The Socialist Awakening: What's Different Now About the Left

"A person of the left, Judis specializes in speaking truth to liberals." - E.J. Dionne Jr., The Washington Post

As the pandemic depression lays bare the failure of market capitalism worldwide, and as protesters flood the streets in unprecedented numbers seeking racial and economic equality, many of those disillusioned with the current state of things are looking toward socialism. How did this happen? Why now?

John Judis, himself a veteran of socialist movements, explores how an ideology thought to be long dead has taken hold as a broad movement among younger people dissatisfied with mainstream politics in the United States, Great Britain, Western Europe, and Latin America. From Karl Marx to Eduard Bernstein, Eugene Debs to Victor Berger, Bernie Sanders to Jeremy Corbyn, The Socialist Awakening chronicles the rebirth of an idea driven by a rising anti-capitalist resentment among those looking to reclaim public power over the direction of private enterprise—an idea that has become urgent in the wake of the pandemic and the economic depression.

"Completing the trilogy he began with The Populist Explosion and The Nationalist Revival, journalist and political analyst Judis offers a cogent, incisive examination of growing interest in socialist ideals." — Kirkus Reviews