Parties Books

I think I went almost nuts when I couldn't find my childhood copy of this book! It was by far my favorite children's book and remains one of my favorite books now, some thirty years later. The story is charming and teaches children the value of true friends. The illustrations are delightful. I can't recommend this book highly enough--I wish I could give it 10 stars!

Amber T Kingston
Author and Illustrator of Laura and the Leprechauns

I loved this book when I was a kid and was so happy to recently track down a copy. It's about Sloth, who is a horrible housekeeper but is blessed with truly good friends who pull together and help him out at the end of the story. Almost thirty years later, it's still a story I would highly recommend to today's kids.

I'm just crazy about this book. A wonderful story with a great message to children about looking beyond material possessions and what it means to be a true friend.

This is a really sweet book about a messy sloth and his friends. The pictures are darling and really cute. This book has a lot of personality and charm.

We are commonly told that World War II was the ýgood war.ý That maybe Vietnam was ýbad,ý but in World War II, the US was fighting against fascism and for freedom. This book will force anyone to reexamine that view and come to a more realistic idea of what the second World War was all about--groups of imperialist countries fighting to redivide the markets, raw materials and territory of the world. The record of the SWP in that war shows just how far the US government was willing to go to silence dissent--leaders of the party who were influential in building up the Teamsters union in Minnesota were imprisoned; and the partyýs newspaper was banned from the mails. Despite this, as James Cannon shows, the party never abandoned its principles and actually succeeded in gaining members as the war dragged on. This is a fine example to all people today as the US drags us to war in Iraq in the name of freedom and fighting ýterrorism.ý

For those who reject U.S. President George W. Bush and U.K President Anthony Blair-led imperialist flag waving and the current war drive, this book is must reading.

"As weeks and weeks went by, I didn't hear a single one of the defendants say a single word of loyalty to this government and this flag...." So declared the federal judge as he sentenced 18 leaders of the Socialist Workers Party and labor movement to prison for opposing WWII on the day the U.S. entered it.

The loyalty of these leaders was to the working class of the world. This meant opposing their own ruling class and its government, and leading a movement to replace it with a workers and farmers government.

If you are interested in the history of the American Left or are a militant trying to understand some of the past lessons of our history concerning the socialist response to imperialist war this book is for you. This book is part of a continuing series of the writings of James P. Cannon that was published by the organization he founded, the Socialist Workers Party, in the late 1970's shortly after his death in 1974. Look in this space for other related reviews of this series on this important American Communist.

In the introduction the editors motivate the purpose for the publication of the book by stating the Cannon was the finest Communist leader that America had ever produced. This an intriguing question. The editors trace their political lineage back to Cannon's leadership of the early Communist Party and later after his expulsion to the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party so their perspective is obvious. What does the documentation provided here show? This certainly is the period of Cannon's political maturation after a long journeymanship working with Trotsky. The period under discussion started with his leadership of the fight against those who no longer wanted to defend the gains of the Russian Revolution despite the Stalinist degeneration of that revolution. He won his spurs in that fight and in his struggle to orient the party toward World War II. One thing is sure- in his prime which includes this period Cannon had the instincts to want to lead a revolution and had the evident capacity to do so.

As I write this review we are in the midst of commemerrating the 3rd Anniversary of the start of the American invasion of Iraq. As I have argued elsewhere in this space militants must support the call for immediate, unconditional United States and Allied forces withdrawal from that war-torn country. More drastic action is needed, much more, over the long haul including a fundamental change in government but that demand is the minimum basis for action today. If you want to find a more profound response initiated by revolutionary socialists to World War II the Cannon's writing here will assist you. I draw your attention to three aspects of policy which highlight this book; the historic socialist anti-war policy; the ambiguous Proletarian Military Policy of the Socialist Workers Party; and, revolutionary socialist defense policy against governmental persecution and suppression.

