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In her book The New Working Class - How to Win Hearts, Minds and Votes, Head of Policy for the Labour Party Clare Ainsley has got class absolutely wrong. She seems to have no sense of the nature of post-industrial capitalism as a form of capitalism, including the role of finance and
property capital, and what that means for the way class is structured, understood and lived. If the Labour Party works to this view of class it will not be able to develop the necessary class base for a transformational politics. It needs a more in-depth analysis of the class implications
of post-industrial capitalism and of work experience within it; this would include, in particular, a recognition of the significance of households (as opposed to individuals) for incomes and wealth, especially in relation to home ownership and pensions, which have benefitted those in possession
of assets and had a major impact on generational inequality. It also needs to understand the experience not just of the poor but also of the 'squeezed middle', a group that - rather than being dismissed as embodying metro-cosmopolitan values (something that applies to only a very small fraction
of the middle class) - needs to be a key focus of political action.

The transition 'from plan to market' under a politically conservative regime in Vietnam, where the communist party remains in power, can be seen as an example of a process in which evolving endogenous forces drove and resourced institutional change. Two sets of phenomena are analytically important. The first may be understood as the creation and seeking out of economic rents in the 'neo-classical' sense of resources available 'below economic costs'; the second, more 'classical', concentrates upon the central importance of 'appropriable resources'. These two are both important because, in trying to understand emergent capitalism after transition, they push to the fore the historical emergence of factor markets (land, labour and capital). Social networks created during transition for 'rent-switching' later support advantageous access to resources created for plan implementation and may then, as a form of capitalism emerges, be used to access resources in forms appropriate to market-oriented activity. It becomes clear that 'rent-switching' may have effects upon static economic efficiency that are positive during transition but negative afterwards, so that the significance of 'rents' depends upon context. Adapted from the source document.

IN THIS CONTRIBUTION TO THE ONGOING DEBATE BETWEEN THE AUTHOR AND PAUL SWEEZY, BETTELHEIM EXAMINES THE CAPITALISTIC ASPECTS OF THE SOVIET ECONOMIC SYSTEM, ARGUES THAT THE ECONOMIC CRISES OF THE COUNTRY RESULT FROM A STRUCTURAL CRISIS IN THE PARTY LEADERSHIP AND POLICY, EXPLORES THE ROLE OF ECONOMIC COMPETITION WITHIN THE SOVIET SYSTEM, AND SEES SOVIET EXPANSIONIST POLICY AS A POTENTIAL ROUTE TO STAGNATION. SWEEZY GIVES A REPLY.

It is argued that 1994 optimism over the democratic transition in El Salvador was premature, given that women's rights have not been fully realized. Per statistical data, women had an important role in the Salvadoran guerilla movement, 1979-1992, but were demobilized & given little attention in the peace accords. Interviews with leaders of 3 women's movements indicate that instances of discrimination & sexism in the mid-1990s were corrected because of the vocal women's movements in the FMLN (Farabundo Marti National Liberation Movement) & political party agreement that women were a political asset. The formal participation of women in the FMLN party & leadership is evaluated. The Women's Secretariat in the FMLN has played a role in promoting substantive gender equality, but there is still much more to be done. 7 Tables, 30 References. M. Pflum

10pm, 8th June 2017: exit polls at the British General Election show Jeremy Corbyn's Labour Party denying the Conservative Party what was widely expected to be a guaranteed increased majority. Crowned Labour leader two years earlier, the British political class were convinced of one thing: Corbyn was unelectable. Condescension stood in for a serious understanding of the ideas that made up the Corbyn worldview. But Corbynism's success might have been less surprising were its political content subject to informed scrutiny. Corbynism: A Critical Approach argues that, on closer inspection, Corbynism rests on a way of seeing the world that resonates with broader contemporary political and economic shifts. This resonance confounds claims over electability. In this fascinating book, Matt Bolton and Frederick Harry Pitts explain the Corbyn worldview. Corbyn's platform of economic protectionism at home twinned with problematic affinities abroad rests on a conspiracist understanding of capitalism as a `rigged system' that chimes with, rather than challenges, the populist nativism in an age of Trump and Brexit. Corbyn's mythical image as a paragon of moral exceptionalism underpinned his ascendancy, promoting a form of anti-politics that assesses ideas not by their content or consequences but the identity of those expressing them. The sectarianism and antisemitism associated with elements of the Corbyn movement stem from a truncated critique of capitalism central to Corbynism

