Whose Millennium? : Theirs or Ours?

by Singer, Daniel

• ISBN13: 9780853459439
• ISBN10: 0853459436
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 1999-03-01
• Publisher: Monthly Review Press

Summary

"Magisterial in its historical sweep, fiercely democratic in its vision, Whose Millennium? is the thinking person's 'bridge to the 21st century.' There is an alternative to rampant inequality and the corruptions of power, and-ever so modestly and persuasively-Daniel Singer points the way."This visionary book challenges the chorus of resignation-the notion that there is no alternative, that profit is the best relationship between people, and that the market guarantees democracy. Daniel Singer insists that a more free and egalitarian society can be won, and he predicts that the new millennium will be an age of confrontation, not consensus, with Western Europe as a probable first battlefield.In social criticism of rare scope and insight, Singer probes the outcome of the Russian Revolution and Russia's post-1989 turmoil, the transformation of the Polish trade union movement Solidarity into a reactionary and clerical force, the failure of social democracy in Western Europe, the emergence of an unbalanced world after the collapse of one superpower, and the massive 1995 strikes and demonstrations in France-which, Singer argues, were the first revolt against the prevailing idea that there is no alternative to market stringency.As an alternative, Singer calls for "realistic utopia": a politics engaged with present-day possibilities but daring to pursue a world beyond capitalism, one that would put into consistent practice the ideals of democracy and equality.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	vi
Introduction: Their Future or Ours?	1	(11)
Part One: The Heritage
Introduction to Part One: 1989 And All That	12	(3)
A Marxist Tragedy	15	(14)
The Road to Capitalism	29	(15)
The World after the Fall	44	(14)
Requiem for Social Democracy	58	(14)
Part Two: Changing Europe
Introduction to Part Two: Ex Occidente Lux?	70	(2)
Russia's Miracle at the Polls	72	(32)
The Sad Saga of Solidarity	104	(25)
French Winter of Discontent	129	(26)
Part Three: In Search of an Alternative
Introduction to Part Three: Mastering Our Fate	152	(3)
Beyond Labor and Leisure	155	(29)
Internationalism Versus Globalization	184	(30)
A Society of Equals	214	(21)
Reinventing Democracy	235	(23)
Realistic Utopia	258	(22)
Index	280