Historically, at least in peace time, most socialist tendencies before World War I had a formal policy against the war policies and military buildup of their respective goverments. At the start of World War I most European socialist parties' capitulation to their respective imperialist states's war aims are rightly understood as a betrayal of that policy. The Russian Bolshevik Party led by Lenin and preciously few other European parties and individuals upheld the Marxist policy against war and militarism. Moreover, one of the most enduring lessons of the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia in 1917 was that the only way to successfully fight against imperialist war aims and stop war is to overthrow the capitalist system of your own country. As developed during World War I that understanding of socialist policy had two prongs. First, socialists must not vote for or otherwise support the war aims of their own imperialist state. Second, in order to end war and bring in the prospect of a socialist organization of society dedicated to ending war one must actively seek to turn the imperialist war into a civil war. This is the perspective the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party, led by James P. Cannon, operated from prior to and during World War II. Thus, they operated within an orthodox Leninist revolutionary perspective. They did this forthrightly and paid the price for it with the imprisonment of its leaders, including Cannon, and virtual suppression of its newspaper. These were severe blows to that small party.

Although the Socialist Workers Party honorably upheld the revolutionary socialist position on imperialist war during this period that party pursued what can only be considered an ambiguous policy that has come down in history as the 'Proletarian Military Policy'. In this perspective the organization was influenced by Trotsky's theses on permanent war and total militarism. That policy had two parts when it was elaborated just prior to American participation in World War II. One was trade union control of worker military training in case of conscription and the other was control of worker-officer training. The fundamental flaw in this policy is that it contradicts the Marxist understanding of the state which is that in the final analysis the state is an armed body of men (women) in the service of the ruling class. To call for such controls is either utopian or opportunism and blunted the other orthodox actions that proved the worth of the party. Yes, oppose conscription. Yes, oppose the war budget. Yes, sent your youthful cadre into the army when drafted to influence working class and minority youth. No, to this scheme.

As a result of their open and defiant opposition to Roosevelt's war aims the leadership of the Socialist Workers Party was indicted before the opening of United States involvement in World War II. Ultimately most of those indicted were convicted and sentenced to various terms of imprisonment. This is the price revolutionaries know in their bones they will have to pay for such fundamental opposition. All honor to those courageous individuals. The Socialist Workers Party in response to this governmental persecution created a broad based defense organization to both raise funds and call attention to the plight of their comrades. This was both appropriate and useful. Moreover, the organization properly used the trial as a forum on socialism. This is also a proper response to such persecutions by the government. Cannon has some interesting things to say about his experiences in the legal vs. illegal party debate and the proper tone to take during wartime to protect your legal status when you oppose the government. If you oppose the United States occupation in Iraq read this book. Before we are done you and I may need to use some of the lessons drawn from this source.

Jim Cannon's books are filled with wit, wisdom. As the book opens in the summer of 1940, the party hadsuffered its biggest split, as middle class elements left to get out of the way of fighting Roosevelt. Shortly afterward, Trotsky was assassinated, and Cannon, who had become Trotsky's closest collaborator in the world revolutionary movement gives his assessment of the murder, and of Trotsky's place in history. Then, the SWP faced persecution from the FBI, from the Roosevelt Administration, and from the bureaucracy of the Teamsters Union. The SWP chose to stand and fight for revolutionary internationalist principles. Cannon's also to bring younger working class members of the party into the leadership as he and other leaders were threatened with prison Cannon's struggle led to the biggest expansion of the party in the working class, in the black, and in the immigrant community in the party's history. When you fight you win. To read what happened next, read his books Letters from Prison and then The Socialist Workers Party in the American Century also from Pathfinder.

If you are interested in the history of the American Left or are a militant trying to understand some of the past lessons of our history concerning the socialist response to various social and labor questions this book is for you. This book is part of a continuing series of volumes of the writings of James P. Cannon that were published by the organization he founded, the Socialist Workers Party, in the 1970's and 1980's. Cannon died in 1974. Look in this space for other related reviews of this series of documents on and by an important American Communist.

