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Blackshirts and Reds

Rational Fascism and the Overthrow of Communism

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Blackshirts and Reds

Written by: Michael Parenti
Narrated by: Timothy Andrés Pabon
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About this listen

A bold and entertaining exploration of the epic struggles of yesterday and today.

Blackshirts and Reds explores some of the big issues of our time: fascism, capitalism, communism, revolution, democracy, and ecology. These terms are often bandied about but seldom explored in the original and exciting way that has become Michael Parenti's trademark.

Parenti shows how "rational fascism" renders service to capitalism, how corporate power undermines democracy, and how revolutions are a mass empowerment against the forces of exploitative privilege. He also maps out the external and internal forces that destroyed communism, and the disastrous impact of the "free-market" victory on Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He affirms the relevance of taboo ideologies like Marxism, demonstrating the importance of class analysis in understanding political realities and dealing with the ongoing collision between ecology and global corporatism.

Written with lucid and compelling style, this book goes beyond truncated modes of thought, inviting us to entertain iconoclastic views and to ask why things are as they are.

©1997 Michael Parenti (P)2022 Tantor
Americas Ideologies & Doctrines International Relations Politics & Government United States Capitalism Socialism Liberalism
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This book is amazing. I wish this was the very first book I read after becoming a socialist, although now, after being a little bit better educated on Marxist theory, I still thoroughly enjoyed it.

Absolutely brilliant

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Liked it! It’s good to learn what I should’ve learned in elementary school or, at least by junior high.

All of it! History is so juicy

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Excellent analysis, easy to understand and an enjoyable listen. It was quick to get through in only 2 listening sessions.

Thoroughly digestible and convincing

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This answered so many of my questions about the connection between capital and foreign policy. Highly recommend.

Required Reading

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Parenti is a vastly under appreciated thinker and far too few people have even heard of him.

Please read this masterpiece by Parenti

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