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Based on a survey of official government literature in Eastern Europe, it is contended that control over information has not been lifted in the era of glasnost, but simply reshaped & refined to achieve certain objectives. Glasnost has become a watchword for gaining public support & combating bureaucratic inertia, while attempting to resolve pressing domestic problems. On the international arena, glasnost has proven useful in jockeying with the West to attain leading positions in international technology. On the home front, glasnost is a useful addition to the state's propaganda repertoire for improving socialism & exhorting the population to discard various negative phenomena while increasing productivity. Each East European party-state appropriates, adapts, & applies several elements of Mikhail Gorbachev's current campaign in the USSR, & employs "glasnostian" terminology to influence the public mood, while keeping a watchful eye on Moscow. AA

Some new trends have emerged in Belgian Catholicism, concerning the political commitment of Christians and in the field of Peace. Both are related to the evolution of Belgian society: the growth of and crisis in the capitalist system and the increasing arms race. The Christians for Socialism movement is described in both the Flemish and French-speaking areas of the country, and the author tries to evaluate its strength and influence. The second part of the chapter is concerned with the participation of Christians in the peace movement. An analysis is made of the specifically christian organizations and of participation in other movements. In his conclusion, the author notes that the new orientation of such phenomena is linked to a class analysis adopted by some christian groups and to their desire to break away from the traditional cleavages of Belgian society.

It is argued that Karl Marx invented an original concept of class that differed sharply from the major pre-Marxian concepts, which held class to be a matter of property &/or power. The relevance of Marx's work is shown to be its determination to displace these two long-existing concepts of class by an insistent emphasis on class understood as a matter of production & distribution of surplus labor. Surplus labor's very existence implies a complex process that defines groupings of people along a new axis of differentiation; ie, persons can be classified according to whether they perform surplus labor, appropriate someone's surplus labor (or its fruits), or obtain a distribution of surplus labor (or its fruits) from an appropriator. The analysis is applied to the current crisis in French socialism under President Mitterrand. Modified AA

The attitudes, patterns of alignments, and composition of the most powerful and influential leaders in Guyana and Trinidad—selected by a two-stage positional-reputational method—are compared and the findings related to the different developmental strategies adopted by the two governments: third world socialism in the case of Guyana, and capitalism in the Trinidadian case. It is shown that clientelistic co-optation and, to a lesser extent, appeals to race can and do overcome ideologically rooted opposition to a ruling party; however, when the regime's ideological position, as reflected in its policies, is compatible with elite interests, the importance of race and clientelism declines, except for co-optation of leaders representing lower class interests. In both countries, the composition of the group of elites shows a proliferation of those representing middle- and upper-class socioeconomic sectors of the society.

This review considers the problems and prospects associated with the development of Marxist perspectives in the sociology of law. Taking as its starting point the efforts to construct a Marxist understanding of law through the traditional approach of legal economism, a number of directions and themes in the development of a new Marxist vision of law are explored. Alternatives to "legal nihilism" are examined in conjunction with a survey of the movement of Marxist theory toward a "looser" and "flatter" conception of the relationship between law and society. The role of politics, ideology, and history in the reconstruction of Marxist legal theory are then considered with special attention to the virtues and limits of "imbricationist" and "constitutive" accounts. The analysis ends with a reexamination of the points of convergence and divergence among Marxism, sociology, law, and socialism.

Book reviewed in this article:Wage Control and Inflation in the Soviet Bloc Countries. By Jan Adam.Socialism, Politics and EqualitY. By Walter D. Connor.Political Economy and Soviet Socialism. By Alec Nove.Organizational Alternatives in Soviet‐type Economies. By Nicolas Spulber.The Castle Diaries 1974–76. By Barbara Castle.A House Divided. The Lib‐Lab Pact and the Future of British Politics. By David Steel.Portrait of a Progressive: The Political Career of Christopher, Viscount Addison. By Kenneth and Jane Morgan.The Secret Constitution. By Brian Sedgemore.Power and Powerlessness. By John Gaventa.Liberalism and Sociology: L. T. Hobhouse and Political Argument in England 1880–1914. By Stefan Collini.The Two Marxisms: Contradictions and Anomalies in the Development of Theory. By Alvin W. Gouldner.Marxism After Marx. By David Mclellan.Opposition in Eastern Europe. Edited by Rudolf L. Tokes.Communism and Eastern Europe. Edited by Frantisek and Larisa Silnitsky and Karl Reyman.

Critical attention has been focused on the working class position regarding change under capitalist productivity as a result of the competitive position of European leftist alliances in France, Italy, Portugal, & Spain, & the developing structure of popular disquiet in capitalist countries. Discussed is the theoretical position of social classes in capitalist societies from a perspective of historical materialism. Analysis of the capitalist economic structure reveals a capitalist class, production & circulation working classes, & an ideological class. Surplus value is taken from the production working class but not from the circulation working class. To ensure perpetuation of productive relations, ideological & repressive control is essential, with private property, contract relationships, & possessive individualism central to such maintenance. Institutions-political, juridical, police, military, educational, & media-buttress this position, & must be controlled if the working class is to achieve the transition to socialism. D. Dunseath.