In their introduction the editors motivate the purpose for the publication of the book by stating the Cannon was the finest Communist leader that America had ever produced. This an intriguing question that has underscored my previous reviews which detail earlier periods in Cannon's political career and does so here as well. The editors trace their political lineage back to Cannon's leadership of the early Communist Party and later after his expulsion to the Trotskyist Socialist Workers Party so their perspective is obvious. What does the documentation provided here show? The period under discussion-the early 1950's-is essentially the swan song of his role as the central leader of the organization. Fortunately, Cannon had one last fight in him and went out swinging. However, unlike previous fights in the party he was slow to pick up the gravity of the implications of the opposition's positions, in the party and internationally in the Fourth International, for the future revolutionary perspective. That said, Cannon did fight, if partially and belatedly, and that accrues to his merit as a revolutionary. Revolutionaries too get old and tired and do not always live in revolutionary times so they can show what they are made of. I will repeat here what I have mentioned in earlier reviews. One thing is sure- in his prime- Cannon had the instincts to want to lead a revolution and had the evident capacity to do so. That he never had an opportunity to lead a revolution is his personal tragedy and ours as well.

Let's face it, the post-World War II period, after an initial outburst of class struggle, was not a good time for revolutionaries in America. As a victor America became the dominate economic and military power in the world. That coupled with an out and out `red scare' witch hunt backed by most elements of the ruling class forced revolutionaries to duck their heads and hope for better days. This is the background to the fight which Cannon led against those who wanted to negate the role of the revolutionary party or to liquidate its public tasks.

No political person wants to be isolated from the arena of their work and that applies to revolutionaries as well. Feeling irrelevant has the same effect. Those conditions inevitably lead a revolutionary party inward. Cannon, having experienced about every trial and tribulation a revolutionary could face in a bourgeois democracy, actually felt the fight coming. Cannon stated he had put a question mark over the party's existence as a revolutionary organization in 1952. He believed him might have to start over with the youth out in Los Angeles (where he was living at the time). Given that prospect, Cannon, as they say, got his Irish up.

As to the particulars of the fight, known in radical history as the Cochran-Clark fight, there were two trends. The main one represented by Cochran, a leading party trade unionist in the automobile industry, under the pressure of the witch hunt essentially wanted to reduce the organization to a propaganda circle and liquidate any revolutionary perspective. The other represented by Clark ,which also was reflected internationally in the Fourth International, was to orient to the Stalinist milieu essentially refurbishing the credentials of the American Communist Party in light of Stalin's death and developments in Eastern Europe. This was a different form of liquidation of the revolutionary perspective which the Socialist Workers Party had developed over the, at that time, 25 year history of its fight against Stalinism.

An interesting note about this faction fight is that unlike most such fights in leftist organizations the key elements of the opposition here are the party trade unionists. Usually it is the volatile petty bourgeois elements that develop political differences when times get tough or when the petty bourgeois milieu turns hostile, for example, in 1939 with the Hitler-Stalin Pact which was the immediate prelude to World War II.

Party trade unionists, reflecting immediate practical pressures historically tend to be the right wing of revolutionary parties-but they stay in the party. For revolutionaries, this trend is sometimes frustratingly so, as occurred in the American Communist Party in the wake of the Hitler-Stalin Pact mentioned above. Thus, mark it down that a revolutionary party is in serious trouble when the trade unionists begin to balk. In any case, Cannon was able to pull the majority of the trade unionists back. While the future developments of the party in the 1960's and 1970's, after Cannon left the day to day operations, might make one wish that he did take those youth out in California and start over this writer is glad that he fought this fight. Thanks-James P. Cannon.

James P. Cannon was a longtime socialist who became a central leader of the early U.S. Communist Party inspired by the Russian Revolution. He was ultimately expelled for his leading role in the fight inside the CP to maintain its revolutionary continuity with Marx, Engels, Lenin, and Trotsky against the rising Stalinist bureaucracy.

Cannon went on to become one of the main collaborators with Trotsky in the fight to rebuild a revolutionary international and a revolutionary party in the U.S.-a party that came to be the Socialist Workers Party.

