The ABCs of Socialism

148 Pages·2016·10.73 MB·English

The ABCs of Socialism
The ABCs of Socialism was produced as a
collaboration between Verso Books and Jacobin
magazine, which is released online and
quarterly in print to over 15,000 subscribers.
If you’re interested in the ideas in this book, join
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The ABCs
of Socialism
EDITED BY
Bhaskar Sunkara
ILLUSTRATED BY
Phil Wrigglesworth
First published by Verso 2016
© Jacobin Foundation Ltd.
All rights reserved
The moral rights of the authors have been asserted
Verso
UK: 6 Meard Street, London W1F 0EG
US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201
Verso is the imprint of New Left Books
ISBN-13: 978-1-78478-726-4
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the British
Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library
of Congress
Typeset in Antwerp by A2-Type
Printed in the US by Sheridan Press
Among hundreds of others, this book was
made possible by the generosity of:
Saki Bailey
Danny Bates
John Erganian
Marshall Mayer
David Mehan
Mark Ó Dochartaigh
Brian Skiffington
Frederick Sperounis
Francis Tseng
Nathan Zimmerman
Special thanks to the Anita L. Mishler
Education Fund ([email protected])
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This book contains in-text annotations cle Titlehor J•
for further reading. Some annotations ArtiAut
contain hyperlink information for direct 12345
reference to articles in Jacobin’s online
archive. Simply copy the digits included
in the annotation to the end of the following
URL for related articles:
www.jacobinmag.com/?p=12345
About the Authors
Nicole Aschoff is the managing editor at Jacobin
and the author of The New Prophets of Capital.
Alyssa Battistoni is an editor at Jacobin and a PhD
student in political science at Yale University.
Jonah Birch is a graduate student in sociology
at New York University and a contributing editor
e
at at Jacobin.
D
•
n Vivek Chibber is a professor of sociology at New
bi York University. His latest book is Postcolonial
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ac Theory and the Specter of Capital.
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Chris Maisano is a contributing editor at Jacobin
and a union staffer in New York.
Nivedita Majumdar is an associate professor
of English at John Jay College. She is the secretary
of the Professional Staff Congress, the CUNY
faculty and staff union.
Michael A. McCarthy is an assistant professor of
sociology at Marquette University.
Joseph M. Schwartz is the national vice-chair
of the Democratic Socialists of America and
professor of political science at Temple University.
Bhaskar Sunkara is the founding editor and
publisher of Jacobin.
Keeanga-Yamahtta Taylor is an assistant
professor in Princeton University’s Center for
African American Studies and the author
of From #BlackLivesMatter to Black Liberation.
Adaner Usmani is a graduate student at New
York University and on the board of New Politics.
Erik Olin Wright is a professor of sociology at the
University of Wisconsin–Madison. His latest
book is Alternatives to Capitalism: Proposals for
a Democratic Economy.
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Isn’t America already kind
of socialist?
12
22
But at least
capitalism is free
and democratic,
right?
Socialism sounds good
in theory, but doesn’t human
nature make it impossible
to realize?
30
70
What about racism? Don’t
socialists only care about class?
Aren’t socialism
and feminism
sometimes
in conflict?
82
104
Are socialists pacifists?
Aren’t some wars justified?
Wouldn’t a more democratic
world just mean a bigger
environmental crisis?
94