Leftist Magazine?

[Caj]

So I'm thinking of subscribing to a leftist magazine. The ones that I am considering now are Z Magazine and Monthly Review. If you have any experience with either of these how would you rate them? If you have experience with both how would you compare and contrast them? Also, are there any better alternatives to these? Thanks.

[socialistjustin]

I used to read Z magazine and its run by Michael Albert who believes in Participatory Economics. It was a decent read for sure. I havent bought one in awhile so I am not sure what the current state of the magazine is though.


I have heard good things about Anarcho Syndicalist Review which might be a good one to pick up as a libertarian socialist.

[charley63]

I've been a ZNet sustainer for about a decade. I don't pay for any other leftist site. I don't subscribe to the print mag, since an electronic version is included in the sustainer subscription.

[Veovis]

I've picked up copies of Z, LeftTurn, and International Socialist Review (ISR) and all are pretty good.

[RadioRaheem84]

MR
Monthly Review :thumbup1:

[DaringMehring]

MR's zine at least is garbage; they're always supporting their favored bourgeoisie or fake socialists, and Keynsian economics. I think they mainly come from Communists who were not in the CP, and then through time who peeled off from the CP. As would expect from that background, they're a mix of social democrats and anti-imperialists in the bad sense. They're dinosaurs and the sooner they're forgotten the better.

ZMag is at least more progressive, but it suffers from limp anarchist syndrome. An eclectic mess including plenty of bourgeois elements, who can't really do anything. If you read them for more than six months, you'll see that they just run in circles.

[Caj]

MR's zine at least is garbage; they're always supporting their favored bourgeoisie or fake socialists, and Keynsian economics. I think they mainly come from Communists who were not in the CP, and then through time who peeled off from the CP. As would expect from that background, they're a mix of social democrats and anti-imperialists in the bad sense. They're dinosaurs and the sooner they're forgotten the better.

ZMag is at least more progressive, but it suffers from limp anarchist syndrome. An eclectic mess including plenty of bourgeois elements, who can't really do anything. If you read them for more than six months, you'll see that they just run in circles.

Do you have any suggestions for alternatives?

[DaringMehring]

Do you have any suggestions for alternatives?

To be honest, I check both those web sites from time to time.

I also check socialistworker.org (ISO), politicalaffairs.net (CPUSA), mltoday.org (Stalinoids), though I don't agree with either, and a host of other sites.

Generally, they all give you the same stories you can get from AP/reuters, NY times, etc. just with their spin added. You can just get the news from those sources and skip the added "analysis." Then you can read the lefts, with an understanding of their politics, so you can see how the different tendencies express their politics.

In that light, you can see my denunciation of MR and ZNet is not supposed to guide you to some mystical grail of a Holy Journal. You could criticize most left journals, as the burnt out remnants of failed politics. I would read them all critically.

I find some left-com and Trotskyist sources ok. Personally I recommend www.the-spark.net. But everything should be read critically.

[The Idler]

There is a 3 month free-trial of Socialist Standard (http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/standardonline/). Annual subscription is only about £15 domestic and £25 international anyway.