What's gone wrong with capitalism, and how should governments respond? Did big government or big banking cause the global financial crisis? Is the answer austerity or investment in growth; untrammelled market forces or regulation for the common good? Anthony Crosland's 'The Future of Socialism' provided a creed for governments of the centre left until the global banking crisis. Now Peter Hain, drawing on over fifty years of experience in politics, revisits this classic text and presents a stimulating political prospectus for today.

On being landless : the expansion of agrarian capitalism and the crisis of the 1930s -- Land distribution and the rise of a new party politics -- Government planning and the policies of land resettlement -- Close encounters of colonialism : state formation in the Parcelas -- Community formation and livelihood -- Aftermath : Parcelas, a showcase for democracy and development

"Includes information on anti-Semitism, art, Bible, capitalism, Catholics, Christianity, Christian Right, communists, Declaration of Independence, Democratic Party, demography, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hasidim, Hebrew language, Adolf Hitler, Holocaust, Islam, Israel, Moses Maimonides, Marxism, Moses Mendelssohn, Walter Mondale, Moral Majority, Muslims, Gamal Abdel Nasser, Nazis, Orthodox Judaism, Poland, rabbis, race relations, Ronald Reagan, Reform Judaism, Republican Party, Russia, Sabbath, Jean-Paul Sartre, Sephardim, William Shakespeare, Six-Day War, Soviet Union, Baruch Spinoza, Josef Stalin, Leo Strauss, tax policy, Torah, U.S. Constitution, Yiddish, Yom Kippur, Zionism, etc."--From source other than the Library of Congress

Abstract: Thailand's politics have changed dramatically under Thaksin Shinawatra and his Thai Rak Thai (TRT) party since 2001. The business-based party has gradually come to resemble the "neo-populist" regimes of Latin America. It appeals to the "disorganized" mass in the rural economy and urban informal sector by launching redistributive policies, distancing itself from old leaders, and simultaneously undermining democratic institutions and liberal values. The party's stance is a reflection of Thailand's political economy under globalization marked by externally dominated economy, embattled local capitalism, and large informal sector.

Problems related to Cuba's integration into the world economy, and the political and ideological consequences. Advocates creation of a democracy based on a one-party system with a platform of social justice and popular participation; some focus on the informal sector.

This paper is in closed access. ; © 2017 Informa UK Limited, trading as Taylor & Francis Group.This article focuses on greening cultural policy within a sustainable development context. We examine shortcomings of major public-policy responses to the ecological crisis, linking this to the ambivalent philosophical heritage of anthropocentric worldviews that underpin ideas about the relation of culture to non-human nature. This ambivalence is reflected by weak environmentalism in the cultural policy arena, exemplified by surprisingly non-green cultural platforms espoused by green political parties. Green thinking is further hampered by the widespread adoption of digitisation within cultural organizations, which we contextualise in the broader political economy of digital capitalism and the attendant myth that high-tech culture is a low emissions business. Green cultural policy necessitates intensive self-examination of cultural institutions' environmental impact, at the same time these institutions deploy art, education, entertainment, sports, and news to raise awareness of ecological crisis and alternative models of economic activity. We cite the efforts of activist artists' resistance against fossil fuel corporations' sponsorship of arts and cultural organizations as a welcome provocation for greening cultural policy within cultural organizations and green political parties alike.

