Alex Callinicos
Encyclopedia
Alexander Theodore Callinicos (born 24 July 1950, Southern Rhodesia
- now Zimbabwe
) is a Trotskyist
political theorist, a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party
and its International Secretary, and is Director of the Centre for European Studies at King's College London
. He is also editor of International Socialism
, the Socialist Workers Party's theoretical journal.
. During World War II
his Greek father was active in the Greek Resistance
to Nazi
occupation, whilst his mother, the Hon. Ædgyth Bertha Milburg Mary Antonia Frances Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, was the daughter of the 2nd Lord Acton
. He was educated at St George's College, Harare
.
Callinicos himself first became involved in revolutionary politics as a student at Balliol College, Oxford
, from which he received his BA
. His first writings for the International Socialists (forerunners of the SWP) were an analysis of the student movement of the period. In 1977, Callinicos married Joanna Seddon, a fellow Oxford doctoral student. He received his DPhil at Oxford.
His early writings focused on southern Africa
and the French structuralist-Marxist
philosopher Louis Althusser
. In the 1980s, Callinicos was elected to the central committee of the SWP, a position he still retains.
Callinicos participated in the Counter-Summit to the IMF
/World Bank
Meeting in Prague, September 2000 and the demonstration against the G8
in Genoa
, June 2001. He has also been involved in organising the Social Forum
movement in Europe. He was a contributor to Dictionnaire Marx Contemporain (2001), and has written a number of articles in New Left Review
.
He was Professor of Politics at the University of York
before being appointed Professor of European Studies at King's College London
in September 2005. He succeeded the late Chris Harman
as editor of International Socialism
in January 2010 and is a British correspondent for Actuel Marx
.
Southern Rhodesia
Southern Rhodesia was the name of the British colony situated north of the Limpopo River and the Union of South Africa. From its independence in 1965 until its extinction in 1980, it was known as Rhodesia...
- now Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
) is a Trotskyist
Trotskyism
Trotskyism is the theory of Marxism as advocated by Leon Trotsky. Trotsky considered himself an orthodox Marxist and Bolshevik-Leninist, arguing for the establishment of a vanguard party of the working-class...
political theorist, a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party
Socialist Workers Party (Britain)
The Socialist Workers Party is a far left party in Britain founded by Tony Cliff. The SWP's student section has groups at a number of universities...
and its International Secretary, and is Director of the Centre for European Studies at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
. He is also editor of International Socialism
International Socialism (journal)
International Socialism is a British-based quarterly magazine of socialist theory published by the Socialist Workers Party. It is currently edited by Alex Callinicos, who took over after the death of Chris Harman in November 2009....
, the Socialist Workers Party's theoretical journal.
Biography
Callinicos is a descendant, through his mother, of the 19th century English historian Lord ActonJohn Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton
John Emerich Edward Dalberg-Acton, 1st Baron Acton, KCVO, DL , known as Sir John Dalberg-Acton, 8th Bt from 1837 to 1869 and usually referred to simply as Lord Acton, was an English Catholic historian, politician, and writer...
. During World War II
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
his Greek father was active in the Greek Resistance
Greek Resistance
The Greek Resistance is the blanket term for a number of armed and unarmed groups from across the political spectrum that resisted the Axis Occupation of Greece in the period 1941–1944, during World War II.-Origins:...
to Nazi
Nazism
Nazism, the common short form name of National Socialism was the ideology and practice of the Nazi Party and of Nazi Germany...
occupation, whilst his mother, the Hon. Ædgyth Bertha Milburg Mary Antonia Frances Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, was the daughter of the 2nd Lord Acton
Richard Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 2nd Baron Acton
Richard Maximilian Lyon-Dalberg-Acton, 2nd Baron Acton, KCVO, JP, DL was a British Peer and diplomat. Despite his British roots and long service, having been born abroad, he was not formally a British subject, until he was naturalised by Act of Parliament in 1911...
. He was educated at St George's College, Harare
St George's College, Harare
St George's College, is a private Catholic boys school based in Harare, Zimbabwe. It is recognised as one of the best secondary schools in Africa...
