Politics of betrayal : renegades and ex-radicals from mussolini to christopher hitchens.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Lavelle, Ashley.

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Radicalism--History--20th century.

Radicalism.

History.

Physical Description:

xii, 259 pages ; 24 cm

Place of Publication:

[Place of publication not identified] : Manchester Univ Press, 2013.

Summary:

The radical who becomes a conservative is a common theme in political history. Benito Mussolini, the Italian socialist who became a fascist, is the best-known example, but there have been many others, including the numerous American Trotskyists and Marxists who later became neo-conservatives, anti-communists or, in some instances, McCarthyists. The politics of betrayal examines why several one-time radicals subsequently became part of the establishment in various countries, including the former Black Panther Party leader turned Republican Eldridge Cleaver, the Australian communist Adela Pankhurst who became an admirer of the Nazis, and the ex-radical journalist Christopher Hitchens, whose defection to the neo--conservative camp of George W. Bush's administration following 11 September 2001 offers one of the most surprising instances of the phenomenon in recent times. Book jacket.

Contents:

Part I Worlds turned upside down 17

Introduction to part I 19

1 Turncoats and collaborationists: early twentieth-century renegades 21

2 'Turn on, tune in, drop out' ... drop back in: 1960s ex-radicals 39

Conclusion to part I 58

Part II The experience of defeat 59

Introduction to part II 61

3 The First World War: a defeat borne of nationalist bloodshed 63

4 1960s radicals and political defeat: a lost cause? 82

5 The full force of the law: defeat by state repression? 94

Conclusion to part II 103

Part III Flawed radicals 107

Introduction to part III 109

6 Flawed early twentieth-century radicals: Mussolini, Parvus, and co. 111

7 Overstated radicals 132

8 For thirty pieces of silver? 151

Conclusion to part III 162

Part IV The renegade 'mentality' 167

Introduction to part IV 169

9 Psychohistory 173

10 Arthur Koestler, the twentieth-century 'sceptic', and other Cold War pilgrims 195

Conclusion to part IV 224.

ISBN:

071908816X

9780719088162

OCLC:

828720489