The contributors to this volume draw on a non-dogmatic Marxist approach to explain the systemic and conjunctural dynamics of crisis inherent in global capitalism. Their analysis asks what is historically specific to capitalism's crises while avoiding catastrophic or defeatist claims. At the same time the volume situates left agency within actual patterns of resistance and class struggle to clarify the potential for transformative change.The cycle of resistance strengthened by the World Socal Forum and transnational activism is now punctuated by the experience of the Arab Spring, the agency of anti-systemic movements, left think tanks, the Occupy Wall Street Movement, labour unions, left parties in Europe such as Syrizia and Podemos and peoples' budgeting in Kerala, India. On the down side, we are witnessing the waning of the Workers Party in Brazil and serious challenges for South Africa's once powerful labour movement and still formative social justice activism. All these developments are assessed in this volume.This is the second volume in the Democratic Marxism series. It elaborates on crucial themes introduced in the first volume, Marxism in the 21st Century: Crisis, Critique and Struggle (edited by Michelle Williams and Vishwas Satgar).

Introduction - Vishwas SatgarPart One: Contemporary Understandings of Capitalism's Crises and Class StruggleChapter 1 From Marx to the Systemic Crises of Capitalist Civilisation - Vishwas SatgarChapter  2 Activist Understandings of the Crisis of 2008 - William K. CarrollPart Two: Capitalist Crisis and Left Responses in the Global NorthChapter 3 Occupy and the Dialectics of the Left in the United States - Leah-Hunt Hendrix and Isham ChristieChapter 4 Austerity and Resistance: The Politics of Labour in the Eurozone Crisis - Andreas Bieler and Jamie JordanChapter 5 Beyond Social Democratic and Communist Parties: LeftPolitical Organisation in Transition in Western Europe - Hilary WainwrightPart Three: Capitalist Crisis and Left Responses in the Global SouthChapter 6 Brazil: From Neoliberal Democracy to the End of the 'Lula Moment' - Alfredo Saad FilhoChapter 7 The Global Financial Crisis and 'Resilience': The Case of India - Sumangala DamodaranChapter 8 Real Wage Trends and the Labour Crisis in South Africa - Niall ReddyChapter 9 Seize Power! The Role of the Constitution in Unifying Social Justice Struggles in South Africa - Mark Heywood