Sunday, August 19, 2007

The LCR and the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan: First issue of 'Notebooks of the Crab'

Our next book will be a title in French: is the first number of Les Cahiers du crabe (Notebooks of the Crab): "l'intervention soviétique en Afghanistan (1979)". The documents which are reproduced there, in a chronological order, all come from the bulletins interior, known as BI, of the LCR (internal discussion bulletins , in theory relatively confidential) and of its publications, Rouge (weekly of the LCR, whose files are gradually made available in DVD), Critique Communiste (theoretical review of the LCR), Inprecor (International Press Correspondance, news review of the Fourth International).

A further set of themes "On the PCF", reproducing criticisms of the LCR on the standpoint of the Communist Party in France, is placed after the other articles. At the end of the review, a special booklet of the LCR on the question of Afghanistan, published in mid-February 1980, is reproduced just as it is (this section has the least aesthetic quality).

The editors decided, for practical reasons (availability of the files and a number of pages of the review), to stop at the date of March 1980. However, a Critique Communiste article of December 1981 gives the reader a critical review with respect to the initial position of the LCR.

Notebooks of the Crab

The Notebook is published by the 'Association to safeguard of the memory of the French section of the Fourth international' (ASMSFQI). It has two wishes: to save the files of this political current, by collecting them and by digitizing them, and to allow their access. With this intention, in addition to its Internet site, it publishs a review which reproduces various documents, all resulting from the French section of the Fourth international ( at different times known as the Internationalist Communist Party, communist league, and now LCR) and all related to a specific topic.

The idea of the Notebook is this : to reproduce articles of Rouge, La Verite, and Inprecor, extracts from discussion bulletins, and posters to allow the readers and to know reader what the internal debates of the French section of the Fourth international were and what was its public positioning on such questions. It does not have any further scientific or analytical aiming. the task of the ASMSFQI is making documents known. The Notesbooks do not aim to be a place of study or criticism. Simply they aim to be able to support certain studies, reflections, and personal training, by giving access to documents.

The 104-page A4 book will be available in mid-September for £7, €10 or $14 from Amazon. You will be able to use its ISBN number (9780902869905) to order the book from bookstores.

Friday, August 10, 2007

Book list: ISBNs, authors and prices

With the ISBN numbers given below, you can find our books in any bookstore. The prices shown below were the lowest available new prices on Amazon when we last checked.

9780902869936, Foundations of Christianity: A study in Christian origins, Karl Kautsky. $22, £11.
9780902869943, Take the Power to Change the World: globalisation and the debate on power, Phil Hearse. $12, £6.
9780902869929, The Permanent Revolution & Results and Prospects, Leon D Trotsky. $20, £9.
9780902869950, Cuba: Beyond the Crossroads. New Expanded Edition, Ron Ridenour. $14, £9.
9780902869967, MIDDLE EAST: war, imperialism, and ecology, Gilbert Achcar. $26, £13.
0902869973, Ecosocialism or Barbarism, Jane Kelly. $14, £7.
0902869981, Cuba: Beyond the Crossroads (First edition) Ron Ridenour. $11, £6.
9780902869998, It's never too late to love or rebel, Celia Hart. $11, £6.

All our books are printed on archive-quality acid-free paper. Most are demy octavo, the regular paperback size. Karl Kautsky's book is textbook sized (Crown Octavo).

Sunday, August 05, 2007

'Foundations of Christianity' is now out!

Foundations of Christianity is now on sale: online buyers can get it from amazon.co.uk for £11 or amazon.com for $22 US.

We're also very happy that many socialist organisations are showing a lot of interest in the book, including our friends at Socialistische Alternatieve Politiek. Dutch readers can now get all our books from them.

In the meanwhile, we remain interested in reading from readers and authors who have ideas about new or classic works they think we should get into print. Current suggestions include works on socialist feminism, life in Palestine's refugee camps and the evolution of Trotskyism.

If these sound like good ideas, or of you have other ideas, then just let us know.