\t\t\t<p>Increasingly, people are responding to the contemporary crises underwritten by capitalism by exploring the politics of communism. Some have taken a sympathetic, even nostalgic, view of \u201cactually existing socialist\u201d (AES) societies past and present, including the USSR, China, and Cuba, and the Marxist-Leninist political tradition associated with them. They see these states as a powerful alternative to capitalism, governed by parties genuinely committed to socialism and staunchly resisting Western imperialism. But were these societies really in transition towards a classless, stateless society of freedom \u2014 the original communist goal? Is Marxism-Leninism the political approach that should orient people on the left now?\u00a0<\/p>
\n\t\t\t<p>
\n\t\t\t\t<em>Red Flags<\/em>\u00a0traces the path from the 1917 Russian Revolution to the construction of the world\u2019s first AES society: the USSR. It also looks at the post-revolution societies created along the same lines in China and Cuba. Using the intellectual tools of historical materialism,\u00a0<em>Red Flags<\/em>\u00a0argues that they were not in fact moving towards communism because the social relations remained fixed in class exploitation. The workers were never liberated.<\/p>
\n\t\t\t\t<p>At a time of burgeoning anti-communism from both conservatives and liberals, this book is an accessible, vibrant synthesis of the history of communism that draws on the latest research to develop a rigorous analysis of the contradictions and uneasy truths the left needs to confront if it is to build a genuinely liberatory alternative to capitalism.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\t\t\t<p>An anti-capitalist, anti-authoritarian introduction to the history of the USSR, China, and Cuba that asks: Were they actually on the road to communism?<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":117373,"template":"","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"product_brand":[],"product_cat":[24971],"product_tag":[],"class_list":["post-117372","product","type-product","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","product_language-eng","product_subjects-political-science","product_subjects-political-ideologies","product_subjects-communism-post-communism-socialism","biblio_share_tag-post-communism-socialism","biblio_share_tag-political-science-political-ideologies-communism","product_cat-apma-spring-2025","entry","first","instock","taxable","shipping-taxable","purchasable","product-type-simple"],"yoast_head":"\n