The Jacobins of the 1890s & the Acao Social Nacionalista (ASN) of the 1920s were both nationalistic Mc movements, whose differences reflect an extensive change which occurred in Brazilian society between these periods. The Jacobins joined with some of the Wc against the landed, whereas the ASN worked with the monarchy to prevent worker revolution. The Jacobins supported republicanism & hoped for greater material progress for the people. The ASN initially spoke against individualism, but eventually allied itself with the Uc the Jacobins had opposed. Thus, nationalism was converted from a progressive force to a reactionary, regressive element within Brazilian society. This shift was the result of changing SE conditions which included worker dissatisfaction, strikes, & the threat of socialism. As the Mc became more insecure, it allied itself more securely with the status quo. L. Kamel.

Sar A. Levitan and Robert Taggart, The Promise of Greatness.Martha Blaxall and Barbara Reagan, eds, Women and the Workplace: The Implications of Occupational Segregation.Katherine McMillan Heintz, Retirement Communities: For Adults Only. New BrunswickRichard D. Bingham with Thomas P. McNaught, The Adoption of Innovation by Local GovernmentKarel Joseph Kansky, Urbanization under Socialism: The Case of Czechoslovakia.Gordon Soules, The Housing Crisis: Causes, Effects, Solutions.Susan Olson and M. Leanne Lachman, Tax Delinquency in the Inner City: The Problem and its Possible Solutions.Jonathan L. Freedman, Crowding and Behavior.Neal R. Pierce, The New England States: People, Politics, and Power in the Six New England States.Luther Tweeten and George L. Brinkman, Micropolitan Development: Theory and Practice of Greater‐Rural Economic Development.Orvill Schell and Ilka Hartmann, The Town That Fought to Save Itself.Lewis J. Perelman, The Global Mind: Beyond the Limits to Growth.

English conservatism, unlike liberalism or socialism, can be interpreted as the ideology of dominant social & political groups seeking to maintain their power. This involves affirmation of class rule, of the ruling classes as guardians of the national interest, & of the deficient political judgment of other classes. Conservatism's grounding in the world of material interests & group tensions has led to its shifting concern from defense of feudal values to defenses of market or technocratic values. Socialism's avowed intent to unmask illusions clearly differentiates it from conservatism; similarly, liberalism in its origins focused on individual interests rather than on the community to which conservatism was devoted. Liberal success, however, led to a rapprochement with conservatism. Conservatism is likely, if the British economy continues to stagnate, to move increasingly toward stressing instrumental values. W. H. Stoddard.

Lenin's speech on 4 Apr 1917 at the Finland Station in Petrograd appeared to alienate his supporters, but instead he drew greater support as he successfully broke with the scientific socialism of the past. There was a tension between revolutionary realism & the limitations of orthodox Marxism in the mind of Lenin. One month after his Finland Station speech, Lenin turned to the thought of Hegelian dialectics, & this freed his thinking from the limitations of orthodox Marxism. The new Bolshevism of Apr 1917 was born out of the old Bolshevism to the extent that Lenin preached the unification of the peasantry & the proletariat without or against the liberal bourgeoisie. The road from Hegel's logic to the Finland Station speech was a theoretical journey marked by changing international conditions & the concrete analysis of a concrete situation. L. Kamel.

A notable imbalance exists in the literature on the rôle of soldiers in politics – far less attention is given to their rule than to their intervention. This is particularly true for the African continent, where scant effort has been made to relate patterns of military rule to patterns of demilitarisation. The policy objectives of officers are often dealt with as two opposing ideal types: broadly ideological, leaning towards 'anticommunism', 'modernisation', or 'Arab socialism'; or fundamentally apolitical and unable to formulate reasonable policy objectives because of their narrow corporate perspectives. The logic of these two ideal positions leads to the alleged dichotomy that juntas with broad political ambitions will tend to stay in power indefinitely, while those with limited corporate interests will find it easy to turn power over to civilians who will 'grant autonomy to the armed forces'.1

IN SPITE OF ALL THAT HAS HAPPENED, WITHIN BRITAIN AND WITHOUT, since Bagehot's death in 1877, the British political world still speaks, writes and teaches in Bagehot's terms, Some reassessments of his ideas did of course take place, the most searching of which probably arose as a result of the advent of socialism. Its impact on the politics of Britain, and of the world, needed to be considered. Nevertheless, though we might have grasped what changes had taken place, and though we might have seen how Bagehot's vision needed to be adjurtedg to these new realities, yet, on the whole it seemed that these changes did not affect the essential aspects of that vision. We were still bounded by the classic British parliamentary system for which Bagehot is the best interpreter.