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The Science and Passion of Communism
Selected Writings of Amadeo Bordiga (1912â1965)
Series: - Historical Materialism Book Series, Volume: 209
The Science and Passion of Communism presents the battles of the brilliant Italian communist Amadeo Bordiga in the revolutionary cycle of the post-WWI period, through his writings against reformism and war, for Soviet power and internationalism, and then against fascism, on one side, Stalinism and the degeneration of the International, on the other.
Equally important was his sharp critique of triumphant U.S. capitalism in the post-WWII period, and his original re-presentation of Marxist critique of political economy, which includes the capital-nature and capital-species relationships, and the programme of social transformations for the revolution to come.
Without any form of canonization, we can say that Bordigaâs huge workshop is a veritable goldmine, and anyone who decides to enter it will not be disappointed. He will guide you through a series of instructive, energizing and often highly topical excursions into the near and distant past, into the present that he largely foresaw, and into the future that he sketched with devouring passion.
Equally important was his sharp critique of triumphant U.S. capitalism in the post-WWII period, and his original re-presentation of Marxist critique of political economy, which includes the capital-nature and capital-species relationships, and the programme of social transformations for the revolution to come.
Without any form of canonization, we can say that Bordigaâs huge workshop is a veritable goldmine, and anyone who decides to enter it will not be disappointed. He will guide you through a series of instructive, energizing and often highly topical excursions into the near and distant past, into the present that he largely foresaw, and into the future that he sketched with devouring passion.
Amadeo Bordiga was one of the greatest figures of the Third International. A socialist militant from the age of 21, he became the undisputed leader of the Communist Party of Italy before being imprisoned by the Mussolini regime. After a long hiatus, he resumed his political and theoretical work in 1944, producing many significant writings in the years up to his death in 1970.
Pietro Basso has been Associate Professor of Sociology at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. His works include Modern Times, Ancient Hours (Verso, 2003), Le racisme européen (Syllepse, 2016), and Le grandi questioni sociali del nostro tempo (Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2018, co-edited with Giuliana Chiaretti).
Pietro Basso has been Associate Professor of Sociology at the Ca' Foscari University of Venice. His works include Modern Times, Ancient Hours (Verso, 2003), Le racisme européen (Syllepse, 2016), and Le grandi questioni sociali del nostro tempo (Edizioni Ca' Foscari, 2018, co-edited with Giuliana Chiaretti).
Interview by David Broder with Pietro Basso on Jacobin about âthe burying of Bordigaâs name, his ecological vision of communism, and how he challenged Joseph Stalin to his faceâ [Click here]
â[The book] is the first English-langauge selection of Bordigaâs writings to cover both the chronological spread and thematic diversity of his interventions. The fine translations by Giacomo Donis and Patrick Camiller allow non-Italian speakers fresh insight into what Basso charmingly calls the âgoldmineâ of Bordigaâs vast array of research⦠For many decades, even the results of this research have had a tiny readership⦠[but] when you do get your hands on a copy, you will be in doubt that Bordiga is a wrongly overlooked thinker.â - David Broder, in: Weekly Worker [Full review]
â[The book] is the first English-langauge selection of Bordigaâs writings to cover both the chronological spread and thematic diversity of his interventions. The fine translations by Giacomo Donis and Patrick Camiller allow non-Italian speakers fresh insight into what Basso charmingly calls the âgoldmineâ of Bordigaâs vast array of research⦠For many decades, even the results of this research have had a tiny readership⦠[but] when you do get your hands on a copy, you will be in doubt that Bordiga is a wrongly overlooked thinker.â - David Broder, in: Weekly Worker [Full review]
Acknowledgements
List of Figures
Introduction: Yesterdayâs Battles and Todayâs World
1 Against the War
2 On Elections
3 On Soviets
4 On Strategy and Tactics
5 On Fascism, against Fascism
6 The Lyons Theses
7 Against Stalin and âSocialism in One Countryâ
Section 1 Russia and Revolution in Marxist Theory
8 Lessons of Counter-revolutions
9 Forty Years of Organically Analysing Russian Events within the Dramatic Context of the Social and Historical Course of the World
Section 2 The Critique of Triumphant Capitalism
10 Property and Financial Capital
11 Welfare Economics
12 The Law of Hunger
13 Murder of the Dead
14 Inflation of the State
15 The United States of America (1947â57)
Section 3 On the âGigantic Movement of Emancipationâ of the Coloured Peoples
16 The Factors of Race and Nation in Marxist Theory (1953)
17 East
18 The Multiple Revolutions
19 âRacialâ Pressure of the Peasantry, Class Pressure of the Coloured Peoples
Section 4 On the Revolutionary Prospects of Communism
20 The Revolutionary Programme of Communist Society
21 Whoâs Afraid of Automation?
22 The Immediate Revolutionary Programme in the Capitalist West
Section 5 On the Party
23 Considerations on the Partyâs Organic Activity When the General Situation is Historically Unfavourable (1965)
Annotated Bibliography of Bordigaâs Writings
Annotated Bibliography on Bordiga in Italian
References
Index
Illustrations
List of Figures
Introduction: Yesterdayâs Battles and Todayâs World
Part 1 The Italian Left in the Great Revolutionary Struggle (1912â26)
1 Against the War
2 On Elections
3 On Soviets
4 On Strategy and Tactics
5 On Fascism, against Fascism
6 The Lyons Theses
7 Against Stalin and âSocialism in One Countryâ
Part 2 The Struggle for the Rebirth of Revolutionary Communism (1945â65)
Section 1 Russia and Revolution in Marxist Theory
8 Lessons of Counter-revolutions
9 Forty Years of Organically Analysing Russian Events within the Dramatic Context of the Social and Historical Course of the World
Section 2 The Critique of Triumphant Capitalism
10 Property and Financial Capital
11 Welfare Economics
12 The Law of Hunger
13 Murder of the Dead
14 Inflation of the State
15 The United States of America (1947â57)
Section 3 On the âGigantic Movement of Emancipationâ of the Coloured Peoples
16 The Factors of Race and Nation in Marxist Theory (1953)
17 East
18 The Multiple Revolutions
19 âRacialâ Pressure of the Peasantry, Class Pressure of the Coloured Peoples
Section 4 On the Revolutionary Prospects of Communism
20 The Revolutionary Programme of Communist Society
21 Whoâs Afraid of Automation?
22 The Immediate Revolutionary Programme in the Capitalist West
Section 5 On the Party
23 Considerations on the Partyâs Organic Activity When the General Situation is Historically Unfavourable (1965)
Annotated Bibliography of Bordigaâs Writings
Annotated Bibliography on Bordiga in Italian
References
Index
Illustrations
All interested in the history of worker and Communist movement, and anyone concerned with the critique of Stalinism and of the triumphant U.S. capitalism, and looking forward to a new form of society.