Erst nachdem die KPD-Führung Anfang der 30er Jahre akzeptiert hatte, dass es der NSDAP gelungen war "ja sogar z.T. Arbeiter um sich zu scharen" (Rote Fahne, 29.06.1930) und einen Wahlerfolg nach dem anderen zu feiern, begann sie sich widerwillig der neuen innenpolitischen Herausforderung zu stellen. Bis zuletzt wurde die Notwendigkeit, sich mit der NSDAP zu befassen, grundsätzlich in Frage gestellt. Galt die Ausrichtung des antifaschistischen Kampfes auf die Nationalsozialisten, da sie die Kräfte in Nebenkriegsschauplätzen vergeuden würden, doch als kontraproduktiv. Einzige Aufgabe des Faschismus sei es schließlich, dem bedrohten Kapitalismus eine populäre Massenbasis und schlagkräftige Söldnertruppe zu verschaffen. Während die Funktionäre der NSDAP zu Marionetten in den Händen des Großkapitals degradiert wurden, erklärte sich die KPD-Führung den Anschluss von sozial deklassierten Kleinbürgern und Arbeitern, von denen in wirtschaftlichen Krisenzeiten ganz selbstverständlich ihre Linksradikalisierung erwartet worden war, mit deren gezielter Verwirrung durch eine pseudosozialistische Propaganda. Obwohl die KPD-Führung davon überzeugt war, dass mit der Liquidierung der Puppenspieler zugleich auch das Problem des Nationalsozialismus gelöst werde, meinte sie nicht auf Teile der vermeintlich revolutionären Anhängerschaft der NSDAP verzichten zu können. Diese Gruppen, von deren sozialistischen Sehnsüchten sie fest überzeugt war, sollten durch sozialpolitische Aufklärung in die Reihen der einzigen Arbeiterpartei geführt werden, die die soziale Befreiung erkämpft. Um die Fehlgeleiteten erreichen zu können, wurde als propagandistisches Einfallstor die "nationale Frage" und insbesondere die lautstarke Verurteilung nationaler Abhängigkeiten gewählt, was zu einer opportunistischen Anknüpfung an den vermuteten Zeitgeist führte. Neben gewalttätigen Auseinandersetzungen ist die Umwerbung des Wähler- und Mitgliederpotentials der NSDAP, wie die zwei Seiten einer Medaille, ein unabdingbarer Bestandteil ein und desselben Konkurrenzkampfes, im Zuge dessen der politischer Gegner zersetzt und zugleich die eigene Partei gestärkt werden sollte. Ideales Zugpferd für dieses Unterfangen war der durch den Ulmer Reichswehrprozess bekannt gewordene ehemalige Offizier Richard Scheringer. Der nationalsozialistische Hochverräter wechselte während seiner Haftzeit spektakulär die Fronten und setzt sich nun offensiv für die KPD und die bolschewistische Revolution ein. Die KPD reizte, nicht zuletzt aus Mangel an vergleichbaren Fällen, den Frontwechsel Scheringers propagandistisch aus. Sie stilisierte ihn zum Symbol und beispielhaften Vorbild eines geläuterten nationalsozialistischen Dissidenten, der durch Aufklärung (und logisch folgender Einsicht) überzeugt worden war. Unter der Ägide des parteieigenen Nachrichtendienstes wurde in Scheringers Namen die Zeitschrift "Aufbruch" herausgegeben, in deren Redaktion alle bürgerlich-nationalistischen Dissidenten, über die die KPD verfügte, zusammengefasst wurden. Der "Aufbruch" unterhielt als einzige KPD-Organisation Diskussionszirkel in verschiedenen Städten ("Aufbruch-Arbeitskreise"), die die Kontaktaufnahme zu wechselwilligen Nationalisten und Nationalsozialisten erleichtern sollten. Ihre Hauptaufgabe aber war die nachrichtendienstliche Auswertung der spärlichen Kontakte ins entgegengesetzte politische Lager. Eingangs der Arbeit wird, aus dem Blickwinkel des Konkurrenzkampfes um das selbe Wähler- und Mitgliederpotential, die Wahrnehmung und Beurteilung des erneuten Aufstiegs der NSDAP durch die KPD-Führung sowie ihre Reaktionen und die daraus folgende Generallinie untersucht. Im Anschluss wird der "Fall Scheringer" als exemplarischer Modellfall für die praktische Umsetzung untersucht. Der dritte Abschnitt der Arbeit widmet sich dem "Aufbruch" und den dazugehörigen Arbeitskreisen. Als Initiator und Träger wird kurz der Nachrichtendienst der KPD beschrieben. Neben der Schilderung der Entwicklung konzentriert sich die Darstellung auf die Strukturen des "Aufbruch"-Projekts und die Arbeitsweisen der unmittelbar beteiligten Protagonisten. Eine Inhaltsanalyse des "Aufbruchs" schließt diese Arbeit ab. ; Only after the KPD leadership had accepted in the early 30s that the NSDAP had