Yesterday's Tomorrow

How the communist revolution failed, presented in a series of catastrophes.

The communist project in the twentieth century grew out of utopian desires to oppose oppression and abolish class structures, to give individual lives collective meaning. The attempts to realize these ideals became a series of colossal failures. In Yesterday's Tomorrow, Bini Adamczak examines these catastrophes, proceeding in reverse chronological order from 1939 to 1917: the Hitler-Stalin Pact, the Great Terror of 1937, the failure of the European Left to prevent National Socialism, Stalin's rise to power, and the bloody rebellion at Kronstadt. In the process, she seeks a future that never happened.Foreword by Raymond Geuss
1 End
2 Farewell
3 Party
4 Class
5 Promise
6 Revolution
PS
Notes
References"In her stupendous Yesterday’s Tomorrow, Bini Adamczak provides nothing less than the definitive account of what one cannot but call the ineradicable, absolutely authentic, Communist desire, the Idea of a society which fully overcomes domination...After reading this book and trying to select quotes from it, I was overwhelmed by a weird feeling that the entire book should be quoted.”
—Slavoj Zizek, The Philosophical Salon"Bini Adamczak’s book is full of communist desire. To secure the ground for that vision she descends through the underworld of the Soviet experiment, confronting all of its demons, defeats, errors, and betrayals. The result is an eloquent and often moving prelude to a communist future.”
—Michael Hardt, Duke University; coauthor of AssemblyBini Adamczak is a Berlin-based social theorist and artist who writes on political theory, queer politics, and the past future of revolutions. She is the author of Communism for Kids (MIT Press).