{"title":"Communist Lives","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the lives and legacies of influential figures in communist history. Explore biographies that reveal the ideologies, personal stories, and political impact of these revolutionaries and leaders.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"palmiro-togliatti-book-aldo-agosti-9781845117269","title":"Palmiro Togliatti","description":"Palmiro Togliatti could not have become leader of the Italian Communist Party at a more difficult time in the Party's history. In 1926, while he was away from Italy representing the Party in Moscow, Mussolini's Fascist government outlawed the organisation and arrested all the other leading Communists, including Antonio Gramsci, and Togliatti became leader - but at the cost of living in exile for nearly twenty years.Drawing on unprecedented access to private correspondence and newly available archives, this is the first full biography of this important Communist politician and intellectual. Like many successful politicians, Togliatti was a man of contradictions - the dedicated Party man who was also instrumental in creating the constitution of Republican Italy - whose personal charisma and political acumen kept him at the forefront of Italian politics for nearly forty years. Aldo Agosti explores Togliatti's intellectual development; his achievements and his sometimes criminal mistakes as the leading member of the Comintern; his complex relationship with Moscow; and his lasting impact on Italian politics. The result is a meticulous and fascinating life of one of Western Europe's most successful Communist leaders, which at the same time casts fresh light on the internal politics of the Comintern.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49614500364561,"sku":"GOR013501923","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1845117263.jpg?v=1751463258"},{"product_id":"antonio-gramsci-book-andrew-pearmain-9781838601614","title":"Antonio Gramsci","description":"A historical biography of the Italian philosopher\/politician Antonio Gramsci (1891-1973), considered one of the most important Marxist philosophers of the twentieth-century. As part of the Communist Lives series, Andrew Pearmain explores the life of Gramsci from his childhood, to his role in the newly formed Communist Party of Italy, and to his imprisonment and death in Turi di Bari, using recent archival research including material released by the Gramsci and Schucht family.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49736351056145,"sku":"NGR9781838601614","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50327685824785,"sku":"CIN1838601619G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1838601619.jpg?v=1751435257"},{"product_id":"georgi-dimitrov-book-marietta-stankova-9781838601713","title":"Georgi Dimitrov","description":"Georgi Dimitrov burst onto the international scene in 1933 as one of the Comintern operatives in Germany accused of the Reichstag fire. The Bulgarian Communist's spirited self-defence in the resulting Leipzig Trial made him a celebrity among Communists worldwide - particularly in the Soviet Union, where he became Secretary General of the Comintern after his acquittal. Popular opinion holds that this 'whirlwind', who defied Goering and the Nazis in full view of the world, subsequently became little more than a rubber stamp for Stalin. This lucid and fascinating biography - the first in English - reveals a more multifaceted treatment of Dimitrov, highlighting especially the deep complexity of his relationships with his two greatest political allies: Stalin and Tito. Using new and unpublished sources, Marietta Stankova brilliantly reconstructs the dilemmas that Dimitrov faced throughout his long and varied political career. This definitive and long-overdue biography makes a major contribution to the history of Bulgaria and of the Balkans as a whole, as well as to the field of Communist Studies.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ -","offer_id":51201505362193,"sku":"","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51201507295505,"sku":"NGR9781838601713","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1838601716.jpg?v=1751378409"},{"product_id":"maurice-thorez-book-john-bulaitis-9781838606718","title":"Maurice Thorez","description":"Maurice Thorez (1900-1964) was a major figure in the history of twentieth-century France and European Communism for over three decades. Under his leadership, the French Communist Party (PCF) became France's largest political party and one of the most important communist parties in the West. Born in a mining village, Thorez left school at the age of 12 and would go on to helm the PCF in a rapid rise that paralleled Stalin's consolidation of power in the Soviet Union. After World War II, he became a minister, and briefly deputy prime minister, before the Cold War excluded communists from political power. The PCF became known as 'the party of Maurice Thorez', as a leader cult around Thorez was created that mirrored the cult of personality' around Stalin.  This book is based on a wealth of original source material, including Thorez's diaries and notebooks. John Bulaitis outlines how Thorez's political life intersected with and was shaped by key historical events. At its heart, the book explores the paradox of the mass communist movement in France: its ability to fuse attachment to the French nation with fervent loyalty to the Soviet Union and Stalinist practices.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52343370449169,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52343371202833,"sku":"NLS9781838606718","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781838606718.jpg?v=1758173665"},{"product_id":"wladyslaw-gomulka-book-anita-prazmowska-9781848851337","title":"Wladyslaw Gomulka","description":"Wladyslaw Gomulka was a key player within Polish politics for over four decades and one of the most influential of the East European Communist Party leaders. As the architect of the 'Polish road to socialism', he claimed for Poland the right to define its own model of economic and political development, yet he was nevertheless committed to Poland's membership of the Soviet bloc.  Anita Prazmowska here traces Gomulka's progression from a poorly educated worker in the Krosno district of Poland, to his election as First Party Secretary in 1956 and finally to his forced resignation in 1970. She considers Gomulka's pivotal role in building a communist-led resistance in occupied Poland during World War II as well as the critical part he played in post-war Polish politics and the 'de-Stalinization' process. Incorporating recently released and previously unpublished sources, this book provides a vivid picture of how Communism functioned in Poland and an original analysis of Poland's international role in the Cold War era.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"- \/ - \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":52423168655633,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52423212728593,"sku":"NLS9781848851337","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781848851337.jpg?v=1759149213"},{"product_id":"antonio-gramsci-book-andrew-pearmain-9781838601607","title":"Antonio Gramsci","description":"A historical biography of the Italian philosopher\/politician Antonio Gramsci (1891-1973), considered one of the most important Marxist philosophers of the twentieth-century. As part of the Communist Lives series, Andrew Pearmain explores the life of Gramsci from his childhood, to his role in the newly formed Communist Party of Italy, and to his imprisonment and death in Turi di Bari, using recent archival research including material released by the Gramsci and Schucht family.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":52685290078481,"sku":"NLS9781838601607","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/9781838601607.jpg?v=1762325211"},{"product_id":"maurice-thorez-book-john-bulaitis-9781845117252","title":"Maurice Thorez","description":"Maurice Thorez (1900-1964) was a major figure in the history of twentieth-century France and European Communism for over three decades. Under his leadership, the French Communist Party (PCF) became France's largest political party and one of the most important communist parties in the West. 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