Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium [Paperback]

Jack Barnes (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 1, 1999

"Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium may be the only millennium title on bookstore shelves today whose purpose is not to mystify and obscure but to reveal and clarify. The social devastation, financial panics, political turmoil, police brutality, and military assaults accelerating all around us are not chaos. They are the inevitable product of lawful and understandable forces unleashed by capitalism."--BOOK JACKET. "But the future capitalism has in store for us is not inevitable. It can be changed by the timely solidarity, courageous action, and united struggle of workers and farmers conscious of their power to transform the world. This book has been written to bring closer that future."--BOOK JACKET.

Editorial Reviews

Review

Challenging, controversial, articulate, Capitalism s World Disorder is recommended reading of students of economics, international studies, and political science. --Midwest Book Review

Product Details

• Paperback: 552 pages
• Publisher: Pathfinder Press (NY); 1st edition (June 1, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0873488180
• ISBN-13: 978-0873488181
• Product Dimensions: 8.2 x 5.3 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,392,154 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

18 of 20 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The most important book on current events today, October 28, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium (Paperback)

Have you ever questioned why millionaire journalists announce that we are living in the best of times, while you are working long hours just to stay out of debt? Have you ever wondered why politicians argue that in order to combat repressive governments in the world, the air force needs to go on bombing raids, which kill thousands of people, and destroy entire cities? If all this doesn't make much sense, I believe that Capitalism's World Disorder by Jack Barnes is the book for you.

Barnes points out that the cause of the problems we face is not that politicians and journalists are ill informed, or that they lack sensitivity. The cause of our problems is that we live in a capitalist system, which will always promote war, poverty, illiteracy, discrimination, and alienation. The efforts of the media and the government to rationalize this system, merely allow these problems to continue. If this were not bad enough, a complete economic breakdown is likely in our lifetimes, due to the fact that stock prices are grossly over-valued.

Barnes is no arm-chair pundit. He is a leader of the Socialist Workers Party, who's members work to bring about a government where human needs are more important than profits. Capitalism's World Disorder demonstrates that this kind of government is not just a dream, but a realistic alternative for the future, which is clearly more plausible than the absurd and nonsensical arguments we read in the press every day.

7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Must reading for fighters, February 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium (Hardcover)

For those people who are involved in the struggle for affirmative action, workers on strike to defend their standard of living, marchers against the Confedeate battle flag, or against police brutality, this book will help explain why the bosses are compelled to attack our rights. This book is a Marxist appreciation of the crisis of capitalismm, why the bosses are forced to solve their problems on the back of the working class, and why socialist revolution is the only realistic answer to the problems of today. For this, Barnes explains a revolutionary working class party is necessary and can be built today out of the struggles taking place around the world.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A reply to "save your money, don't give it to this clown", February 5, 2005

By 

Marc Lichtman - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Capitalism's World Disorder: Working-Class Politics at the Millennium (Paperback)

The reviewer who calls himself "Jim Cannon's Ghost" says that "there are many outstanding and intelligent Marxist writers out there, but Barnes is not one of them." Interestingly he doesn't manage to name even one of these. And while calling it "the worst sort of pseudo-Marxist nonsense." he offers no specific criticisms. One has to wonder if he has even read the book.

This is essential reading for anyone trying to understand the world today; the trade wars, shooting wars, the ongoing economic crisis, and the continuing shift to the right of bourgeois politics.

Is "globalization" really the problem, or are we still in the same era described by Lenin in Imperialism: The Highest Stage of Capitalism? Can you fight against U.S. wars by claiming that "peace is patriotic"? Are the unions dead, or is there ongoing resistance?