Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. I don't necessarily agree with this as the accounts of Gulag war crimes is pretty undeniable at this point so I think he over reached here. Although it's true that the book rehases running dispute between leninism and anarchism, it does carry a sense of intellectual honesty in defending and explaning his political convictions -- especially when most leftists find it now more opportune to be seen as a liberal socialist, even if their personal histories don't confirm such wish. Our resources are crucial for knowledge lovers everywhere—so if you find all these bits and bytes useful, please pitch in. Parenti shares his most current thoughts on fascism, socialism, communism and capitalism in an unique and personal ways, without apologies.

I don't consider myself a Marxist-Leninist, however to overlook the accomplishments of ML regimes all through-out the 20th century is like burying your head in the sand and ignoring history. All these publications, along with many conventional academic studies, have one thing in common: They say little if anything about the class policies of fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. In Italy during the 1930s the economy was gripped by recession, a staggering public debt, and widespread corruption. Parenti shows how fascism renders service to capitalism, how corporate power undermines democracy, and how revolutions are a mass empowerment against the forces of exploitative privilege.In this book he traces brilliantly the appeal and development of the fascist movement, explaining how fascist leaders use irrational symbols to manipulate people who have very rational concerns about their diminished living standards. Download Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism by Michael Parenti in PDF EPUB format complete free. If you are still wondering how to get free PDF EPUB of book Blackshirts and Reds: Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism by Michael Parenti. He was thinking of a future of social justice, free from the terrible shadows of oppression imposed by the few upon the great mass of humankind. The glittering mansion overlooks a vast sprawl of shanty towns, wherein a desperate, demoralized humanity is kept in line with drugs, television, and armed force.

Even people on the Left have internalized the liberal/conservative ideology that equates fascism and communism as equally evil totalitaran twins, two major mass movements of the twentieth century.I feel like Parenti never dips more than a toe into any sort of discourse on Stalin, but here he surprisingly dedicates an entire section to Stalin and the myths of the USSR under Stalin. The degree to which Western captains of industry and government elites were warm to and in bed with the Nazis is utterly sickening, especially because the main reason was common opposition to workers who just wanted a better life for themselves and their family. It's hard to disagree with the idea of more union autonomy etc exactly but stuff like "privately owned small businesses"?

This intellectually anemic end-of-history theory was hailed as a brilliant exegesis and accorded a generous reception by commentators and reviewers of the corporate-controlled media. I had this in my library standing for such a long time and i needed an easy and quick book to finish in a few days and i managed to read it in barely 3 days. This chapter does a great job explaining how fascism is closely linked with capitalism, not socialism (as is sometimes claimed). By rejecting non-essential cookies, Reddit may still use certain cookies to ensure the proper functionality of our platform. To be fair, he does discuss some of the inherent problems with communism and a planned economy in one of the chapters, but he seems to sweep that under the rug a little.

Investments stagnated, heavy industry operated far below capacity, and corporate profits and agribusiness exports were declining. His writings are published in popular periodicals, scholarly journals, and his op-ed pieces have been in leading newspapers such as the New York Times and the Los Angeles Times. Instead it was a broad overview of the many facets of anti-communist and pro-capitalist propaganda and foreign policy in the 20th century. A brilliant organizer, agitator, and gifted journalist, he became editor of the Socialist party’s official newspaper.

Michael Parenti once again [it seems effortless though we know it isn't] lays out a vast, meticulous history of market reforms that dragged eastern Europe down following 1991, all the way up to 1997, and connects this with the rise of fascism in the early to mid 20th century. The latter course, I believe, would have produced a more com­fortable, more humane and serviceable society. He describes the bureaucratic corruption, food shortages and ruthless one party rule along with the impracticality of a centrally planned economy.I had a feeling that this book was going to be so important to my political development that I blocked time off in the summer to read it. By 1921, many Italian workers and peasants were unionized and had their own political organizations. Parenti argues that baby communist states are constantly under siege by capitalist military forces, so they have to spend precious resources improving their own military power and fending off capitalist attacks.