Book notes
The following publications are not available in most commercial bookstores, because what the authors have to say makes the rich and powerful uncomfortable. To order, try your nearest progressive bookstore, contact the publishers directly, or write to La Breche, 9 rue de Tunis, 75011 Paris, France tel. (+33 1) 43 67 63 57 fax 43 79 29 61 (English, French and Spanish spoken). Where no price is given, we suggest you enclose a donation of US$ 10 in any convertible currency to cover the postage costs of the publisher Indonesia's Forgotten War: The Hidden History of East Timor by John G. Taylor, Zed Books A thoroughly researched and impressive analysis of East Timor's ordeal under Indonesian occupation since 1976. He explains why the U.S.A., Australia and the 'Western democracies' have abetted the Indonesian regime's aggression, and describes the campaign of war, torture, disappearances, forced resettlement and planned famine which have cost at least 200,000 East Timorese lives Recommended reading for all those campaigning on Indonesia and East Timor. British Readers ! The U.K. sales price includes a £3.50 donation to the Campaign to end Arms Trade (CAAT, 11 Goodwin St., London N4 3HQ) Reduire le Temps de Travail (Reducing Labour Time) A concrete French-language campaigning guide for popularising the call for shorter working hours without loss of pay. Produced by Gauches Unies (United Lefts) - a pluralistic radical left movement in the French speaking parts of Belgium. 150 BEF ($US 5) plus postage from Jean-Claude Lazarus, 35/7 rue Delacroix, 1070 Brussels. Max Shachtman and his left: A Socialist's Odyssey through the American Century" Peter Drucker, Humanities Press, 1994 Max Shachtman was expelled from the CPUSA in 1928 for circulating Trotskyist materials smuggled out of Russia by Jim Cannon. Over the next 15 years, Shachtman helped affiliate some 25 national sections to the Fourth International, translated Trotsky into English, and was an important contributor to the Fourth International's theoretical journal, The New International. Shachtman and his followers later developed the position that the Soviet Union was not merely a corrupt outgrowth of a "workers' state," but represented a new counter-revolutionary social system -
"bureaucratic collectivism." Shachtman's Workers' Party agitated against both war camps during WWIl, coming increasingly into conflict with the Communist Party, which opposed all workers' demands which might hinder the war effort. Whereas most U.S. Trotskyists continued to see Stalinism - like social democracy - as conservative and fundamentally flawed parts of the labour movement. Shachtman's anti-Stalinism led the Workers' Party to ally itself with progressives and conservatives against the "reactionary, totalitarian and anti-proletarian" Communist current in the trade unions. While they opposed the McCarthyist witch hunts of the 1950s, their current -renamed the International Socialist League, degenerated into a pro-democracy sect, giving conditional support to imperialist forces in their cold war confrontations with the Stalinist states. How could such a collapse take place? Drucker shows how Shachtman's obssion with the dangers of Stalinism in the West, his cold-war pessimism, the belief that fascism and Stalinism had destroyed the conscious cadre of socialism, and the lack of a politically organised North American working class allowed him to cling to a succession of bureaucratic substitutes which could create an appearance of a socialist dynamic. He convinced himself that the AFLCIO [trade union federation] was almost a mass socialist movement, that the Democratic Party was almost a labor party, that [President] Johnson's Great Society had almost made African Americans equal, that the United States had almost saved Vietnam for democracy." As well as filling in an important gap in the history of the U.S. revolutionary left, this book is an honest attempt to understand and evaluate the trajectory of a traitor to the movement. Worth reading. [Reviewed by Ann Henderson] To announce your publication in this free listing, send a sample copy to "Book reviews" co International Viewpoint, PECI, BP 85, 75522 Paris cedex 11, France
International Viewpoint #266 May 1995 35
Alternatives "Do you want to help distribute this international political and analytical left-oriented quarterly published in Russian and English editions? INTERNATIONAL INSTITUTE FOR Agents pre-pay a minimum ten RESEARCH AND EDUCATION subscriptions at US$ 10 per year each, and can fix their own price for re-sale. Special arrangements • 48 bed conference centre with six are possible for countries and channel interpretation system, library and organisations with financial television room, ten minutes from the centre difficulties™ of Amsterdam and 2 minutes from a park Alexander Buzgalin, Trehprundi 6- • Contact Robert Went or Peter Drucker to 46, Moscow, Russia 103001, tel discuss holding your event at the IRE 095/2997739 tel. (+31) 20/671 7263 fax 673 2106
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Revista bimestral de información y análisis Like International Viewpoint, but in Spanish... Published in Mexico six times a year, covering Latin America and the world Subscription rates for one year (six issues) Mexico: 50 pesos Latin America $15 USA: $18. Spanish State 2,000 ESP Rest of world $20 Other Europe 120 FFr/215 Make out cheques and postal orders to the order of Ulises Martínez Flores, Apartado postal 18-996, Colonia Escandón, México, Distrito Federal, CP 11800, Mexico Feminist and socialist summer camp Southern France, 22-29 July 1995 Registration is now open for the 12th summer camp organised by the International in 1999 nisat participants from er 20 countries spent a week or debate and culture in tuscany, Italy. This year should be bigger and (even) better. Buses will be organised from most European capitals. Cost (including Tood, and entry to all events, but excluding transport) from 500 tč 1,000 French Francs, depending on your country and circumstances. For more information contact your International Viewpoint seller, or write to the Youth Camp Committee, c/o international viewpoint, PECI, P.U. Box o5 , 75522 Paris cedex 11, France fax (33) 1/43 79 29 61 e-mail [email protected]
Solidarity Subscriptions This magazine is too expensive for readers in many countries. For many political prisoners, International Viewpoint is the only link to the socialist movement outside the prison walls. Until recently, we have been able to distribute one third of our print tun to these activists and prisoners. But our current financial difficulties have forced us to reduce the number of magazines we distribute free to the bare minimum.
You can help! As soon as we receive contributions marked "solidarity sub." equal to a six month or one year subscription, we add another solidarity reader to our mailing list. And if you wish, we will inform him or her of your solidarity. 36 International Viewpoint #266 May 1995
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Technological Innovation in Japan since 1945 by Muto Ichiyo
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RESEARCH AND EDUCATION 'Women's Lives in the New Global Economy' Eds. Penny Duggan & Heather Dashner • A new anthology by women writing from their personal and activist experience. Published as part of the NSRs "dossier" series, it explores how capitalist reorganisation of the global economy is profoundly affecting women's lives in every corner of the world. • Includes articles on Belgium, Sweden, Turkey, South Africa, India, Malaysia, Mexico, and the US — with an introduction on women and economic integration. • Women's Lives in the New Global Economy demonstrates that feminist and labour struggles can re-assert women's right to decide their future. Send $5.25 US, £3.50, 30 FF to giro account CER/NSR 1757114, Amsterdam, Netherlands, or send a regular cheque (not an Eurocheque) in US$ or sterling to P. Rousset, IIRE, Postbus 53290, 1007 Rg Amsterdam, The Netherlands