![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() He reckons that its call to action still resonates “because we too are haunted” by the specters that Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels summoned up in 1848 as the force that Church and State strove to try to “exorcise” from Europe. He starts by recalling the rousing spirit of The Communist Manifesto. Katch tries to overcome such stereotypical rhetoric. Burns) than a recognizable foe of an economy organized on solidarity and sharing. Yet these terms themselves can conjure up more of a hand-wringing caricature (such as “The Simpsons”’ Mr. Without jargon but with wit, Katch’s primer encourages a rethinking of a political and economic system which, despite the privatizing of its signature programs in some European “welfare states,” may still carry appeal for voters frustrated with crony capitalism, rapacious multinationals and greedy bosses. He pitches his critique at ordinary readers. Katch mostly avoids tendentious rhetoric or tired slogans. Although Katch writes for the Socialist Worker, this “brief guide to human liberation” flows far more engagingly than one might expect from many a party propagandist. As the title hints, Danny Katch’s Socialism…Seriously mixes welcome (if expletive-laden and sometimes puerile) humor with a level-headed analysis of the prospects for a political system based in grassroots rather than corporate power. With democratic socialist Bernie Sanders in contention (at least as of this writing) for the Democratic nomination, curiosity and controversy grows over what his affiliation means. ![]()
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