succeeded in winning even Workers and celebrated one election victory after another, the officials reluctantly approached the new domestic political challenge. But the need to deal with the Nazi Party was constantly called into question. Focusing the anti-fascist struggle on the NSDAP was considered as a side issue and therefor counterproductive. The KPD leadership was convinced that the sole task of fascism is to gain the threatened capitalism a popular mass base and powerful mercenaries. While officials of the NSDAP were downgraded to puppets in the hands of high finance, the KPD leadership had expected that the socially declassed petty bourgeois and workers would turn during an economic crisis to the radical left. Their annexation to the Nazi Party was explained with their confusion by pseudo-socialist propaganda. Although the KPD leadership was convinced that with the liquidation of the puppeteers the problem of Nazism would be generally resolved at the same time, the officials were still willing to win parts of the supposedly revolutionary supporters of the Nazi Party. These groups, by their socialist aspirations, the officials were still convinced, had to be guided by socio-political education in the ranks of the KPD, the single workers' party that fights for true social liberation. To reach the misguided the "national question" was chosen as propaganda gateway. In the course of this strategy the repeated vociferous condemnation of national dependencies was an opportunistic attempt to connect with the suspected zeitgeist. As regarded the two sides of the same coin, the courtship of the voters and members of the NSDAP is in addition to violent confrontation an indispensable part of the same competitive struggle. The KPD tried to decompose the political opponent and strengthen the own party at once. Ideal leading force for this endeavor was the former Reichswehr officer and NSDAP fellow-traveller Richard Scheringer, who became generally known through the Ulm Reichswehr process. Scheringer, who had tried to win other officers for Nazism and to manipulate the Reichswehr, was convicted for treason. During his detention he spectacularly changed his allegiance and supported abruptly the Communist Party and the Bolshevik Revolution. Not least due to lack of comparable cases, the communists' propaganda exhausted Scheringers change of front. He became a symbol and exemplary model of a purified Nazi dissident, who had been convinced through enlightenment (and logically following insight). Under the aegis of the party's own intelligence service the KPD published in Scheringers name the magazine "Aufbruch" [i.e. decampment or departure]. For the editorial department the KPD concentrated all bourgeois nationalist dissidents who followed the Communist Party. The "Aufbruch" also maintained discussion circles in different cities. Their official task was to facilitate contact to change-willing nationalists and National Socialists. Their main task, however, was the intelligence analysis of the scanty contacts to the opposite political camp. The dissertation is examining the perception and evaluation of the rise of the Nazi party by the KPD leadership from the perspective of competition for the same potential of voters and members. It also describes reactions of the communist officials and the consequent general line. In the following the "case Scheringer" is examined as an exemplary model for the practical implementation. The third section of the work is devoted to the "Aufbruch" and the related working groups. As the initiator and provider the intelligence service of the KPD is also described. Besides the description of the development this part is focused on the structures of the "Aufbruch" project and the working methods of the involved protagonists. A content analysis of the "Aufbruch" concludes this work.

Preface -- The Occidental tourist -- A dissertation is not a dinner party -- Confessions of a Peking Tom -- Through the looking glass -- Democracy deferred -- Capitalism with Chinese characteristics -- The road to Tiananmen -- After the deluge -- China rising -- God in the machine -- The wild, wild west -- Beijing revisited -- China watching, then and now -- The Gini in the jar -- Loose ends