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Boris Kagarlitsky

‘Boris Kagarlitsky is a man of enormous intellect and bravery ... I’ve always been stimulated by discussions with Boris and his relationship with thoughtful figures all around the world’ – Jeremy Corbyn MP

‘Perhaps the most prominent Marxist thinker in the post-Soviet space’ – Open Democracy

‘This brilliant and profound book is likely to become a classic’ – Jayati Ghosh, Professor of Economics, University of Massachusetts Amherst

Authoritarianism is rampant across the globe. Right-wing governments from Russia to America oversee wars from Ukraine to Palestine, while capitalism lurches from crisis to crisis, its citizens mired in poverty. Imprisoned Putin critic Boris Kagarlitsky confronts this stark reality, demanding a clear strategy from the left to dismantle this ever-darkening nightmare.

As well as bringing Russian and Western thinkers into dialogue, Kagarlitsky draws upon his experiences as a Russian dissident since the latter days of the Soviet Union in this detailed analysis of leftist strategy. As a Marxist, he engages in radical ideas including Universal Basic Income and decentralised collective ownership, as well as looking at historical and contemporary examples of revolution and dissent, covering the left’s response to the war in Ukraine.

Written just before Kagarlitsky’s imprisonment, The Long Retreat stands as a testament to subversive Russian literature. It asks if the left can put aside its paralysing sectarianism and conceits of ideological purity in order to transform society for the benefit of the global working class. Kagarlitsky believes it can, as long as it is unafraid to look critically at its own ideas and actions.

Boris Kagarlitsky is a Russian Marxist theoretician and sociologist who has been a political dissident in the former Soviet Union and the Russian Federation. He is the author of many books. In 2023 he was detained under Putin’s regime for speaking out against the war in Ukraine, and in February 2024 he was sentenced to five years in a penal colony.

Pluto Press

Transnational Institute

The Long Retreat: Strategies to Reverse the Decline of the Left

Renfrey Clarke

While the world's scientists and many of its inhabitants despair at the impact of climate change, corporate and military leaders see nothing but opportunities. For them, melting ice caps mean newly accessible fossil fuels, borders to be secured from 'climate refugees', social conflicts to be managed and more failed states in which to intervene. They are 'securing' their assets at the expanse of the planet and its inhabitants.

The Secure and the Dispossessed looks at these deadly approaches with a critical eye. It also considers the flip-side: that the legitimacy of the elite is under unprecedented pressure – from resistance by communities to resource grabs to those creating new ecological and socially just models for managing our energy, food and water. 

Topics covered include geoengineering, militarism, refugee protection, greenwashing and the agricultural crisis among others. Adaptation and resilience to a climate-changed world is desperately needed, but the form it will take will affect all of our futures.

The Secure and the Dispossessed: How the Military and Corporations are Shaping a Climate-Changed World