A Marxist History of the World

Neil Faulkner

Description

This magisterial analysis of human history - from 'Lucy', the first hominid, to the current Great Recession - combines the insights of earlier generations of Marxist historians with radical new ideas about the historical process.



Reading history against the grain, Neil Faulkner reveals that what happened in the past was not predetermined. Choices were frequent and numerous. Different outcomes - liberation or barbarism - were often possible. Rejecting the top-down approach of conventional history, Faulkner contends that it is the mass action of ordinary people that drives great events.



At the beginning of the 21st century - with economic disaster, war, climate catastrophe and deep class divisions - humans face perhaps the greatest crisis in the long history of our species. The lesson of A Marxist History of the World is that, if we created our past, we can also create a better future.
Introduction: Why History Matters

1. Hunters and Farmers c. 2.5 million-3000 BC

The Hominid Revolution

The Hunting Revolution

The Agricultural Revolution

The Origins of War and Religion

The Rise of the Specialists

2. The First Class Societies c. 3000-1000 BC

The First Ruling Class

The Spread of Civilisation

Crisis in the Bronze Age

How History Works

Men of Iron

3. Ancient Empires c. 1000-30 BC

Persia: the Achaemenid Empire

India: the Mauryan Empire

China: the Qin Empire

The Greek Democratic Revolution

The Macedonian Empire

Roman Military Imperialism

The Roman Revolution

4. The End of Antiquity

c. 30 BC-AD 650

The Crisis of Late Antiquity

Huns, Goths, Germans, and Romans

Mother-Goddesses and Power-Deities

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam

Arabs, Persians, and Byzantines

5. The Medieval World

c. AD 650-1500

The Abbasid Revolution

Hindus, Buddhists, and the Gupta Empire

Chinese History’s Revolving Door

Africa: Cattle-Herders, Ironmasters, and Trading States

New World Empires: Maya, Aztec, and Inca

6. European Feudalism

c. AD 650-1500

The Cycles and Arrows of Time

The Peculiarity of Europe

The Rise of Western Feudalism

Crusade and Jihad

Lord, Burgher, and Peasant in Medieval Europe

The Class Struggle in Medieval Europe

The New Monarchies

The New Colonialism

7. The First Wave of Bourgeois Revolutions

1517-1775

The Reformation

The Counter-Reformation

The Dutch Revolution

The Thirty Years War

The Causes of the English Revolution

Revolution and Civil War

The Army, the Levellers, and the Commonwealth

Colonies, Slavery, and Racism

Wars of Empire

8. The Second Wave of Bourgeois Revolutions

1775-1815

The Enlightenment

The American Revolution

The Storming of the Bastille

The Jacobin Dictatorship

From Thermidor to Napoleon

9. The Rise of Industrial Capitalism

c. 1750-1850

The Industrial Revolution

The Chartists and the Origins of the Labour Movement

The 1848 Revolutions

What is Marxism?

What is Capitalism

The Making of the Working Class

10. The Age of Blood and Iron

1848-1896

The Indian Mutiny

The Italian Risorgimento

The American Civil War

Japan’s Meiji Restoration

The Unification of Germany

The Paris Commune

The Long Depression

11. Imperialism and War

1873-1918

The Scramble for Africa

The Rape of China

What is Imperialism?

The 1905 Revolution: Russia’s Great Dress Rehearsal

The Ottoman Empire and the 1908 ‘Young Turk’ Revolution

1914: Descent into Barbarism

Reform or Revolution?

The First World War

12. The Revolutionary Wave

1917-1928

1917: The February Revolution

Dual Power: The Mechanics of Revolution

February to October: The Rhythms of Revolution

1917: The October Insurrection

1918: How the War Ended

The German Revolution

Italy’s ‘Two Red Years’

World Revolution

The First Chinese Revolution

Revolts Against Colonialism

Stalinism: The Bitter Fruit of Revolutionary Defeat

13. The Great Depression and the Rise of Fascism

1929-1939

The Roaring Twenties

The Hungry Thirties

1933: The Nazi Seizure of Power

State Capitalism in Russia

1936: The French General Strike and Factory Occupations

The Spanish Civil War

The Causes of the Second World War

14. World War and Cold War

1939-1967

The Second World War: Imperialism

The Second World War: Barbarism

The Second World War: Resistance

The Cold War

The Great Boom

Maoist China

End of Empire?

