Philosopher and frequent MR contributor Helena Sheehan considers the implications of living in a world in which a lack of meaning runs rampant, as well as how it is expressed in the literary world. If we lack coherent analysis, the varied crises of our times can seem disconnected and overpowering. A materially grounded Marxist worldview, she notes, allows us to clear away the fog of meaninglessness engulfing contemporary society and chart a path toward socialism.
June's "Notes from the Editors" revisits the fundamental concept of monopoly capitalism as expounded by Paul A. Baran and Paul M. Sweezy in their pathbreaking Monopoly Capital. The recent resurgence of the debate around Baran and Sweezy's work, the editors write, misses not only the enduring relevance of their analysis in an era of megacorporations and hyperscalers, but the revolutionary understanding of the economic system that arises from such an analysis.
Fred Magdoff presents an incisive, data-driven analysis of the current state of the worker laboring under the domineering system of financialization and, in particular, private equity. In his conclusion, Magdoff asks: "Is there a way out of twenty-first-century 'normal' for labor?" "The key way out," he answers, "is an extraordinary growth of workers' power in order to combat the extraordinary power of capital"—one rooted in fully democratic socialist production and fundamental equality.
MR associate editor Brett Clark and editor John Bellamy Foster explore "the death drive of late imperialism" and its manifestations in an ecological crisis that is not parallel to, but inseparable from, increasingly open ecofascism in the United States. Drawing from Luckács's Destruction of Reason and István Mészáros's work on imperialism, Clark and Foster present a materialist analysis that illuminates the cult of unreason so pervasive under capitalism and imperialism while pointing to a path forward that is grounded in the historical-materialist Marxist tradition.
Te Li unravels the myth of digital dematerialization so heavily promulgated by Silicon Valley and other AI boosters, which presents the technology as a phenomenon that has escaped the material realm and thus, entropy itself. In fact, Li shows that the material and energetic requirements of AI places it squarely in the physical realm, then situates the technology within the context of the metabolic rift under capitalism.
Today, many use the term "circular economy" to describe a shift in the use of industrial waste products in a way that does not challenge the present mode of production. Returning to Marx, Benjamin Selwyn is able to show that this usage of the term is designed to facilitate the acquisitive demands of a capitalist economy, rather than a fundamental shift in resource use.
This month's "Notes from the Editors" dissects recent attacks on historical materialism from so-called social materialism. This way of thinking, the editors write, is profoundly divorced from Marxism, in that it lacks a dialectical foundation and eliminates the ethical domain that is critical to building a revolutionary praxis.
In this review of Ilan Pappé's Israel on the Brink, Tom Mayer considers the famed historian's assessment of the increasingly precarious Zionist state. In the book, Mayer writes, readers will find a thoughtful consideration of the past, present, and potential events that could shape a new vision for Palestine.
While the "world is rapidly approaching tipping points that spell irreversible and catastrophic climate change," write The Editors, "we are not seeing the necessary turn from ecological reform to ecological revolution, but rather the rise of ecological reaction.… An absolute no-quarters war from above is now being waged against all political attempts to address climate change." This attack is epitomized by "the Donald Trump administration's goal of removing the 2009 Endangerment Finding of the Clean Air Act that underlies all national climate legislation in the United States." While this tactic is unlikely to succeed, the proliferation of similar attacks clearly demonstrate that "[m]onopoly-finance capital has now abandoned the energy transition, which was its only answer to climate change."
John Bellamy Foster takes on sweeping questions of artificial intelligence and its role in today's capitalist society. "The Great Houses of AI are divided against themselves and cannot stand," he writes, "If humanity is to flourish, the forces and relations of production must be revolutionized together…creating a world of sustainable human development."
Michael Viola explores the building of the Filipino identity in the context of U.S. imperialism. The broad-reaching effects of this "deadliest phase of imperialism," combined with pervasive anti-Asian racism in the United States, fuels the idea of a collective political project that "comes with the praxis, the power, and the price of a unique lineage" extending across an ocean and intimately connected to the dark history of U.S. militarism abroad.
Andy Merrifield reflects on Nikolai Gogol's short story "The Overcoat," tying it to "a distinctively Marxist problematic." In the protagonist of the tale, a Russian counsellor whose life is forever changed by the acquisition of a new overcoat, Merrifield finds a character who, like Marx, knows firsthand what a single coat can tell us about the structures of society.
Applying Marxist labor theory to the rise of artificial intelligence and its effects on workers, Te Li presents an understanding of labor in the age of increasing reliance on algorithms and digital technologies. As Li argues: "In the civilization of general intellect labor, where the knowledge economy dominates, knowledge-intensive labor such as scientific research, technological innovation, artistic creation, and education and training will become primary forms of labor."
In this Introduction to the updated edition of Unequal Exchange by Arghiri Emmanuel, published by Monthly Review Press, John Bellamy Foster and Brett Clark offer readers insight into the continuing influence of Emmanuel's seminal work. Through both deep understanding thoughtful critique, the authors deftly situate Emmanuel's text as an indispensable part of an enduring tradition of Marxist analysis of the global dynamics of labor.
Using historical databases and quantitative analysis, Thomas E. Lambert calls into question the assertion that the trans-Atlantic slave trade can be considered a separate phenomenon, rather than a major supporting factor in, the Industrial Revolution in England. Asserting otherwise, he writes, is a to deny "a horrifying and inhuman part of the global history of capitalism."
David E. Perlman and Ashly Vigneault explore the linkages between humanity's metabolic rift with nature and the accelerating emergence of epidemics, which are fundamentally related to the capitalist mode of production and concomitant alienated social metabolism. Using historical and epidemiological research that extends from the rise of the bubonic plague to the emergence of COVID-19, Perlman and Vigneault are able to deftly tie these concepts to the breach of planetary boundaries that threatens all of humanity.
This month's Notes from the Editors celebrates the accomplishments of Michael Yates, who is retiring as editorial director of Monthly Review Press. Michael's books and articles have had a tremendous impact on the work of Monthly Review as a whole, and will be sorely missed. The editors also welcome the new editorial director of the Press, Arun Kundnani, an accomplished scholar who promises to carry on the MR tradition while bringing a fresh perspective to our collective efforts.
In this talk from the inaugural conference of the Society for Peace, Internationalism, and Ecology, John Bellamy Foster relates the story of Prometheus, as presented in the plays of Aeschylus, to Western Marxism's "dialectic of defeat," in which capitalism is portrayed as an unbreakable bond the working class. Instead, Foster says, we must recognize Prometheus as a subject who is freed from the seemingly inescapable fetters imposed upon him.
