Monthly Review

The Long Road of Tariq Ali

Paul Buhle — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Paul Buhle reviews two books by renowned leftist Tariq Ali. In these two texts, Buhle writes, one can read and discern a history of the UK left. Through Ali's autobiography, Buhle writes, readers can experience the ups and downs of various factions, from the Labour Party to Trotskyist journals; through his memoirs, we get a sense of Ali's deep insights, drawn from his extensive travels and a life deeply embedded in history.

The Ethics and Dialectics of Freedom and Universality

Oscar A Ralda — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Oscar R. Ralda reviews Vanessa Christian Wills's Marx's Ethical Vision (2024). Wills's text, Ralda notes, demonstrates a "facility with which [she] deals with Marx's works, as well as a "strong philosophical case…for the ongoing relevance of a coherent Marxian moral theory." The latter, Rada notes, sheds light on the moral imperative to work toward socialist liberation from a foundation of resolute Marxian values.

October 2025 (Volume 77, Number 4)

- The Editors — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this month's "Note from the Editors," MR editors detail importance of understanding the world's grossly unequal carbon emissions output in terms of class while also recognizing the role of imperialism at the center of the crisis. "The rapidly worsening climate conditions threatening the world population," they write, "can thus be seen as a product of the ongoing class war perpetuated by the 'billionaire class' against working people everywhere."

Ecological Marxism in the Anthropocene

John Bellamy Foster, Xu Tao, Lv Jiayi — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

In this interview with Xu Tao and Lv Jiayi, John Bellamy Foster discuss the history and present of ecological Marxism. Foster explores origins of the term Anthropocene and its predecessors, the concept of degrowth, the continuing influence of metabolic rift theory, and the cutting-edge issues facing young scholars of degrowth today.

The great insomnia

Marge Piercy — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

A new poem by Marge Piercy.

The Economics Profession "Discovers" Secular Stagnation

Michael Meeropol, Howard J. Sherman, Paul D. Sherman — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Michael Meeropol, Howard J. Sherman, and Paul D. Sherman give an account of how mainstream economists came to adopt the idea of secular stagnation, even without recognizing its origins in the work of Marxist economist and MR founder Paul M. Sweezy. The turn, they write, came in the wake of the Great Recession, when the tendency toward stagnation in the U.S. economy became undeniable.

Has the Anthropocene Been Canceled?

Ian Angus — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Ian Angus illuminates the politics behind the decision by the International Union of Geological Sciences not to recognize the Anthropocene as a formal geological epoch. In recounting the debate, Angus explores how the organization undermined the conclusions of top scientists to oppose the establishment of the Anthropocene, and its implications for the public debate about the planetary crisis.

Marxism and the History of Philosophy

Helena Sheehan — Wed, 01 Oct 2025 00:00:00 +0000

"Why," Helena Sheehan asks, "have Marxists…put so much emphasis on the history of philosophy?" She adds: "Is the current G. W. F. Hegel revival conductive to coming to terms with the current conjuncture?" In answering these questions, Sheehan elucidates deep truths about the core of Marxist philosophy and practice, and the importance of remaining deeply rooted in the real world.

Black Scare in California

Joel Wendland-Liu — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

Joel Wendland-Liu reviews Armed Struggle?, Gerald Horne's exploration of the state violence and repression that were successfully employed to demolish the Black Panther Party and its influence throughout the 1960s and '70s. Though Horne's recounting, Wendland-Liu writes, we can take powerful lessons about the roles of race and class in the militant drive toward liberation.

Freedom and Economics

Paul M. Sweezy — Mon, 01 Sep 2025 00:00:00 +0000

"Assume a ship under the command of a mad captain headed for certain shipwreck. What would freedom mean to the people on board?" asked MR cofounder Paul M. Sweezy in this previously unpublished discussion piece. "There can hardly be any doubt about the answer…the essence of freedom for the people on the ship is the ability to control their collective fate."