Understanding socialism

Submitted by adri on November 1, 2019

Seems Wolff of D@W is doing a sequel to his Understanding Marxism pamphlet ($25 for less than 100 pages of content misinterpreting Marx which you can read here) entitled Understanding Socialism:

A blend of history, analysis and theory, Understanding Socialism is an honest and approachable text that knocks down false narratives, confronts failures and challenges of various socialist experiments throughout history, and offers a path to a new socialism based on workplace democracy.

This book is over four times the length of its predecessor, Understanding Marxism, and not only explains what socialism is and has meant to various proponents, it also looks at the past transition from feudalism to capitalism as a model to help us visualize the next transition out of capitalism. Understanding Socialism explores how Marxist theory was used and applied to shape the histories of countries like Russia and China principally, and many other countries in smaller but important ways. It analyzes the successes and defeats of those countries, the world's reactions to them (anti-socialism and fascism), and how all of those factors offer important lessons for the building of a 21st century socialism.