Oil, Zionism, and Western Imperialism

1956: Hungary and Suez

Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution

15. The New World Disorder

1968-present

The Vietnam War

1968

1968-75: The Workers’ Revolt

The Long Recession, 1973-92

What is Neoliberalism?

1989: The Fall of Stalinism

9/11, the War on Terror, and the New Imperialism

The 2008 Crash: From Bubble to Black Hole

The Second Great Depression

Conclusion: Making the Future

Sujets

• Political Ideologies
• POLITICAL SCIENCE
• Histoire
• Communism
• World
• History
• Communisme

Informations

• Publié par: Pluto Press
• Date de parution: 05 avril 2013
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781849648646
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 3 Mo

Extrait

A Marxist History of the World
Counterfire
Series Editor: Neil Faulkner
Counterfire is a socialist organisation which campaigns against capitalism, war, and injustice. It organises nationally, locally, and through its website and print publications, operating as part of broader mass movements, for a society based on democracy, equality, and human need.
Counterfire stands in the revolutionary Marxist tradition, believing that radical change can come only through the mass action of ordinary people. To find out more, visit www.counterfire.org
This series aims to present radical perspectives on history, society, and current affairs to a general audience of trade unionists, students, and other activists. The best measure of its success will be the degree to which it inspires readers to be active in the struggle to change the world.
Also available:
How a Century of War Changed the Lives of Women
Lindsey German
Forthcoming:
The Second World War:
A Marxist History
Chris Bambery

First published 2013 by Pluto Press 345 Archway Road, London N6 5AA
www.plutobooks.com
Distributed in the United States of America exclusively by Palgrave Macmillan, a division of St. Martin’s Press LLC, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, NY 10010
Copyright © Neil Faulkner 2013
The right of Neil Faulkner to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
ISBN 978 0 7453 3215 4 Hardback ISBN 978 0 7453 3214 7 Paperback ISBN 978 1 8496 4863 9 PDF eBook ISBN 978 1 8496 4865 3 Kindle eBook ISBN 978 1 8496 4864 6 EPUB eBook
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Contents
Introduction: Why History Matters

1 Hunters and Farmers


c. 2.5 million–3000 BC
The Hominid Revolution
The Hunting Revolution
The Agricultural Revolution
The Origins of War and Religion
The Rise of the Specialists

2 The First Class Societies


c. 3000–1000 BC
The First Ruling Class
The Spread of Civilisation
Crisis in the Bronze Age
How History Works
Men of Iron

3 Ancient Empires


c. 1000–30 BC
Persia: the Achaemenid Empire
India: the Mauryan Empire
China: the Qin Empire
The Greek Democratic Revolution
The Macedonian Empire
Roman Military Imperialism
The Roman Revolution

4 The End of Antiquity


c. 30 BC – AD 650
The Crisis of Late Antiquity
Huns, Goths, Germans, and Romans
Mother-Goddesses and Power-Deities
Judaism, Christianity, and Islam
Arabs, Persians, and Byzantines

5 The Medieval World


c. AD 650–1500
The Abbasid Revolution
Hindus, Buddhists, and the Gupta Empire
Chinese History’s Revolving Door
Africa: Cattle-Herders, Ironmasters, and Trading States
New World Empires: Maya, Aztec, and Inca

6 European Feudalism


c. AD 650–1500
The Cycles and Arrows of Time
The Peculiarity of Europe
The Rise of Western Feudalism
Crusade and Jihad
Lord, Burgher, and Peasant in Medieval Europe
The Class Struggle in Medieval Europe
The New Monarchies
The New Colonialism

7 The First Wave of Bourgeois Revolutions


1517–1775
The Reformation
The Counter-Reformation
The Dutch Revolution
The Thirty Years War
The Causes of the English Revolution
Revolution and Civil War
The Army, the Levellers, and the Commonwealth
Colonies, Slavery, and Racism
Wars of Empire

8 The Second Wave of Bourgeois Revolutions


1775–1815
The Enlightenment
The American Revolution
The Storming of the Bastille
The Jacobin Dictatorship
From Thermidor to Napoleon

9 The Rise of Industrial Capitalism


c. 1750–1850
The Industrial Revolution
The Chartists and the Origins of the Labour Movement
The 1848 Revolutions
What is Marxism?
What is Capitalism
The Making of the Working Class

10 The Age of Blood and Iron


1848–1896
The Indian Mutiny
The Italian Risorgimento
The American Civil War
Japan’s Meiji Restoration
The Unification of Germany
The Paris Commune
The Long Depression, 1873–96