.
Callinicos himself first became involved in revolutionary politics as a student at Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College, Oxford
Balliol College , founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England but founded by a family with strong Scottish connections....
, from which he received his BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
. His first writings for the International Socialists (forerunners of the SWP) were an analysis of the student movement of the period. In 1977, Callinicos married Joanna Seddon, a fellow Oxford doctoral student. He received his DPhil at Oxford.
His early writings focused on southern Africa
Southern Africa
Southern Africa is the southernmost region of the African continent, variably defined by geography or geopolitics. Within the region are numerous territories, including the Republic of South Africa ; nowadays, the simpler term South Africa is generally reserved for the country in English.-UN...
and the French structuralist-Marxist
Structural Marxism
Structural Marxism was an approach to Marxist philosophy based on structuralism, primarily associated with the work of the French philosopher Louis Althusser and his students. It was influential in France during the 1960s and 1970s, and also came to influence philosophers, political theorists and...
philosopher Louis Althusser
Louis Althusser
Louis Pierre Althusser was a French Marxist philosopher. He was born in Algeria and studied at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, where he eventually became Professor of Philosophy....
. In the 1980s, Callinicos was elected to the central committee of the SWP, a position he still retains.
Callinicos participated in the Counter-Summit to the IMF
International Monetary Fund
The International Monetary Fund is an organization of 187 countries, working to foster global monetary cooperation, secure financial stability, facilitate international trade, promote high employment and sustainable economic growth, and reduce poverty around the world...
/World Bank
World Bank
The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...
Meeting in Prague, September 2000 and the demonstration against the G8
G8
The Group of Eight is a forum, created by France in 1975, for the governments of seven major economies: Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1997, the group added Russia, thus becoming the G8...
in Genoa
Genoa
Genoa |Ligurian]] Zena ; Latin and, archaically, English Genua) is a city and an important seaport in northern Italy, the capital of the Province of Genoa and of the region of Liguria....
, June 2001. He has also been involved in organising the Social Forum
European Social Forum
The European Social Forum is a recurring conference held by members of the alter-globalization movement . In the first few years after it started in 2002 the conference was held every year, but later it became biannual due to difficulties with finding host countries...
movement in Europe. He was a contributor to Dictionnaire Marx Contemporain (2001), and has written a number of articles in New Left Review
New Left Review
New Left Review is a 160-page journal, published every two months from London, devoted to world politics, economy and culture. Often compared to the French-language Les Temps modernes, it is associated with Verso Books , and regularly features the essays of authorities on contemporary social...
.
He was Professor of Politics at the University of York
University of York
The University of York , is an academic institution located in the city of York, England. Established in 1963, the campus university has expanded to more than thirty departments and centres, covering a wide range of subjects...
before being appointed Professor of European Studies at King's College London
King's College London
King's College London is a public research university located in London, United Kingdom and a constituent college of the federal University of London. King's has a claim to being the third oldest university in England, having been founded by King George IV and the Duke of Wellington in 1829, and...
in September 2005. He succeeded the late Chris Harman
Chris Harman
Chris Harman was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party...
as editor of International Socialism
International Socialism (journal)
International Socialism is a British-based quarterly magazine of socialist theory published by the Socialist Workers Party. It is currently edited by Alex Callinicos, who took over after the death of Chris Harman in November 2009....
in January 2010 and is a British correspondent for Actuel Marx
Actuel Marx
Actuel Marx is an international journal of Marxist studies, founded by Jacques Bidet and Jacques Texier, published by the Presses universitaires de France under the concourses of the Université de Paris Ouest - Nanterre La Défense and the CNRS....
.
Books
- 1976: Althusser's Marxism (London: Pluto PressPluto PressPluto Press is a radical, progressive, independent publisher based in London. Pluto Press specialises in "progressive, critical perspectives in politics and the social sciences", and describes itself as "one of the world’s leading radical publishers". It has published authors such as Noam Chomsky,...