Cannon's work (Some 22 books and pamphlets kept in print by Pathfinder) are goldmines for awakening workers, farmers, and youth prospecting for the hard-won lessons of building a revolutionary party in the U.S., on whose territory (as the major world capitalist power) the victory of the world-wide struggle for socialism will ultimately be decided.

Cannon's Speeches to the Party documents an important fight that broke out in the SWP under the pressure of the post WWII economic boom along with the McCarthyite witch-hunt during 1952-53. The book's recounting of what this reactionary turn of events looked and felt like to revolutionary workers-as well as what could still be accomplished by resolute fighters who kept their heads-is worth the cover price alone. Of particular note in this regard is the discussion on the party's record in opposing the brutal U.S. war against the people of Korea.

But Speeches to the Party offers much more. It is a record, through Cannon's speeches, reports, and correspondence, of a major faction fight that developed inside the SWP as a result of these pressures. Quoting Trotsky, Cannon reminds a party activist frustrated by the "poisonous atmosphere" of the faction fight, that "the most important test of all" for a revolutionist, "is his attitude towards the disputes within his own party."

In this book, Cannon sets an example of how to lead in drawing out all the lessons of what came to be known in the history of the SWP as the "Cochran fight."

His speech "Trade Unionists and Revolutionists," for example, explains the social pressures that motivated the retreat from revolutionary politics by a section of the party's trade union membership.

In another 1953 speech, "Internationalism and the SWP," Cannot argues that international collaboration and respect aimed at building up strong and self-confident revolutionary parties capable of competently facing their own ruling class is at the heart of the SWP's conception of how to build a new revolutionary international.

Cannon recounts that he was not 100 percent certain at the start of this fight that the SWP would survive it. Largely as a result of his efforts, a resolute majority formed in the leadership of the party to defeat the Cochran faction's challenge. Pathfinder's confidence that the lessons of this fight will continue to be important for class-conscious workers underlies the careful editorial attention to presenting this material that is a hallmark of their respect for new generations of fighters emerging from union battles and other struggles today.

This book contains the speeches and letters of James P Cannon - at the time he was the central leader of the SWP - covering the years 1952-53. It documents and explains the roots of an important internal struggle that developed within the leadership of the SWP.

After World War II the SWP had gone through unprecedented growth and influence based on the biggest strike wave in US history. However, the US and British rulers began to take the lead in making preparations for a showdown with the Soviet Union and the young Chinese workers state. At the same time launching a political offensive against the vanguard institutions of the working class in their own countries - the unions.

In the US this took the form of a witch hunt centred on driving thousands of radicals and militants out of the trade unions. Under these pressures a minority of the leadership of the SWP, a number of them mass leaders in their own right, lost confidence in the revolutionary capacities of the working class and began to move towards Stalinism.

Cannon patiently and tirelessly explains the importance of continuing to build a revolutionary party even in times of prosperity and under the harshest conditions.

At the height of the 1950s witch hunt a group of leaders of the Socialist Workers Party wanted to give up the fight for socialism, find cushy positions in the union bureaucracy, or put their faith in the bureaucrats in Moscow and Peking. Cannon's Speeches in this book led the answer to that, faith in a future when working people will fight to change the world. Very much here about real internationalism, about how to fight for your ideas, about fighting for a future.

This book is fantastic. I have been reading it to my daughter for a couple of years now. We have read it so many times that I have half the book memorized. Definatley a must have!!

I have 2 sons, now ages 6 & 4, we've had this book for 4 years and for all four years we have read this book at least once EVERY SINGLE DAY! My 4 year old can even recite the book himself without even looking at the pictures. I hate to even admit this, but sometimes we are still reading this close to Thanksgiving (ssshhh please don't tell everyone, but we are all nuts for this book). I Love it, my sons love it, and we are all ecstatic to have tried this one out. I just hope we can find more of these for other holidays or this one might make it to Christmas this year :)

My 2 year old daughter absolutely loves this book. She has been reading it many times a day for over a month! It's a counting book too, and this one gets her counting better than her other books. I first got it from the library to familiarize her with the spooky stuff she'd start to see at Halloween time, and I didn't want her to be scared. It's an upbeat, friendly book, and now she likes ghosts, witches, and skeletons. I had to buy it because I couldn't renew it anymore!!

