- 20 Oct 2010 07:08
#13528929
What do you read, and what are their strength and weakness?
Monthly Review
It is one of the first socialist journals I have ever read. Published monthly by a group of American socialists (e.g. most notably the late Paul Sweezy and Paul Baran) since 1948, it has consistently focused on political and economic issues from a slightly non-traditional Marxist perspective. A great strength of the publication is that it tends to explain things very clearly without unnecessarily complex language or jargon, which is good for people like myself who only began to learn about the topics it covered. A weakness is that it tends to repeat some of its themes e.g. monopoly capitalism, financialisation etc. too much without adding a great deal of new insights. But this may be a unfair criticism since the point of the publication is to repeatedly stress some of the prominent features of contemporary capitalism.
International Socialism Journal
It is a journal that I have been reading a great deal lately, especially a lot of very good articles from its back issues. Published quarterly (I think it was originally a monthly publication) since the 1960s, its articles are both more lengthy and more in-depth (and more insightful) than Monthly Review. One of its strength is that probably because of its relatively direct connection to activism through the Workers Socialist Party which published the journal, it has a more clearly defined activist angle and focused a great deal on struggles on the ground (though mostly European movements). In general, it also takes a more historical approach than Monthly Review which gives it a richness that other similar publications don't usually possess. One weakness is that sometimes it unnecessarily gets too hung up with Marxist theory of value and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, and it could stretch credibility a little too much when it, consistent with more orthodox Marxist position, tries to reduce women's oppression to primarily economic categories closely tied to capitalism, for example.
New Left Review
NLR, strongly associated with and influenced by both the British Marxist historians like E.P. Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm and the New Left theorists previously with some flavour of the Frankfurt School (and the list of authors often reads like who is who in British New Left), is a distinctly more intellectual and British journal. It often contains very good analysis of politics and the economy but at times it could get too 'theoretical' and 'intellectual' with a rather abstruse prose (also a running criticism by the International Socialist Journal). It is probably intended for a more educated audience than your average activist, but still a value source for analysis.
World Socialist Web Site
Published daily online by a Troskyist organisation, it gives very good run-down of a day's important news (based mostly on mainstream papers like the New York Times, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal etc.) and tries to analyse and make sense of what is happening in context and from a often not very overtly Marxist perspective (though no doubt the authors' perspectives have been informed by Marxism). And the articles are often of very high quality, especially given the little time they have. It amazes me how fast they write and publish articles; it feels almost like (probably true) there are a group of professional Marxists/Troskyists following news and writing articles all day. My impression is also that it has tried to become less overtly ideologically in their news analysis over the past couple of years. I remember it used to be too ideologically aggressive which I assume must have alienated people who think the analysis is good but feel uncomfortable with its aggressiveness (think of Kasu). It is also written in very plain English and is thus highly readable.
Monthly Review
It is one of the first socialist journals I have ever read. Published monthly by a group of American socialists (e.g. most notably the late Paul Sweezy and Paul Baran) since 1948, it has consistently focused on political and economic issues from a slightly non-traditional Marxist perspective. A great strength of the publication is that it tends to explain things very clearly without unnecessarily complex language or jargon, which is good for people like myself who only began to learn about the topics it covered. A weakness is that it tends to repeat some of its themes e.g. monopoly capitalism, financialisation etc. too much without adding a great deal of new insights. But this may be a unfair criticism since the point of the publication is to repeatedly stress some of the prominent features of contemporary capitalism.
International Socialism Journal
It is a journal that I have been reading a great deal lately, especially a lot of very good articles from its back issues. Published quarterly (I think it was originally a monthly publication) since the 1960s, its articles are both more lengthy and more in-depth (and more insightful) than Monthly Review. One of its strength is that probably because of its relatively direct connection to activism through the Workers Socialist Party which published the journal, it has a more clearly defined activist angle and focused a great deal on struggles on the ground (though mostly European movements). In general, it also takes a more historical approach than Monthly Review which gives it a richness that other similar publications don't usually possess. One weakness is that sometimes it unnecessarily gets too hung up with Marxist theory of value and the tendency of the rate of profit to fall, and it could stretch credibility a little too much when it, consistent with more orthodox Marxist position, tries to reduce women's oppression to primarily economic categories closely tied to capitalism, for example.
New Left Review
NLR, strongly associated with and influenced by both the British Marxist historians like E.P. Thompson and Eric Hobsbawm and the New Left theorists previously with some flavour of the Frankfurt School (and the list of authors often reads like who is who in British New Left), is a distinctly more intellectual and British journal. It often contains very good analysis of politics and the economy but at times it could get too 'theoretical' and 'intellectual' with a rather abstruse prose (also a running criticism by the International Socialist Journal). It is probably intended for a more educated audience than your average activist, but still a value source for analysis.
World Socialist Web Site
Published daily online by a Troskyist organisation, it gives very good run-down of a day's important news (based mostly on mainstream papers like the New York Times, the Washington Post and Wall Street Journal etc.) and tries to analyse and make sense of what is happening in context and from a often not very overtly Marxist perspective (though no doubt the authors' perspectives have been informed by Marxism). And the articles are often of very high quality, especially given the little time they have. It amazes me how fast they write and publish articles; it feels almost like (probably true) there are a group of professional Marxists/Troskyists following news and writing articles all day. My impression is also that it has tried to become less overtly ideologically in their news analysis over the past couple of years. I remember it used to be too ideologically aggressive which I assume must have alienated people who think the analysis is good but feel uncomfortable with its aggressiveness (think of Kasu). It is also written in very plain English and is thus highly readable.
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