Blood and Progress

Nick Hewlett is Professor of French Studies at the University of Warwick.

• AcknowledgementsIntroduction1. Non-violence as an imperative goalUtopiasModernity, liberalism and non-violence The Post-war period in the West Elias, Pinker and the ‘civilizing thesis’Feminism, feminization and maternalismModern medicine2. Capitalism, communism and violenceThe other side of modernity Communism and violenceUS violence abroad since 1945Structural violenceLate capitalism and its futures 3. Castro, humanism and revolutionHistory will absolve meCuba’s history of violenceCastro’s ethics of violenceInfluences on Castro’s thoughtCuba and the USA With and beyond Castro4. Marx, Engels and the place of violence in historyEngels’s theory of GewaltLenin and the October RevolutionThe structural violence of modernity(Re-)interpreting and complementing Marx and Engels’s ethics of violenceBalibar’s critique of Marx on violence5. Terror and terrorismDefining TerrorismTerrorism from above, terrorism from below The Middle East Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS)ConclusionsReferences and bibliographyIndex

'Nick Hewlett’s Blood and Progress constitutes an engaging meditation on the paradox of violence for the sake of peace. [It] is part of a growing literature which acknowledges the regrettable necessity of constrained violence in some cases for progressive social change... The dominant view that positive social change necessarily stems from non-violent struggle does a disservice to the reality of history. Blood and Progress is not only an important corrective to such a view but also an informed guide on the way forward.' - Guy Lancaster, Political Studies Review