Witches, ghosts, wizards, and spiders are what make this book come alive. Counting down from twelve ringing bells to one big pumpkin pie, this book will keep the reader entertained through the whole story. In this book, the major characters are a dog and a cat that travel to a castle and meet many spooky creatures on their way. The dog and cat begin on their journey when they see twelve ringing bells that set the spooky, fun, and suspenseful mood of the story. Next, they meet eleven witches, ten friendly ghosts, nine skeletons, and eight spooky owls. The journey continues when the dog and cat see seven spooky-eyed cats, six trolls, five fat spiders, and four wizards. When the dog and cat arrive at the castle, three men in armor meet them at the front gate. Mitch and Titch, the witchy twins, meet them at the front door with one big pumpkin pie. The Halloween party begins, food is served, and games are played. After everyone is partied out, they all go home and go to sleep. This book is very fun and energetic. Any child would love this Halloween adventure.

As always, Eleanor Burns writes a good quilting book. I absolutely love stars in a quilt, so this satisfied me.

Excellent book for quilters who need specific guidelines . I needed this for a class I was taking , could not find it locally , and Amazon came through for me. The detailing and pictures take you step by step.

Eleanor Burns has been around a long time and knows her way around a quilt pattern. Her instructions are suitable for beginners and the designs are beautiful enough to interest even the most experienced quilter. She continues with her traditional approach and classic patterns, but with some design twists.

Stars Across America has beautiful quilt patterns with a star representing famous women in our American history. Along with the easy to follow directions for the quilt is a written history of the woman highlighted with their own star design. Each quilt has it's own unique border also. I made the Eleanor Roosevelt Star quilt and enjoyed the straight forward directions that even a beginning quilter such as myself could make with few mistakes. If you like stars, quilting, and some interesting historical information this is a good book

A really interesting account of women's (slow) progress into politics from someone who lived it. Harriet endured a lot of bias and discrimination as she ran for public office (won some and lost some) and found that running was the easy part! She headed up the Women's Poltical Caucus and made it a credible force for women in politics, she opened many doors for women who came later. For me, with a new interest in politics and a desire to see women play a greater role in our democracy - Harriet's story is important and necessary background.

This book fills a gap in political literature and should be required reading for all those involved in politics at the grassroots level as well as numerous political science classes. The emergence of women into the political mainstream was probably the most important political trend in the United States in the last half of the 20th century and is one sure to continue into the 21st century. It is important not only because when we have men and women serving together in government, we have better government; but it is incredibly important to the status of women throughout the world. This book is essential because of the importance of its subject. In detailing her struggles in politics, Woods gives excellent practical advice and perspective to women politicians trying to get elected, women office holders trying to impact the political process of city, county, state and federal governments, and also to men to better understand the particular differences and benefits to working together. Whether she is talking about her early struggles in the Missouri legislature or the impact of the Anita Hill hearings during Clarence Thomas' Supreme Court confirmation process, Woods makes these events jump alive for us and helps us gain perspective on the critical impact women have had and can have as partners in the governmental process. This book assumed an added poignance for me because during my reading of it, the plane crash occurred that claimed the life of Missouri Governor Mel Carnahan. It is interesting to hear Woods' references to him in this book. Clearly, I highly recommend this book for all involved in the political process, both men and women. As a man, we cannot afford to allow the talents of our daughters, wife, mother, grandmothers, aunts and friends to be ignored and unrealized. The opportunity to now expand the role of women in government may be one which will have the most impact in improving our political system here in the United States and around the world.