) ISBN 0-904383-02-4 - 1977: Southern Africa after Soweto (with John RogersJohn Rogers-Europeans:*John Rogers , editor and part translator of the Matthew Bible, and the first English Protestant martyr under Queen Mary...
) (London: Pluto Press), ISBN 0-904383-42-3 - 1981: Southern Africa after Zimbabwe (London: Pluto) ISBN 0-86104-336-7
- 1982: Is there a future for Marxism? (London: Macmillan). ISBN 0-333-28477-1
- 1983: Marxism and Philosophy (Oxford Paperbacks) (Oxford: Clarendon). ISBN 0-19-876126-0
- 1983: The revolutionary ideas of Karl Marx (London: Bookmarks). ISBN 0-906224-09-8
- 1985: South Africa: the Road to Revolution (Toronto: International Socialists). ISBN 0-905998-55-3
- 1985: The Great Strike : the miners’ strike of 1984-5 and its lessons (London: Socialist Worker) ISBN 0-905998-50-2
- 1986: The Revolutionary Road to Socialism (London: Socialist Workers Party). ISBN 0-905998-53-7
- 1987: The Changing Working Class: Essays on Class Structure Today (with Chris HarmanChris HarmanChris Harman was a British journalist and political activist, and a member of the Central Committee of the Socialist Workers Party...
) (London: Bookmarks) ISBN 0-906224-40-3 - 1988: South Africa Between Reform and Revolution (London: Bookmarks). ISBN 0-906224-46-2
- 1988: Making History: Agency, Structure, and Change in Social Theory (Ithaca, N.Y.: Cornell University Press). ISBN 0-8014-2121-7
- 1989: Marxist Theory (editor) (Oxford: Oxford University Press). ISBN 0-19-827294-4
- 1990: Trotskyism (Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press). ISBN 0-8166-1904-2
- 1991: The Revenge of History: Marxism and the East European Revolutions ISBN 0-271-00767-2
- 1991: Against Postmodernism: a Marxist critique (Cambridge: Polity Press). ISBN 0-312-04224-8
- 1992: Between Apartheid and Capitalism: conversations with South African socialists (editor) (London: Bookmarks). ISBN 0-906224-68-3
- 1994: Marxism and the New Imperialism (London ; Chicago, Ill. : Bookmarks). ISBN 0-906224-81-0
- 1995: Theories and Narratives (Cambridge: Polity Press). ISBN 0-7456-1201-6
- 1995: Race and Class (London: Bookmark Publications). ISBN 0-906224-83-7
- 1995: Socialists in the trade unions (London: Bookmarks) ISBN 1-898876-01-0
- 1999: Social Theory: Historical Introduction (New York: New York University Press). ISBN 0-8147-1593-1
- 2000: Equality (Themes for the 21st Century) (Cambridge: Polity Press). ISBN 0-7456-2324-7
- 2002: Against the Third Way (Cambridge: Polity Press). ISBN 0-7456-2674-2
- 2003: An anti-Capitalist manifesto (Cambridge: Polity Press). ISBN 0-7456-2903-2
- 2003: New Mandarins of American Power: the Bush administration’s plans for the world (Cambridge: Polity Press). ISBN 0-7456-3274-2
- 2006: The Resources of Critique (Cambridge: Polity). ISBN 0-7456-3160-6
- 2009: Imperialism and Global Political Economy (Cambridge, Polity). ISBN 0-7456-4045-1
- 2010: Bonfire of Illusions: The Twin Crises of the Liberal World (Polity). ISBN 0-7456-4876-2
Articles
- "The Anti-Capitalist Movement And The Revolutionary Left"
- "The 'New Middle Class' and socialists" (1983)
- "The grand strategy of the American Empire"
- "Plumbing the depths: Marxism and the Holocaust"
- "Interview with Alex Callinicos: The Imperial Assault on the Middle East"
- "Imperialism and Global Political Economy", International Socialism, 108, Autumn 2005.
- "Where is the radical left going?", International Socialism, 120, Autumn 2008.