The lost Politburo transcripts

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Luisa Passerini

This book is based on the oral life histories of about 70 men and women workers, born between the end of the last century and 1920, which are combined with sources such as police reports, documentary films and judicial documents. The interviewees recount their visions of life, of history, and of themselves; they call to memory the fascist period, and the ambivalent relationship between the Duce and the masses. A picture of resistance emerges, through such minor episodes as jokes and graffiti, wearing a red tie or whistling an old socialist tune, and through major issues such as abortions carried out in direct opposition to state propaganda. Acquiescence is also recalled, however, in the enrollment of children in fascist youth organisations or in the use of new state-controlled social services. The final chapter reconstructs an event which acquired great symbolic meaning: the eloquent and unexpected silence of the Fiat workers before Mussolini in 1939 at the inauguration of the Miraflori factory.

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Michael C. Dawson

Focuses on the 1920s, 1930s, and the Black Power movement to examine successive failures of socialists and Marxists to enlist sympathetic blacks, and white leftists' refusal to fight for the cause of racial equality which led to black leftists separating from the groups and turning to the hard left or staying independent. Calls for current discontent to be mobilized within the black community to active opposition to the social and economic status quo through a return to its radical roots.

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Kevin J. Middlebrook

"First major comprehensive analysis in English of the post-revolutionary evolution of organized labor from 1920 to present. Argues that before labor plays a major role in Mexico's political and economic future, it must democratize internally; the State also must end direct manipulation of unions"--Handbook of Latin American Studies, v. 57.

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L.C.B. Seaman

This classic text examines the story of European affairs and international relations from 1850 to 1920. Authoritative and concise, it emphasizes interpretation rather than the chronological narrative of the facts.