Books published by The Merlin Press Ltd

A study of essential philosophical categories in Marxism.

Shedding light on one of the most remarkable and original figures among German Marxist thinkers, this volume presents a selection of engaging writings by Rosa Luxemburg. Revealing how Luxemburg was one of the earliest victims of fascism and was murdered in Berlin in 1919 for her beliefs, this compilation includes rare pieces previously unavailable in English. Annotated and placed in context, these writings illustrate Luxemburg's aversion to splits in the Labor movement--particularly in Germany and Russia--and examine her thinking about culture, nationalism, and women's rights. Reviews and documentation on the history of the Left are also included.

For many years, farm workers fought to rescue themselves from bleak, soul-destroying poverty.Their victories and their bitterest defeats, from the cruel treatment of the Tolpuddle Martyrs to the false dawn of the Second World War are recounted in Sharpen the Sickle.'It is the history of the awakening of the exploited rural poor. It shows us the times, the way workers and their families lived. Every page brings alive, the privation and bitterness that made farm workers among the first to organize themselves into a Union and to take on their exploiters. And it does not hesitate to criticize the men who led them and the decisions taken.' Jack Boddy, General Secretary of the National Union of Agricultural and Allied Workers.Reg Groves (1908-1988) was a lifelong socialist from a rural background. He was the author of several books, including A History of the Chartist Movement, The Peasants Revolt 1381, Conrad Noel and the Thaxted Movement and Seed Time and Harvest.

Communism aims at putting working people in charge of their lives. A multiplicity of Councils, rather than a big state bureaucracy is needed to empower working people and to focus control over society. Mattick develops a theory of a council communism through his survey of the history of the left in Germany and Russia. He challenges Bolshevik politics: especially their perspectives on questions of Party and Class, and the role of Trade Unions. Mattick argues that a The revolutions which succeeded, first of all, in Russia and China, were not proletarian revolutions in the Marxist sense, leading to the a association of free and equal producersa, but state-capitalist revolutions, which were objectively unable to issue into socialism. Marxism served here as a mere ideology to justify the rise of modified capitalist systems, which were no longer determined by market competition but controlled by way of the authoritarian state. Based on the peasantry, but designed with accelerated industrialisation to create an industrial proletariat, they were ready to abolish the traditional bourgeoisie but not capital as a social relationship.This type of capitalism had not been foreseen by Marx and the early Marxists, even though they advocated the capture of state-power to overthrow the bourgeoisie a but only in order to abolish the state itself.a

Provides a summary of the history of New Left Review and its political development starting from 1962. This book traces NLR's attempts to develop socialist politics, through the old Labour of Harold Wilson, through heady days in 1968, through new Marxist theory, through the Cold War years and into the era of contemporary capitalist globalisation.

There was a general rejoicing when the regime of Tsar Nicholas II fell in February 1917, a new era of liberty dawned. But what would come next?

Have we now reached 'the end of history' with the triumph of capitalist liberal democracy? Is socialism an enemy of democracy? Or could socialism develop, expand and enhance democracy?

This book aims to challenge and change unhelpful attitudes to those who suffer traumatic reactions, to show that they are not signs of weakness or a personality disorder and that there is understanding and help available for those who suffer.

Bakunin was a propagator of Anarchistic Socialism and an active promoter of the International Workers' Association (IWA). He argued for International workers' solidarity, change involving rural and industrial workers, and a Libertarian or Anarchist form of Socialism

What is the meaning of revolution in the twenty-first century? One hundred years ago 'October 1917' was a unique event inspiring socialists and oppressed peoples and became an inevitable point of reference for 20th century politics. Today the left needs both come to terms with this legacy and to transcend it, through a critical reappraisal of its

Britain in 1946 witnessed extraordinary episodes of direct action. Tens of thousands of families walked into empty army camps and took them over as places to live. A nationwide squatters' movement was born and it was the first challenge to the 1945 Labour government to come 'from below'.