Best of
Politics

1947

The Language of the Third Reich: LTI--Lingua Tertii Imperii: A Philologist's Notebook


Victor Klemperer - 1947
    The existing social culture was manipulated and subverted as the German people had their ethical values and their thoughts about politics, history and daily life recast in a new language. This Notebook, originally called LTI (Lingua Tertii Imperii)-the abbreviation itself a parody of Nazified language-was written out of Klemperer's conviction that the language of the Third Reich helped to create its culture. As Klemperer writes: "it isn't only Nazi actions that have to vanish, but also the Nazi cast of mind, the typical Nazi way of thinking, and its breeding ground: the language of Nazism." This brilliant, entertaining, profound, and ultimately saddening and horrifying book is one of the great twentieth-century studies of language and of its engagement with history.

Planned Chaos


Ludwig von Mises - 1947
    Rather than creating an orderly society, attempts at central planning have precisely the opposite effect. By short-circuiting the price mechanism and forcing people into economic lives contrary to their own chosing, central planning destroys the capital base and creates economic randomness that eventually ends by killing prosperity.This important work was written decades after Mises's original essay on economic calculation and includes the broadest and boldest attack on all forms of state control.To search for Mises Institute titles, enter a keyword and LvMI (short for Ludwig von Mises Institute); e.g., Depression LvMI

Eclipse of Reason


Max Horkheimer - 1947
    First published in 1947, Horkheimer here explores the ways in Nazism - that most irrational of political movements - had co-opted ideas of rationality for its own ends. Ultimately, the book is a warning of the ways this might happen again and, as such, this is a book that has never appeared more timely.

Critique of Everyday Life


Henri Lefebvre - 1947
    Written at the birth of post-war consumerism, the Critique was a philosophical inspiration for the 1968 student revolution in France and is considered to be the founding text of all that we know as cultural studies, as well as a major influence on the fields of contemporary philosophy, geography, sociology, architecture, political theory and urbanism. A work of enormous range and subtlety, Lefebvre takes as his starting-point and guide the "trivial" details of quotidian experience: an experience colonized by the commodity, shadowed by inauthenticity, yet one which remains the only source of resistance and change.This is an enduringly radical text, untimely today only in its intransigence and optimism.

The Unknown Revolution, 1917-1921


Voline - 1947
    It reinstates material that has been omitted from recent editions of the English-language version and reproduces the complete text of the original French volumes.

The Sources of Soviet Conduct


George F. Kennan - 1947
    F. Kennan had been stationed at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow as minister-counselor since 1944. Although he was highly critical of the Soviet system, the mood within the U.S. State Department was friendship towards the Soviets, since they were an important ally in the war against Nazi Germany.In February 1946, the United States Treasury asked the U.S. Embassy in Moscow why the Soviets were not supporting the newly created World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. In reply, Kennan wrote the Long Telegram outlining his opinions and views of the Soviets; it arrived in Washington on February 22, 1946. Among its most-remembered parts was that while Soviet power was impervious to the logic of reason, it was highly sensitive to the logic of force.

Behind the Silken Curtain: A Personal Account of Anglo-American Diplomacy in Palestine and the Middle East


Bartley Cavanaugh Crum - 1947
    President Truman. They interviewed many people, including David Ben-Gurion, Dr. Weizmann, the Grand Mufti, other Arab spokesmen, British officials and many, many others. They met, they talked, they listened; then they met, talked and listened some more - in many places, including kibbutzim in Palestine. I imagine you can find the committee's official report in some U.S. government archive, but this book presents the insights of Mr. Crum, who (a liberal Republican) supported the birth of the State of Israel.

Man Against Myth


Barrows Dunham - 1947
    Kessinger Publishing is the place to find hundreds of thousands of rare and hard-to-find books with something of interest for everyone

American Trade Unionism


William Z. Foster - 1947
    Drawing upon his life-long experience as an outstanding labor leader, the author shows the role of a militant Left in the trade unions, without which significant progress has proved impossible. Foster selected and edited his writings for this volume and supplied an introduction and epilogue. It is now reprinted as he prepared it in 1947.The period covered in these writings runs back, roughly, half a century. While not a formal history of trade unionism during this time, the book nevertheless throws much light on the major developments in the trade union movement, It particularly highlights the long struggle of the left-wing and progressive forces for improved trade union organ-ization, policies, and leadership.The period in question was one of stormy and significant economic and political developments. American industry has expanded prodigiously and also has become highly monopolized. World capitalism has matured and entered into its final stage of imperialism. Two world wars, fascism, and endless class struggle have been expressions of this development of capitalism. The writings in this volume show how the American working class has reacted to this vital expansion and the decline of the world capitalist system.While there have been other compilations of writings on trade unionism, this is the first time that the policies, tactics, and role of the left wing during those past decades have been recorded in a single volume. Written in the midst of the struggle, the material assembled here is itself part of the living record of the American trade union movement.