Archive of Weekend Read

The global far-right is returning at an alarming rate, with the latest example being that of Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil (analysed by Perry Anderson in the latest LRB). But, is this fascism? The first thing we need to know before we can answer that is a full definition of fascism as an historical phenomena. In this extract from his republished classic Fascism and Dictatorship, Nicos Poulantzas explains the relationship between fascism and the dominant classes.

Today is Holocaust Memorial Day, a day of commemoration dedicated to the remembrance of those who suffered in The Holocaust under Nazi persecution, and in subsequent genocides in Cambodia, Rwanda, Bosnia, Darfur and elsewhere. In this, an extract from Why Did the Heavens Not Darken?: The "Final Solution" in History, Arno J. Mayer analyses the structure of rememberence and the task of the historian in relation to the Nazi Judeocide.

Brexit has thrown the British state into crisis. This week's defeat for Theresa May's proposed deal was the single biggest by a sitting government in the modern era. As Tom Nairn writes, "only a few years ago, the break-up of Britain was almost inconceivable". Not so much anymore. However, these words weren't written in 2019, but 1977. In this, the return of Verso's Weekend Reads, we republish Tom Nairn classic account of the nature, and the twilight, of the British state.

"We must dare to point out the Caribbean stain on France's face, since so many of the French seem determined to tolerate no shadow of it."