Former Lt. Gov. Harriet Woods presents her insights into the changes she has witnessed over past decades. Particular insights are presented on changes in how the public regards women in politics.
It was only three decades ago when few were concerned with how the majority of women felt on issues, according to Ms. Woods. Few women existed in such professional occupations as physician and attorney. (In 1960, 95% of law degrees were awarded to men. Today, about one third of law school graduates are female.) The use of contraceptives then was a crime. The term "domestic violence" had yet to enter our collective vocabulary. Readers unfamiliar with this past will marvel as they read how far women, as a group, have advanced in some (but definitely not all) areas within one generation.
These times are described along with the career of Harriet Woods. Entering politics over public inattentiveness to her complaints over a loose manhole, Harriet Woods continued her activism when appointed to a City Council vacancy. From there, she was elected to the Missouri State Senate in 1976, served as Lt. Governor, and then led the National Womens Political Caucus.
Harriet Woods did not at first want to be identified as a
"women's issues" politician. She soon learned there was a substantial need for her to advocate women's issues. Fortunately she also was able to make her mark in others areas, such as drafting and passing model nursing home reform legislation.
The 1960s opened new discussions regarding the status of women, Harriet Woods writes. More women entered politics. Even today, though, very few women with small children are politically active. Harriet Woods notes that 85% of female office holders are over 40 years in age. By comparison, 28% of male office holders are age 40 or younger.
The role of women in politics has changed dramatically in Harriet Woods's lifetime. This book is an excellent record of those changes written by someone who both observed and participated in these changes.

Harriett Woods tells it like it is for women in politics..she's been there...and also for women who want a voice and action in the world of power. There is plenty of virtual reality here written honestly and skillfully. She is challenging us to have the courage to step up to power in government but also in business and daily life.You go,girl!

Looking forward to Washington's expected victory in World War II, Time magazine in 1941 proclaimed a vision of postwar peace and prosperity under U.S. hegemony dubbed the "American Century." The Socialist Workers Party proclaimed a different point of view.
The SWP said the U.S. victory over its imperialist rivals in Germany and Japan would, instead, accelerate an economic and social crisis of capitalism on a world scale. This crisis would plunge millions into deeper poverty as well as foster the outbreak of new imperialist wars.
This, in turn, would propel a critical new revolutionary force onto the stage of history: the U.S. working class. Workers here in their millions would awaken politically and join the worldwide struggle for socialism, the SWP insisted, just as earlier, during the 1930s, they had achieved trade-union consciousness in massive numbers. Far from being monolithic, the U.S. is a class-divided society whose workers and farmers are a potentially powerful ally of those fighting imperialism around the world.
The SWP's 1946 "American Theses" (whose preparation and contents are a central focus of this book) anticipated that this crisis and revolutionary upsurge would emerge more rapidly than it has. But it's clear from today's vantage point that the "American Century" had already begun to decline before it could arise. The bloody history of wars from Korea to Vietnam, the anticommunist witch hunt of the 1950s, the heroic struggle for Black rights, are just a few of the developments that expose the contradictory reality of the post World War II boom.
The economic and political analysis the SWP made in 1946-47 offers an uncannily accurate view of what can be seen unfolding since the 1987 stock market crash signaled the actual beginning of the big downward segment of the curve of capitalist development that the SWP had expected to take place sooner.
The book's description of the SWP's efforts during this time to build a party rooted in the industrial unions and capable of leading the next phase of the struggle should be food for thought to those opposed to Washington's arrogant brutality and war making today. We can be grateful that the efforts of Cannon and other leaders have ensured the ongoing survival of such a party and the availability through Pathfinder books like this one of its legacy to new generations of fighters.

At the end of World War II the rulers of the United States proclaimed the "American Century." Their aim was a global empire dominated by American technology and capital. To many, it seemed that the epoch of socialist revolutions opened by the Bolshevik uprising of October 1917 in Russia had ended with the formation of two great oppressive world powers; the United States, representing old-line imperialism, and the Soviet Union, where capitalism had been swept away by a socialist revolution only to be replaced with a new tyranny. What place was there in the postwar world for revolutionary Marxists, striving to construct Leninist, working class political parties to fight for a genuine socialist society?

