New: Cuba at Sea

Ron Ridenour, whose book 'Cuba: Beyond the Crossroads' came out in an expanded edition last year, has published a new book with Socialist Resistance: Cuba at Sea.

This book gives a unique view of the Cuban revolution: from the ocean, where Ridenour worked with Cuba's merchant navy.

The only foreign writer to portray things Cuban as a volunteer merchant marine, Ron Ridenour sailed six months on five Cuban ships around the island nation delivering petroleum, and to and from Europe with container goods, to tell Cuban sailors' views of their society and the world.

In what other socialist book can you follow the crew through a gale, catching a giant shark, struggling with a life boat gone amuck, night life ashore...?

Thanks to photographs by Ron and his colleagues, the 108 pages of this book (plus four blank pahes for notes) are enlivened with 17 beautiful images. The images are made more powerful by the large, Crown Octavo, page sizes (twice the page size of a popular paperback). Readers of Resistance Books will already have appreciated this larger page size with our reprinting of Karl Kautsky's book.

The book will be launched at an Oxfordshire book fair in mid-May, but is available now by mail-order. Copies cost 8 pounds, including postage, from 'Resistance', PO Box 1109. London N2 2UU.

Expanded second edition of Ecosocialism

One of our best-selling books, 'Ecosocialism or Barbarism', will come out in an expanded second edition later this month. You can click on the image above to get a better look at the cover.

The number of pages is up, to 176, and the price is down, from 10 to 6 pounds.

A number of typographic corrections have been made in the book, and a major new section has been added: a resolution on 'Savage Capitalism' which explains the perspectives of the British ecosocialists. The draft of this resolution was published late last year by International Viewpoint.

Respect: Documents of the Crisis

Respect as it was originally constructed - as an alliance primarily between the Socialist Workers Party (SWP) and George Galloway - is dead.

Our next book explains why. Contributors to 'Respect: Document of the Crisis' include Geirge Galloway, Salma Yaqoob, Alan Thornett, Chris Harman, Andy Newman, Kevin Ovenden, John Lister, Jerry Hicks, Liam Mac Uaid, Phil Hearse, Linda Smith, 'Socialist Worker' New Zealand and Nick Wrack.

The introduction to this 140-page book explains that "Respect stood on the gains of the anti-globalisation and antiwar movements, and on the fact that the anti-war movement had begun to build among sections of Muslim communities who had not previously engaged with British politics.

"But the SWP is painting a dishonest picture of what lies behind the division within Respect. They claim that they are the left in the split and everyone else is on the right (or is naively misguided, which is just as insulting). They repeat their disgraceful attacks on the Scottish Socialist Party, and by implication make comparison between those who support Respect Renewal with those in Rifondazione who have backed Italian Prime Minister Prodi in sending troops to Afghanistan. Such comparisons are ridiculous.

"Disregarding the grandiose comparisons with the splits between the Mensheviks and the Bolsheviks for the delusions they are, this pamphlet shows the political positions of those the SWP would paint as "the right".

"Not all the contributions we print here are from Socialist Resistance supporters, of course. But we think and hope that by publishing this collection we can contribute to an important debate, and thus help to build a socialist alternative to the ravages of war and neo-liberalism."

The book will be available from Socialist Resistance sellers after January 26th for 3.50 pounds or US $7. In February, the book will also be available at Amazon.co.uk and other online bookshops. Using the ISBN number, 978-0-902869-89-9, you can also order from any bookstore.