Writing in collaboration with Cornelius Castoriadis and Grace Lee, C.L.R. James examines the practical process of social revolution in the modern world.
"Springing forth from the utopian flames of
self-emancipation kindled by the workers councils of the Hungarian Revolution,
this pivotal book offers a socialist indictment of the miserabilism of state
capitalism and calls for the ongoing rejection of both vanguardism and the
bureaucratic rationalism of state power." - Ron Sakolsky, author of
Creating Anarchy
In this celebrated "underground classic," also
known as "C. L. R. James's most anarchist book," the author of The
Black Jacobins, History of Pan-African Revolt and Beyond a Boundary examines the
practical process of social revolution in the modern world. Inspired by the
October 1956 Hungarian workers' revolution against Stalinist oppression, as
well as the U.S. workers' "wild-cat" strikes (against Capital and the
union bureaucracies), James and his co-authors looked ahead to the rise of new
mass emancipatory movements by African Americans as well as
anti-colonialist/anti-imperialist currents in Africa and Asia. Virtually alone
among the radical texts of the time, Facing Reality also rejected modern
society's mania for "conquering nature," and welcomed women's
struggles "for new relations between the sexes."
First published in 1958 by a tiny group of James's
supporters in Detroit, Facing Reality was popularized by the Chicago Rebel
Worker group, Solidarity Bookshop, and other anti-authoritarians all through
the 1960s. Later taken up by the SDS journal Radical America in its early
IWW/surrealist-oriented period, Facing Reality became -like the works of
Herbert Marcuse and E. P. Thompson -one of the most discussed and debated books
of revolutionary theory in the late 20th century.
This new 21st-century edition includes a new introduction by
James's longtime friend, John H. Bracey, situating the book in its 1950s/60s
context, and accenting its continued relevance in our time.
"Among the most forward-looking books of the 1950s,
Facing Reality is not only a merciless critique of the reactionary rationalism
that then passed for Marxism, but also a passionate celebration of workingclass
creativity and revolutionary internationalism at their inspired best."
-Franklin Rosemont, author of Revolution in the Service of the Marvelous
(2004).
"Facing Reality was written in response to specific
historical circumstances half a century ago, but recent events insist on
reminding us why issues of class, race, state authority, and military
aggression are as urgent now as they were in 1958. It is a keen and relevant
text for readers of today who are troubled by the globalized violence of
neoliberal avarice and neoconservative hubris. Facing Reality poses the kinds
of questions about freedom that need to be asked openly and repeatedly during
miserable times." - Don LaCoss, co-editor of Surrealism, Politics &
Culture (2003)
Click here to download this book in pdf.