This volume of the writings and speeches of veteran communist and socialist leader James P. Cannon traces the response of the Socialist Workers Party to the challenge of the postwar world. Cannon and the American Trotskyists rejected the idea that American imperialism would be unshakeable for a whole historic period, or that the struggle for socialism was outmoded. Included here are Cannon's writings on the 1945-46 strike wave; the rebuilding of Trotskyists parties in Europe; the beginning of the cold war; and the SWP's assessment of the Soviet Union and Stalinism - what remained progressive in the USSR and what must be opposed by champions of socialist democracy.

James P. Cannon (1890-1974) was a unique figure in American socialist and labor history. He was an organizer for the Industrial Workers of the World from 1911 to 1918, and a member of the left wing of the Socialist Party. In 1919 he became a founding leader of the American Communist Party, was elected to its Political Committee, and served on the Presidium of the Communist International in Moscow in 1922-23, where he worked with Trotsky, Zinoviev, and other Communist leaders. Won to Trotsky's side in 1928 in the dispute with Stalin, Cannon was expelled from the CP and founded the American Trotskyist movement, represented since 1938 by the Socialist Workers Party. (from the back cover)

In January 1945, James P Cannon, veteran communist and Socialist Workers Party leader was released from Sandstone Penitentiary where he and 17 other members of the SWP and the Minneapolis Teamsters Union served prison terms as a result of their opposition to World War II.

Through Cannon's speeches and writings you get a feel for the new world relationship of forces taking shape: the domination of the United States in the postwar period and the debate over perspectives for socialism that unfolded in the international revolutionary Marxist movement as a result.

Cannon and the Socialist Workers Party rejected the idea that U.S. imperialism would be unshakeable for the whole historic period to come, or that the struggle for socialism had become outmoded. They argued that the U.S imperialists would not subvert the laws of history, abolish the class struggle or dominate all peoples of the world.

This book of Cannon's writings and speeches traces the response of the Socialist Workers Party to these challenges of the postwar world. One of the greatest things about this book is that Cannon's answers to the questions that the debate centered on, serve as important lessons that are as valuable to those who want to participate in the fight for socialism today, as they were to the fighters who prepared the party for such a fight then.

Now forgotten by most people, after World War II, this country saw one of the biggest upsurges of struggle by working people against capitalism in its history. There was a seemingly unstoppable strike wave. Hundreds of thousands of troops and sailors in Europe and Asia demonstrated demanding to be sent home and not to war against the Chinese Revolution and other enemies of American big business. Within the labor movement and civil rights groups like the NAACP youth, local fights for civil rights spread that would lay the basis for the struggles of the 1950s and 1960s. The Socialist Workers Party that had been persecuted during the War gained hundreds and hundreds of members, mostly African Americans and trade unionists.
This book encapsulates the political struggle that broke out in the party. What is the future for the workers movement given the big changes after the war? Were the outbreak of struggles, the new signs of action by Blacks and Mexican Americans, and the opposition to Washington's War signs of a revolutionary future for America, or a passing phase?
Cannon and the majority of the party's leadership answered this question by developing the American Theses, which examined the basic contradictions of American imperialism, how its national and international advances during and after the war would eventually lead to deeper struggles, and even a revolution in America. Cannon explains the realities of the revolutionary future and building a real workers party against dispirited middle class elements who were caving in to the might of American imperialism and becoming anticommunism.
As the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and the deepening economic crisis workers in this country and around the world face, show, we are in the future Cannon pointed to. American imperialism cannot solve its problems. It can only inflict them on working people around the world. Now more than ever, we need to build a revolutionary movement of working people and oppressed nationalities as Cannon explains in this book.
Like everything Cannon writes, there is so much wit, witticism, and plain wisdom here that The Struggle for Socialism in the American Century is a very enjoyable read.

Ever since I was a kid, I have been fascinated with miniature
life among the reeds of grass, and small dolls/ objects in
general. SUMMERTIME SONG'S illustrations allow me to
participate in that world. It's a thrill each time I pick it up!

