Monthly Review
Monthly Review is an independent socialist journal[1] published 11 times per year in New York City.
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[edit] History
The publication was founded by Harvard University economics instructor Paul Sweezy, who became the first editor. The New York Times described Sweezy as "the nation's leading Marxist intellectual and publisher during the cold war and the McCarthy era."[1] The first issue of Monthly Review appeared in May 1949. Its lead article was "Why Socialism?" by physicist Albert Einstein.[2] During the McCarthyism of the early 1950s, its original editors Paul Sweezy and Leo Huberman were targeted for "subversive activities." Sweezy's case, tried by New Hampshire Attorney General, went all the way to the Supreme Court and became a seminal case on freedom of speech when the Court ruled in his favor.[3][1]
[edit] Viewpoint
In 2004, Monthly Review editor John Bellamy Foster told the New York Times, "The Monthly Review was attractive to people who were leaving the Communist Party and other sectarian groups. It was and is Marxist, but did not hew to the party line or get into sectarian struggles."[1] Monthly Review has been a consistent voice for socialism and against American imperialism. The editors of Monthly Review have been prominent Marxist academics, economists and authors. They have been independent and not aligned with a particular existing revolutionary movement or political organization. Many of its articles have been written by academics, journalists and authors, including W. E. B. Du Bois, Paul A. Baran, Jean-Paul Sartre, Che Guevara, Joan Robinson, Tariq Ali, Grace Lee Boggs, Noam Chomsky, Bernardine Dohrn, Mumia Abu-Jamal, Marilyn Buck, Doug Henwood, Michael Klare, James Petras, Frances Fox Piven, and Adrienne Rich.[2]
Aijaz Ahmad has said about Monthly Review: "It seems to me that in the postwar United States Monthly Review has been the only institution of the Left which provides a full-fledged narrative of the world."[4]
Monthly Review Press, an allied endeavor, has published many political books, such as Fanshen by William Hinton, Labour and Monopoly Capital by Harry Braverman, The Development of Underdevelopment by Andre Gunder Frank, Unequal Development by Samir Amin, The Arabs in Israel by Sabri Jiryis and the English translation of Open Veins of Latin America, by Eduardo Galeano.
[edit] Editors
Monthly Review has had six editors:[2]
- Paul Sweezy, from 1949 to his death in 2004
- Leo Huberman from 1949 to his death in 1968
- Harry Magdoff from 1969 to his death in 2006
- Ellen Meiksins Wood, 1997–2000
- Robert W. McChesney, 2000–2004
- John Bellamy Foster, May 2000–present
[edit] The Monthly in Italy
The Monthly Review was also published (1968–87) in Italy (Bari, Edizioni Dedalo). Main contributors: Enzo Modugno, Luciano Canfora, Nico Perrone.
Also many Monthly Review Press books have been re-published in Italy by the publisher Dedalo Libri, in a series under the same American name.
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d Paul Sweezy, 93, Marxist Publisher and Economist, Dies, New York Times, March 2, 2004.
- ^ a b c About "Monthly Review" at MonthlyReview.org.
- ^ Academic profile of Paul Sweezy, a The New School web page.
- ^ Ellen Meiksins Wood, Issues of class and culture: an interview with Aijaz Ahmad - Interview, Monthly Review, October, 1996.
[edit] External links
- Monthly Review website
- MRZine, the magazine's internet arm
- Monthly Review Press publishing house and catalog
- The Monthly Review Story: 1949-1984 by Robert W. McChesney
- ΜΗΝΙΑΙΑ ΕΠΙΘΕΩΡΗΣΗ Greek-language edition website
- From the Left: Harry Magdoff; A Free-Market Failure, New York Times interview of Monthly Review co-editor Harry Magdoff, November 1, 1987.
