Socialism: A Very Short Iintroduction
By Michael Newman
Oxford University Press, £8.99

Oxford University Press’s Very Short Introduction series provides exactly that: brief but comprehensive coverage of the topic under consideration.  These guides provide excellent resources for students – and indeed for anyone who wants to gain a critical overview of the area in question.

Michael Newman’s Socialism: A Very Short Introduction offers precisely this type of initiation to the study of socialism - this fully updated and revised version explaining the history of socialist ideas and their relevance for today and tomorrow.

The coverage is comprehensive despite the book’s deceptively small size. Having defined socialism, the discussion moves on to outline the main current of socialist thought, from the utopian socialists, including Henri de Saint-Simon, Robert Owen and Charles Fourier through to anarchist traditions and on to Marx and Engels and subsequent debates within Marxism.   

The author concludes that as a critique of capitalism, its structures, dynamics and propensity to crises, Marx’s work remains unsurpassed, offering insights into a whole range of social, political and philosophical debates.

But Marx should not be treated with reverence as a prophet. Newman points to the relevance of other socialist traditions as well, along with the pertinence of subsequent thinking on issues such as feminism and environmental concerns (although green issues do have a history of being addressed within Marxism, as he also explains).

Newman provides a range of examples from different contexts to illustrate more recent debates between social democracy and communism, including illustrations from British Labour history.

This sets the scene for more detailed case studies with discussions of the achievements – but also the limitations – of Swedish social democracy and Cuban communism. Despite their differences both have been impacted by wider international economic pressures, including the impact of competitive pressures from neoliberalism in Sweden’s case, along with the effects of the blockade in Cuba’s case.

The following chapters move on to discuss more recent debates within socialism, from the rise of the Frankfurt School and the New Left. As Newman points out, this New Left was far from representing a coherent body of thought, let alone a coherent body of socialist thought.

There have been a variety of influences on the new social movements, from second-wave feminism to environmental sustainability and anti-globalisation movements. Feminism and green movements have both built upon earlier approaches, for example, including precursors from socialist and Marxist traditions. But both have also included wider strands, by no means all socialist. Which is not at all to underestimate their potential contributions to progressive politics in the contemporary context, as illustrated by the massive women’s march against Trump in 2017, for example, or the progressive potential of the US green new deal.

Newman further explores the implications of the collapse of the USSR and the decline of social democracy in Europe, faced with rampant neoliberal globalisation and the rise of the far right.

Progressive responses have emerged both in Europe and Latin America, with varying results. Despite setbacks in a number of contexts (including Britain) Newman is optimistic on the prospects for the Left, despite all the obstacles that he has identified.

It takes exceptional skill to cover in depth so much material within such a short book and Newman succeeds admirably, while keeping the text accessible for readers - its tone is open and engaging.

The invites the reader to reflect for themselves, rather than simply offering ready made answers. This is not because the author doesn’t have his own views. He does. Morning Star readers won’t necessarily agree with some of them, either. But that is so much not the point.

The book’s strength is the encouragement to debate without sectarian preconceptions and reflecting on the implications for socialism for today and tomorrow.