leftword books

LeftWord Books in 2018

2018 has been an eventful year for us at LeftWord Books. We've published 7 books till now and there are 8 more titles in our schedule for this year. This blog is a brief review of our books this year and also includes the reviews that our books received, their excerpts from various publications, interviews of our authors and events around our books. *********************************** Selected Writings of Lenin 'Struggling uncompromisingly with the reformists and all kinds of distortionists[...]

LeftWord Books in Kolkata: New Developments

At the start of this month, Seagull Books shifted into a new home at 36C, Shyama Prasad Mukherjee Road in Kolkata, 700025. Already into their 36th year, Seagull Books has also opened a new space in Delhi's Maharani Bagh. LeftWord Books has a special designated shelf at Seagull Bookstore in Kolkata. All our new titles and titles from our back-list are available at the Seagull Bookstore. We are planning to organize events at Seagull Books' space in the form of reading groups, small poetry sessions[...]

Erdogan’s Dream and Our Struggle: An Interview with Burhan Sönmez.

On June 24, Turkey voters decided in the favor of Tayyip Erdogan and his Justice and Development Party (AKP) in both the presidential and parliamentary elections. The elections were called in advance and came after the narrowly approved referendum last year which gave enormous powers to the President and abolished the post of Prime Minister. Erdogan's AKP Party also secured a majority in the Parliament with its allies although its vote share got reduced from the last elections. Vijay Prashad and[...]

In solidarity with Teesta Setalvad

In the times when the government institutions are happily dismantling the democratic values enshrined in the constitution of the country, renowned civil rights activist Teesta Setalvad was detained by police in Varanasi yesterday. She was in Varanasi to attend a youth training camp organized by Samajvadi Jana Parishad and to deliver a speech on 'Communalism and Education'.  Teesta Setalvad, in a Facebook live, said that she had been arrested on the orders of the higher authority. On 21st Septem[...]

The Revolution of Ordinary People: Russia, 1917

Lenin did not make the Revolution in 1917. Nor did Stalin. Nor Trotsky. They each provided crucial leadership, with Lenin’s role being essential from April 1917 onwards. But they were part of a tidal wave that had first risen in 1905, crested and then rose again during the Great War. This tidal wave was lifted by ordinary people – factory workers, landless peasants, housewives, soldiers, students and those who barely found the means to survive. It is they who made the Revolution happen in [...]