This is a charming tale about a little girl who has magical adventures in her grandmother's garden. The book is beautifully illustrated, and the text is both simple yet poetic. Irene Haas recounts the wondrous happenings in the story, in which a little girl loses herself in the magic of the garden. The childhood world of magic and "adult" reality meet when she finds her grandmother's lost doll in the garden. This book is a must for "children" of all ages.

Lucy goes on a magical journey to a birthday party, finding friends, taming the owl "villian", and ultimately finding happy endings. My boy liked it for the action and the interesting illustrations; my girl liked the female heroine and sweetness. With lyrical poetry and beautiful illustrations, this is a great gift book -- a bedtime favorite.

This is by far, the best children's book I have ever read, and more importantly, shared with my children. I find myself sitting quietly with the book, intrigued with the illustrations, and looking at the details in all the little creatures. Not only is it beautiful to look at, it is also a delight to read. Charming, eventful, and beautifully written, Haas inter-twines the story with a touch of poetry, and the end result is astonishing.

A follow up to Supreme Chaos is coming out in June and it is better than the first. "A Price Too High: the Judiciary in Jeopardy."

Um, like I said, this book was good. Much better than several of the bad books I've read.

Judge Pickering clearly articulated how Congress has changed the judicial confirmation process over time and increased the Legislative branch's influence over the Judicual branch of governement. Very educational!

I hope millions of Americans read this great book by a fine man who was drug through the mud by the far left in US Senate and media and other leftist groups.

What happened to all those people who thought smiling was right wing, and whose activism consisted of making others feel inadequate? They were just waiting for you to be slightly out of line about Nicaragua or a teeny bit frivolous about gender stereotypes. One slip and they'd give you their best sneer - in spades. Politeness was also right wing. Yes, things got better. This joyless crowd melted away, morphed into new people, or else herded into colleges of higher education and social work departments to waste public money on endless meetings. But I shall never forgive!

This book is a misery memoir of the highest order. The story of an activist who, galvanised into socialism as a young man in the late 70s, the very same period when the ideology was lurching around in its death throes, decided to devote his life to the Labour Party. John O'Farrell was no ambitious Blairite politico though. He fought his battles at the low end of the totem pole - trudging miles of godforsaken streets delivering leaflets, attending tedious meetings in grubby halls where left wing worthies tied themselves in knots with their own political correctness. All this could descend into a self righteous polemic. But the crucial, vital saving grace is the book's humour.

O'Farrell tells of the looks he gained in working class pubs by lunk headed Sun readers when he tentatively voiced his opposition to the Falkland's war. His guilty admission after the Brighton bomb that he wishes Thatcher had actually kopped it. The wishful, naive optimism on the eve of every general election only to wake up with a head pounding hangover and the Tories in power -again! The brutal asceticism and self-abnegation that prevented him from enjoying pretty much anything.

Nowadays, O'Farrell has done a New Labour type maturation himself - he lives a comfortable life as a metropolitan Guardian columnist and broadcaster. New Establishment as it were. But he can still laugh at the grim old days. The Conservatives might have won all the elections in the 1980s - but Labour trounced them at the humour polls. Very funny.

This book is hilarious. And so true. If you were an unhappy camper during the Thatcher years in the UK--or are filled with dread by the recent onset of unfettered Republican control in the US you should read this book. The author was a writer on the political satire show SPitting Image in the 1980s and boy does it show. Laugh out loud quality in many part and filled with so unspoken truths. Great stuff.

Essential therapy for anybody who supported the Labour Party through eighteen years the of Conservatives Ruling Britain. We feel that O'Farrell was right there with us as pre-election optimism dissolved into miserable failure again and again and again.

Over the years his radical edge is softened by age and cynicism. The vegetarian succumbs to the bacon sandwich. The dedicated capaigner pays the au pair to deliver his election leaflets. The words of the chant have changed - 'What do we want? A winter flowering clematis! When do we want it? Before we lay the patio!'

Is it similar changes which made the Labour Party electable again?

His description of the unforgettable election night of 1997 is the highlight. The defeat of Michael Portillo described as dramatically as the scoring of a winning goal in the Cup Final. Could we ever get?

But did things really get better?