The science and passion of communism : : selected writings of Amadeo Bordiga (1912-1965) / / Amadeo Bordiga ; edited by Pietro Basso ; translated by Giacomo Donis, Patrick Camiller.

• Superior document: Historical Materialism Book Series ; Volume 209
• VerfasserIn: Bordiga, Amadeo,
• TeilnehmendeR: Basso, Pietro, 1945-; Donis, Giacomo,; Camiller, Patrick,
• Place / Publishing House: Leiden ;, Boston : : Brill,, [2020]; ©2020
• Year of Publication: 2020
• Language: English
• Series: Historical materialism book series ; Volume 209.
• Physical Description: 1 online resource.

The Science and Passion of Communism presents the battles of the brilliant Italian communist Amadeo Bordiga in the revolutionary cycle of the post-WWI period, through his writings against reformism and war, for Soviet power and internationalism, and then against fascism, on one side, Stalinism and the degeneration of the International, on the other. Equally important was his sharp critique of triumphant U.S. capitalism in the post-WWII period, and his original re-presentation of Marxist critique of political economy, which includes the capital-nature and capital-species relationships, and the programme of social transformations for the revolution to come. Without any form of canonization, we can say that Bordiga’s huge workshop is a veritable goldmine, and anyone who decides to enter it will not be disappointed. He will guide you through a series of instructive, energizing and often highly topical excursions into the near and distant past, into the present that he largely foresaw, and into the future that he sketched with devouring passion.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements -- Introduction: Yesterday’s Battles and Today’s World -- Pietro Basso -- PART I: THE ITALIAN LEFT IN THE GREAT REVOLUTIONARY STRUGGLE (1912–26) -- 1 Against the War -- Against the War as Long as It Lasts -- From the Old to the New Anti-militarism -- We Take Our Stand -- The ‘Fait Accompli’ -- Nothing to Correct -- 2 On Elections -- Against Abstentionism -- The Electionist Illusion -- The Electoral Trap -- Revolutionary Preparation or Electoral Preparation -- 3 On Soviets -- The System of Communist Representation -- Is This the Time to Form ‘Soviets’? -- Take the Factories or Take Power? -- 4 On Strategy and Tactics -- The May 1920 Theses – Abstentionist Communist Fraction of the Italian Socialist Party -- The Tactics of the Communist International – Fourth Congress (1922) -- Theses on the Tactics of the Communist Party of Italy (Rome Theses – 1922) -- 5 On Fascism, Against Fascism -- Report to the Fourth Congress of the C.I. (1922) -- Report to the Fifth Congress of the C.I. (1924) -- 6 The Lyons Theses -- Draft Theses for the Third Congress of the Communist Party of Italy (Lyons, 1926) -- 7 Against Stalin and ‘Socialism in One Country’ -- The Trotsky Question -- Bordiga at the Sixth Enlarged ECCI (February 1926) -- Letter to Karl Korsch -- PART II: THE STRUGGLE FOR THE REBIRTH OF REVOLUTIONARY COMMUNISM (1945–65) -- Section I: Russia and Revolution in Marxist Theory -- 1 Lessons of Counter-revolutions -- 2 Forty Years of Organically Analysing Russian Events within the Dramatic Context of the Social and Historical Course of the World -- Section II: The Critique of Triumphant Capitalism -- 1 Property and Financial Capital -- 2 Welfare Economics -- 3 The Law of Hunger -- 4 Murder of the Dead -- 5 Inflation of the State -- 6 The United States of America (1947–57) -- America -- America Again! -- Attack on Europe -- The USA’s European Policy -- Korea and the World -- Democratic ‘Points’ and Imperial Programmes -- ‘Old’ and ‘New’ Imperialism -- You cannot stop, only the proletarian revolution can stop you, destroying your power -- Appendix: With the Academic Seal of Approval the American Economy becomes ‘People’s Capitalism’ -- Section III: On the ‘Gigantic Movement of Emancipation’ of the Coloured Peoples -- 1 The Factors of Race and Nation in Marxist Theory (1953) -- 2 East -- 3 The Multiple Revolutions -- 4 ‘Racial’ Pressure of the Peasantry, Class Pressure of the Coloured Peoples -- Appendix: ‘Negro’ Rage Shook the Rotten Pillars of Bourgeois and Democratic ‘Civilisation’ (1965) -- Section IV: On the Revolutionary Prospects of Communism -- 1 The Revolutionary Programme of Communist Society -- 2 Who’s Afraid of Automation? -- 3 The Immediate Revolutionary Programme in the Capitalist West -- Section V: On the Party -- 1 Considerations on the Party’s Organic Activity When the General Situation is Historically Unfavourable (1965) -- Annotated Bibliography of Bordiga’s Writings -- Annotated Bibliography on Bordiga in Italian -- References --.