Eros and Revolution

The Eros effect helps us to understand social movements as a logical unfolding of the practice of thousands if not millions of people as they rise up to change their lives.

Tying his intellectual concerns to social movements in South Korea, Germany and dozens of countries, social theorist George Katsiaficas traces the evolution of history from the global eruption of 1968 and the Black Panther Party to the 1980 Gwangju Uprising and Occupy Wall Street. His theory of the Eros effect helps us to understand social movements as a logical unfolding of the practice of thousands if not millions of people as they rise up to change their lives. In certain circumstances, the unexpected happens and is a source of hope to those that dream, aspire, work, and love for a better life. This book gives many examples, both historic and contemporary, of general strikes, insurrections, and revolutions from around the world, constituting the concrete realization of freedom in history. The material included in this work inspires hope—hope to life more freely and cooperatively—and it can motivate us to take risks and be daring, to believe that bold new ideas can lead to fundamental changes in our society.

What People Are Saying

“Both inciting and insightful, the essays in Eros and Revolution nurture hidden histories while besting opponents with daring ripostes. In the end, everything that Katsiaficas writes is a love letter, and no other movement-based scholar conveys struggle's lessons with such grace and such force.” AK Thompson, author of Black Bloc, White Riot

“This splendid book brings together some of George Katsiaficas’s most important essays... Read as a collection, the pieces are sometimes provocative, sometimes inspiring, but never depressing or dull. Anyone who cares about democracy should read this book.” Andrej Grubacic, author of Wobblies and Zapatistas and Living at the Edges of Capitalism: Adventures in Exile and Mutual Aid

“George Katsiaficas brings a distinctive blend of scholarly rigour and activist commitment to all his writings. His subject matter spans the globe, and is consistently inspired by personal involvement in the histories he analyzes.” Victor Wallis, author of Socialist Practice: Histories and Theories

“Collected in this volume are the fruits of a lifetime of penetrating insights, remarkable escapades, and an abiding love for humanity... Katsiaficas's ‘eros effect’ seeks to rescue the revolutionary value of spontaneity, to put human emotion at the centre of our capacity for renewal and rebellion.” Chris Carlsson, San Francisco historian, author, photographer, bicycling grandfather. His new novel, When Shells Crumble, is forthcoming.

About the Author

George Katsiaficas is a social theorist who is known for his many writings on social movements, including The Imagination of the New Left: A Global Analysis of 1968 and The Subversion of Politics: European Autonomous Social Movements and the Decolonization of Everyday Life. He was a professor of humanities and sociology at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston for more than three decades.