11 Imperialism and War


1873–1918
The Scramble for Africa
The Rape of China
What is Imperialism?
The 1905 Revolution: Russia’s Great Dress Rehearsal
The Ottoman Empire and the 1908 ‘Young Turk’ Revolution
1914: Descent into Barbarism
Reform or Revolution?
The First World War

12 The Revolutionary Wave


1917–1928
1917: The February Revolution
Dual Power: The Mechanics of Revolution
February to October: The Rhythms of Revolution
1917: The October Insurrection
1918: How the War Ended
The German Revolution
Italy’s ‘Two Red Years’
World Revolution
The First Chinese Revolution
Revolts Against Colonialism
Stalinism: The Bitter Fruit of Revolutionary Defeat

13 The Great Depression and the Rise of Fascism


1929–1939
The Roaring Twenties
The Hungry Thirties
1933: The Nazi Seizure of Power
State Capitalism in Russia
1936: The French General Strike and Factory Occupations
The Spanish Civil War
The Causes of the Second World War

14 World War and Cold War


1939–1967
The Second World War: Imperialism
The Second World War: Barbarism
The Second World War: Resistance
The Cold War
The Great Boom
Maoist China
End of Empire?
Oil, Zionism, and Western Imperialism
1956: Hungary and Suez
Che Guevara and the Cuban Revolution

15 The New World Disorder


1968–present
The Vietnam War
1968
1968–75: The Workers’ Revolt
The Long Recession, 1973–92
What is Neoliberalism?
1989: The Fall of Stalinism
9/11, the War on Terror, and the New Imperialism
The 2008 Crash: From Bubble to Black Hole
The Second Great Depression

Conclusion: Making the Future


The Wealth of the World
The Beast
Revolution in the Twenty-First Century?
Whose Apocalypse?

Timeline

Sources
Bibliographical Notes
Select Bibliography
Introduction: Why History Matters
History is a weapon. How we understand the past affects how we act in the present. Because of this, history is political and contested.
All knowledge of the present – of its crises, wars, and revolutions – is necessarily historical. We can no more make sense of our own world without reference to the past than we can manufacture a computer without reference to the accumulated knowledge of many decades. Our rulers know this, and because they have a vested interest in defending their own property and power, they use their control of education and the mass media to present a sanitised view of history. They stress continuity and tradition, obedience and conformity, nationalism and empire. They purposefully underplay exploitation, the violence of the ruling class, and the struggles of the oppressed.
Their version of history has become more dominant over the last 30 years. Past empires, such as the Roman and the British, have been held up as models of civilisation by ‘neo-conservative’ supporters of imperialist wars today. Medieval Europe has been reinterpreted as an exemplar of the ‘new classical’ economics favoured by millionaire bankers. Attempts to construct grand narratives of history – that is, to explain the past, so that we can understand the present, and act to change the future – have been disparaged by fashionable postmodernist theorists who argue that history has no structure, pattern, or meaning. The effect of these ideas is to disable us intellectually and render us politically inert. Do nothing, is the message, because war promotes democracy, there is no alternative to the market, and history cannot be shaped by conscious human action.
This book stands in a different tradition. It is encapsulated in something the revolutionary thinker and activist Karl Marx wrote in a political pamphlet published in 1852: ‘Men [and women] make their own history, but not of their own free will, and not under circumstances of their own choosing.’ The course of history, in other words, is not predetermined; things can move in a different direction according to what people do. Nor is history shaped only by politicians and generals; the implication is that if ordinary people organise themselves and act collectively, they too can shape history.
This book has its origin in a series first published in weekly instalments on the Counterfire website ( www.counterfire.org ). It has been extensively revised for book-format publication. This introduction has been added, as has a rather longer conclusion. The short weekly web chapters have been grouped together as the sections of longer book chapters, and each chapter has been given a short introduction. A bibliography has been added so that readers can check my sources and search for further reading, and so has a timeline to help readers keep their bearings through the narrative.
The reorganisation and editing of the original web series should make this a book that can be read cover to cover, but it does not have to be read that way. It should work equally well as a volume of short analytical essays on key historical topics which can be accessed when needed. Either way, it is first and foremost a book for activists – for people who want to understand the past as a guide to action in the present.
Many changes are due to the following people, all of whom took time and trouble to read the text, in whole or in part, and offer invaluable critical comment: William Alderson, Dominic Alexander, David C