Focusing on the role of Canadian Communists, this book sheds light on their significant yet often overlooked contributions to Canadian labor history. It aims to rectify the imbalance in understanding this pivotal aspect of the nation's development, offering valuable insights into the influence of Canadian Bolsheviks. Angus's work is essential for anyone seeking a deeper comprehension of this important historical narrative.
Exploring English Canadian identity, the book investigates whether diverse discourses can foster unity rather than fragmentation. Ian Angus delves into the interplay between global social movements and identity politics, drawing on the theories of Harold Innis and George Grant. By extending their insights, he crafts a contemporary philosophy that addresses pressing issues such as multiculturalism and environmentalism, offering a nuanced perspective on the complexities of Canadian identity in today's world.
Communication, Consumerism, and Social Movements
The book explores how the physical aspects of communication media shape social relationships, proposing that these relationships should be viewed as "technology-identity complexes." It applies this framework to analyze consumer society and the social movements that challenge it, presenting a distinct era of communication. Through this lens, the author examines the interplay between technology and identity in contemporary social dynamics.
Dispossession and Resistance in the Making of Capitalism
The book explores the historical connection between capitalism and the dispossession of working people from their land over five centuries. It highlights how enclosures transformed common land into private property, forcing peasant farmers into labor. Ian Angus chronicles the persistent resistance against this dispossession, showcasing a range of responses from non-compliance to rebellion, including vivid accounts of protests aimed at reclaiming access to common resources. Additionally, it reveals the links between British enclosures and imperial expansion, challenging traditional narratives of agricultural change.
An evocative and well-documented refutation of the idea that overpopulation is at the root of our many environmental problems today.
"For five centuries, the development of capitalism has been inextricably connected to the expropriation of working people from the land they depended on for subsistence. Through ruling class assaults known as enclosures or clearances, shared common land became privately-owned capital, and peasant farmers became propertyless laborers who could only survive by working for the owners of land or capital. As Ian Angus documents in The War Against the Commons, mass opposition to dispossession has never ceased. His dramatic account provides new insights into an opposition that ranged from stubborn non-compliance to open rebellion, including eyewitness accounts of campaigns in which thousands of protestors tore down fences and restored common access to pastures and forests. Contrary to many accounts that treat the reorganization of agriculture as a purely domestic matter, Angus shows that there were close connections between the enclosures in Britain and imperial expansion"--
Der Titel des Buches verweist auf den bevorstehenden dramatischen Wandel der Umwelt im 21. Jahrhundert, verursacht durch menschliches Handeln. Ian Angus verbindet Natur- und Sozialwissenschaften, um die Ursachen der planetaren Krise zu analysieren und fordert einen radikalen sozialen Wandel hin zu einer ökosozialistischen Gesellschaft.