, India. On the down side, we are witnessing the waning of the Workers Party in Brazil and serious challenges for South Africa's once powerful labour movement and still formative social justice activism. All these developments are assessed in this volume.
This is the second volume in the Democratic Marxism series. It elaborates on crucial themes introduced in the first volume, Marxism in the 21st Century: Crisis, Critique and Struggle (edited by Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar).

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Overview

The contributors to this volume draw on a non-dogmatic Marxist approach to explain the systemic and conjunctural dynamics of crisis inherent in global capitalism. Their analysis asks what is historically specific to capitalism's crises while avoiding catastrophic or defeatist claims. At the same time the volume situates left agency within actual patterns of resistance and class struggle to clarify the potential for transformative change.
The cycle of resistance strengthened by the World Socal Forum and transnational activism is now punctuated by the experience of the Arab Spring, the agency of anti-systemic movements, left think tanks, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, labour unions, left parties in Europe such as Syrizia and Podemos and peoples' budgeting in Kerala, India. On the down side, we are witnessing the waning of the Workers Party in Brazil and serious challenges for South Africa's once powerful labour movement and still formative social justice activism. All these developments are assessed in this volume.
This is the second volume in the Democratic Marxism series. It elaborates on crucial themes introduced in the first volume, Marxism in the 21st Century: Crisis, Critique and Struggle (edited by Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar).


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9781868149209
Publisher: Wits University Press
Publication date: 10/01/2015
Series: Democratic Marxism Sereis Series
Pages: 312
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Vishwas Satgar is an associate professor of International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is the editor of the Democratic Marxism series, and is the principal investigator for the Emancipatory Futures Studies in the Anthropocene project and a democratic eco-socialist.



William K. Carroll is a member of the Sociology Department at the University of Victoria. He established the Interdisciplinary Program in Social Justice Studies in 2008, serving as its Director until 2012.

Leah Hunt-Hendrix is an Associate Fellow at the Institute for Policy Studies. She was a co-founder of Solidaire, a movement support organisation, and she is on the board of directors of three organisations, including the New Economy Coalition.

Isham Christie is currently a labour organiser with the Writers Guild of America East. He was an anti-war and environmental activist with the New Students for a Democratic Society and was intimately involved in the Occupy Wall Street Movement.

Vishwas Satgar is an associate professor of International Relations at the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg. He is the editor of the Democratic Marxism series, and is the principal investigator for the Emancipatory Futures Studies in the Anthropocene project and a democratic eco-socialist.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Tables and Figures xi

Acronyms and Abbreviations xii

Introduction Vishwas Satgar 1

Part 1 Contemporary Understandings of Capitalism's Crises and Class Struggle 19

Chapter 1 From Marx to the systemic crises of capitalist civilisation Vishwas Satgar 20

Chapter 2 Activist understandings of the crisis William K Carroll 50

Part 2 Capitalist Crisis and Left Responses In the Global North 77

Chapter 3 Occupy and the dialectics of the Left in the United States Leah Hunt-Hendrix Isham Christie 78

Chapter 4 A Austerity and resistance: The politics of labour in the Eurozone crisis Andreas Bialar Jamie Jordan 97

Chapter 5 Beyond social-democratic and communist parties: Left political organisation in transition in Western Europe Hilary Wainwright 123

Part 3 Capitalist Crisis and Left Responses in the Global South 165

Chapter 6 Brazil: From neoliberal democracy to the end of the 'Lula moment' Alfredo Saad-Filho 166

Chapter 7 The global financial crisis and 'resilience': The case of India Sumangala Damodaran 189

Chapter 8 Understanding the labour crisis in South Africa: Real wage trends and the minerals-energy complex economy Niall Reddy 211

Chapter 9 Seize power! The role of the constitution in uniting a struggle for social justice in South Africa Mark Heywood 245

Conclusion Vishwas Satgar 277

Contributors 284

Index 287

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