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India and communism (book notes)

 First of all this book is not Dr BR Ambedkar's book it was an unfinished draft of a book, that he had created a template for, but did not complete. Most of the book is an introduction by Anand Telumbde. Anand Telumbde does not mince any words in blaming both communists and Ambedkarites for creating and artificial rift between the two movements. Particularly he identifies the pioneering communists for having a sort of essentialist understanding of Marxism. Or to put it in Marxist jargon, the understanding of base structure and super structure and the belief that once the base structure is changed, everything else changes automatically. He uses post Soviet reading of Marx especially Louis Althusser's reading of Marxism and his concept of over determination to explain further. Over determination a Freudian concept, applied in understanding Marxism would mean that apart from the economics which is the last instance or the most important part, idealogical and political conditions a...
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Stasi State or Workers’ Paradise (book notes)

 Stasi State or Workers’ Paradise – socialism in the German Democratic Republic and what became of it Have you ever read a book that makes you furious but you are helpless because the book was about another place and another time? This book is about the erstwhile German Gemocratic Republic, the 'Socialist' East Germany that existed until 1990 and was usurped by capitalism like all other countries of the Eastern block.  The book goes in to immense detail of breaking down how the country worked in almost every walk of the society. In 40 years of its existence GDR went from a war torn country that paid huge reparations to the USSR, to being a self sufficient country that made immense progress in science, technology, arts, Gender equality, sports and so much else.  It provides equal opportunity for women, free healthcare, childcare, sports facilities, art and leisure, a rugged public transport and affordable housing. Put simply it was a workers paradise. Another important par...
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Stalin-Waiting for Hitler. (Book notes)

 Stalin-Waiting for Hitler. ( 1929 - 1941) This is the second of Stephen Kotkin's Magnum Opus on Stalin. As with the first one this is of similar length, running around a thousand pages. Politician, International relations expert, military strategist, no I am not talking about Stalin but Stephen Kotkin who tries to be all of this with his hindsight glasses. The book starts in the immediate aftermath of the collectivisation. It covers in detail the famine of the 1932-33 period. Killing of almost 3/4 of the livestock by the rich farmers or kulaks, a failure of the crops, a Typhus epidemic and some questionable decisions all contribute to the immense loss of life. He makes it clear it wasn't the Ukranian Holodomor but a Pan Russian famine.  In the beginning of the first book, Kotkin refers to Stalin by his name Jugashvili or his nickname Koba, after he becomes the leader of the party he becomes the dictator. In this book he became a despot for little reason.  In one of his b...
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Stalin, Paradoxes of power (book notes)

 So I finished this book called 'Stalin, Paradoxes of power' by Stephen Kotkin. It is the first Volume of a trilogy planned. The second Volume 'waiting for Hitler' has also been published. It is a huge book, running some 1300 odd pages. The last quarter is just citations that's how thorough the book is supposed to be. People have called it the most comprehensive of Stalin's biographies. The book could have been a half of its size had Kotkin taken away details like, the birth year, profession, family details and eventual fate of almost every person in Stalin's vicinity. Secondly Stephen Kotkin makes sure that we know we are reading about a Paranoid Dictator, about an impractial idealogy, and about a October coup, not revolution. He keeps repeating the same words again and again to the point of irritation. Though Kotkin sets this tone, there is little to no evidence in the book backing the claim that Stalin was an evil, cunning, whatever adjective he uses to p...
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India, liberal democracy and the extreme right ( book notes)

 India, liberal democracy and the extreme right.  Aijaz Ahmed This book is a scary analysis of the growth of RSS and the general rightward shift of liberalism or the political spectrum in India. He analyses the growth of RSS and Hindutva nationalism as Gramscian in terms of building an idealogical discourse that is sustainable. The robust and almost military like vertical structure of RSS binds and executes its Idealogy through fringe elements taking no direct responsibility for anything outside of law, while penetrating all pillars of the liberal democracy from within. Since Hindutva agenda has acheived political and Idealogical legitimacy, He says it doesn't have to resort to the fascist tactics of the early 20th century to ascertain it's supremacy. An arrest here, a lynching there is sufficient to ensure the nipping in the bud of any real discontent.  In the process Aijaz Ahmed says, the liberal discourse itself has seen a rightward shift, as seen from the electoral c...
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Black Shirts and Reds (book notes)

 Black Shirts and Reds, Micheal Parenti. This book by Micheal Parenti should be on every communists reading list. It covers a wide range of topics from Fascism it's rise and the present day ecological problems.  Fascism the word is being thrown around wildly now to describe anything and everything, but Parenti explains fascism with what is sorely missed, class politics. Who benefitted of it, what came of the fascist countries, it's perpetuators, and so much more.  Most importantly it handles left wing anti-communism, the phenomenon of people (in the US for him) supposedly on the left, undermining communist states past and present. This exists amongst us as well, it should have been this, it should have been that from the cozy confines of our liberal chairs and nothing to show for ourselves as well. It is also not to blindly support the excesses of the communist state, but to look at everything critically.  The names of Stalin and Mao are repeated like parrots by the ...
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Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, (book notes)

Bukharin and the Bolshevik Revolution: A Political Biography, 1888-1938 The book is a political biography of Nikholai Bhukarin written by an American in the 1970. The book's contention is that Bhukarin, not Stalin or Trotsky was the successor to Vladmir Lenin. The author Stephen Cohen has credited people like Robert Conquest among others in his preface. For those who aren't aware Conquest has greatly exaggerated the numbers of casualities on his books on the Great purge, the 1932-33 famine. Despite the opening up of the archives, Conquest continued to stand by his bloated up numbers feeding to the bourgeoisie propaganda of the Stalinist period. This book was written in the 1970s, which makes the book part fiction with laughable sentences like the one below, 'Stalin is said to have received them(Resignation of Bhukarin, Rykov, and Tomskii) "paling and with trembling hands." ' A lot of sentences contain words like supposed, may have, believed to have etc, exposi...
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