Category Archives: Uncategorized

Review: “Modern Bulgaria: Problems and Tasks in Building an Advanced Socialist Society” – Todor Zhivkov

“Modern Bulgaria: Problems and Tasks in Building an Advanced Socialist Society” is an anthology of writings and speeches by the Bulgarian leader Todor Zhivkov, who served as General Secretary of the Bulgarian Communist Party from 1954-89. Most of the chapters are repetitive in style and content like so many other books published in the USSRContinueContinue reading “Review: “Modern Bulgaria: Problems and Tasks in Building an Advanced Socialist Society” – Todor Zhivkov”

Review: “The Indian Minority of Zambia, Rhodesia, and Malawi” – Floyd and Lillian Dotson

After reading “Blood on their Banner,” I couldn’t decide what I wanted to read next, when I looked at a book on my shelf and thought, “Hey, this looks like an obscure book, I shall read this one!” That book was “The Indian Minority of Zambia, Rhodesia, and Malawi” by Floyd and Lillian, which IContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Indian Minority of Zambia, Rhodesia, and Malawi” – Floyd and Lillian Dotson”

Review: “Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific” – David Robie

David Robie’s “Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific” is a comprehensive and outstanding work on the struggles of the peoples of the South Pacific against colonialism and for the right to self-determination. No other work on the South Pacific compares in the amount detail and information contained in Robie’s book, notContinueContinue reading “Review: “Blood on their Banner: Nationalist Struggles in the South Pacific” – David Robie”

Review: “Rosa Luxemburg: Her Life and Work” – Paul Frölich

I have a lot of mixed feelings about Paul Frölich’s famous biography of Rosa Luxemburg. A lot of what is written in the book strikes me as ultra-left, maybe even Trotskyist; and since I am not expert on Luxemburg’s life and her theories, I find it difficult to determine how much of the ultra-leftism, encompassingContinueContinue reading “Review: “Rosa Luxemburg: Her Life and Work” – Paul Frölich”

“General De Gaulle: His Life and Work” – Nikolai Molchanov

“General de Gaulle: His Life and Work” by Nikolai Molchanov is one of the BEST biographies I have ever read. Molchanov, a Soviet scholar, offers a Marxist-Leninist analysis of one of France’s most important leaders, General Charles de Gaulle, the leader of the Free France forces against Vichy France and Nazi Germany in WWII, ChairmanContinueContinue reading ““General De Gaulle: His Life and Work” – Nikolai Molchanov”

Review: “The Red Feds: Revolutionary Industrial Unionism and the New Zealand Federation of Labour, 1908-1914” – Erik Olssen

“The Red Feds: Revolutionary Industrial Unionism and the New Zealand Federation of Labour, 1908-1914” by Erik Olssen chronicles the momentous changes in the New Zealand working-class in the period prior to WWI. The main focus of this book are the changes and struggles within the working-class as opposed to between workers and employers typical ofContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Red Feds: Revolutionary Industrial Unionism and the New Zealand Federation of Labour, 1908-1914” – Erik Olssen”

Review: “The Lama Question: Violence, Sovereignty, and Exception in Early Socialist Mongolia” – Christopher Kaplonski

Christopher Kaplonski’s “The Lama Question: Violence, Sovereignty, and Exception in Early Socialist Mongolia” is the third book I have read about socialist Mongolia. The book is not a comprehensive historical analysis of the struggle between Mongolian socialists and the feudal Buddhist establishment like its name might suggest. Rather, Kaplonski’s interest is in elaborating on anthropologicalContinueContinue reading “Review: “The Lama Question: Violence, Sovereignty, and Exception in Early Socialist Mongolia” – Christopher Kaplonski”

Review: “The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal” – John Saltford

John Saltford’s “The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal” provides an outstanding analysis of the failure of the United Nations to implement the 1962 New York Agreement. Moreover, although the main interest of the Saltford is not the right of peoples to self-determination under international law, itContinueContinue reading “Review: “The United Nations and the Indonesian Takeover of West Papua, 1962-1969: The Anatomy of Betrayal” – John Saltford”

Review: “Leninism and the National Question” – P. N. Fedosyev, et. al.

“Leninism and the National Question” is undoubtedly the most challenging book I have read in 2021. At 540 pages long, it is also one of the largest Soviet Progress Publisher books I own, and it is definitely not a light, after work read. It took all my mental faculties to finish this book.   TheContinueContinue reading “Review: “Leninism and the National Question” – P. N. Fedosyev, et. al.”

