Toward a New Socialism

While the end of the Cold War stirred many to proclaim the final triumph of capitalism, Anton (philosophy, San Francisco State U.) and Schmitt (emeritus, philosophy, Brown U.) maintain that "we have no choice but to resist capitalism." However, they caution, the failures of the Soviet Union and other socialist experiments do point to the need to rethink socialist ideals and concepts, taking care to reject such mistaken assumptions as the inevitability of socialism or the abolition of private property as the sole necessity of the socialist project. They present these 35 essays as part of this project of rethinking socialism. The first set of chapters focus on socialist principles, offering perspectives on such concepts as socialist freedom, socialist equality, feminist socialism, the morality of socialism, and rationality. The next group of papers explore institutions and touch on family life, education, religion, democracy, prisons, technology, the environment, and war. Finally, present-day "promising" movements and the lessons they have to impart are explored, including the Zapatistas of Mexico, US anarchists, living wage campaigns, and cross-border labor networks. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Anatole Anton is professor of philosophy at San Francisco State University and former chair of the department. Richard Schmitt is professor emeritus of philosophy at Brown University and is currently teaching at Worcester State College.