Random Interesting Book from My Library: “The Geography of Hunger” – Josue de Castro

I discovered both “The Geography of Hunger” and its later revised edition “The Geopolitics of Hunger” at my favourite used bookstore in Manitoba, A La Page in Winnipeg’s St. Boniface. At first I was very skeptical about this book; the title of the book and the subject struck me as very bourgeois and neo-Malthusian. True,ContinueContinue reading “Random Interesting Book from My Library: “The Geography of Hunger” – Josue de Castro”

Random Interesting Book from My Library: “The Struggle for Secession, 1966-1970: A Personal Account of the Nigerian Civil War” – Ntieyong U. Akpan

I bought this book from Burton Lyseki Books in Winnipeg more than three years ago. It is one of two books I own (and the better of the two) specifically about the Biafra Conflict (1967-70). The Biafra War (also known as the Nigerian Civil War) was a complex and incredibly bloody conflict between the RepublicContinueContinue reading “Random Interesting Book from My Library: “The Struggle for Secession, 1966-1970: A Personal Account of the Nigerian Civil War” – Ntieyong U. Akpan”

Review: “Winston Churchill” – V. G. Trukhanovsky

V. G. Trukhanovsky’s biographical book “Winston Churchill” is an outstanding scholarly work. Trukhanovsky, a Soviet scholar, provides a Marxist-Leninist analysis of Churchill’s life and the historical context in which he lived. In a way, Trukhanovsky’s book is both a biography, or semi-biography, of Churchill as well as a history of the 19th and 20th centuries.ContinueContinue reading “Review: “Winston Churchill” – V. G. Trukhanovsky”

Review: “Soviet Nationalities Policy and Bourgeois Historians: The Formation of the Soviet Multinational State (1917-1922) in Contemporary American Historiography” – L. Zenushkina

When I first started reading L. Zenushkina’s “Soviet Nationalities Policy and Bourgeois Historians: The Formation of the Soviet Multinational State (1917-1922) in Contemporary American Historiography,” I must admit I didn’t have very high expectations. True, Soviet nationalities policy is an area I specialize in, but since I have already read multiple books published in theContinueContinue reading “Review: “Soviet Nationalities Policy and Bourgeois Historians: The Formation of the Soviet Multinational State (1917-1922) in Contemporary American Historiography” – L. Zenushkina”

The 2021 Taliban “Victory”: A U.S.-backed Coup

A lot is being written about the Taliban’s sudden victory in Afghanistan. Let me be clear: this is not a defeat for U.S. imperialism, it is a thinly veiled coup d’état on behalf of U.S. imperialism. It took the Taliban 2 years (1994-96) to capture Afghanistan’s capital, Kabul, from the ragtag assembly of anti-communist warlordsContinueContinue reading “The 2021 Taliban “Victory”: A U.S.-backed Coup”

Review: “Television in the West and its Doctrines” – N.S. Biryukov

“Television in the West and its Doctrines” by N. S. Biryukov is a Marxist-Leninist analysis of television and other mass media in the U.S. and other capitalist countries. It is a rather peculiar mixture of Marxist-Leninist political economy in true Progress Publisher style as well as a critique of culture in capitalist countries. The basicContinueContinue reading “Review: “Television in the West and its Doctrines” – N.S. Biryukov”

Review: “In The Grip of Terror” – Andrei Grachev

Andrei Grachev’s “In the Grip of Terror” is a brilliant indictment of U.S.-led Western imperialism. It is the best of Michael Parenti’s “The Terrorism Trap: September 11 and Beyond”, “ The Sword & The Dollar: Imperialism, Revolution & the Arms Race”, and “Against Empire”; William Blum’s “Killing Hope: U.S. Military and CIA Interventions Since WorldContinueContinue reading “Review: “In The Grip of Terror” – Andrei Grachev”

Review: “Scandinavian Social Democracy Today” – O. K. Timashkova

“Scandinavian Social Democracy Today” by O. K. Timashkova is one of the many books by Progress Publishers, naturally one of my favourite publishers, that I recently acquired from Gould’s Books in Australia. Obviously a Marxist-Leninist analysis of Scandinavian social democracy and so-called “democratic socialism” by a Soviet scholar intrigued me. Timashkova really dives into theContinueContinue reading “Review: “Scandinavian Social Democracy Today” – O. K. Timashkova”

Review: “Super Profits and Crises! Modern U.S. Capitalism” – Victor Perlo

I still have one more chapter to read (“Socialism vs. Capitalism”) but I couldn’t wait to share this book with everyone because this book is FRIGGIN AWESOME! Victor Perlo was a Marxist-Leninist economist and statistician. In “Super Profits and Crises! Modern U.S. Capitalism,” Perlo combines an immense amount of economic and statistical data with theContinueContinue reading “Review: “Super Profits and Crises! Modern U.S. Capitalism” – Victor Perlo”

Toronto Police Brutally Attack Homeless Encampment

In Toronto this week, Canada once again stretched its “democratic” muscles, in true banana republic fashion. On July 21st, 2021, Toronto police violently attacked an encampment of 14 to 17 homeless individuals, with batons, pepper spray, and other weapons, and destroyed all their meager belongings in a scorched earth campaign. Take a look at theContinueContinue reading “Toronto Police Brutally Attack Homeless Encampment”