Marta Harnecker

Marta Harnecker is a Chilean sociologist, political scientist, journalist and activist. Harnecker, a descendant of Austrian immigrants, was a Roman Catholic in her childhood. She visited Cuba in 1960

Early life

After studying with Louis Althusser in Paris she returned to her native Chile. Upon her return to Chile in 1968, she got caught up in the fall of president Salvador Allende and the coup by General Augusto Pinochet and was forced into exile. In Cuba she founded and runs the research institute Memoria Popular Latinoamerica (MEPLA) and continues to write.

Publications

Harnecker has published over 60 books to date including The Basic Concepts of Historical Materialism and The Left after Seattle. Her most recent books are Hugo Chávez Frias: un hombre, un pueblo, Venezuela: Militares junto al pueblo and Venezuela: una revolución sui generis which reflect her support of the Bolivarian revolution. (Source: Zed Books, publisher of Rebuilding the Left (London, 2007)). Her latest book is entitled A World to Build and it was published in English in January 2015. On August 15, 2014, Marta Harnecker accepted the 2013 Liberator’s Prize for Critical Thought, awarded for this book.

• Harnecker, Marta (2015): A World to Build, Monthly Review Press. ISBN 978-1-58367-467-3.
• Harnecker, Marta (2010): Ideas for the Struggle, Socialist Interventions Pamphlet Series.
• Harnecker, Marta (1999): Haciendo posible lo imposible: La izquierda en el umbral del siglo XXI, Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 429 Seiten. ISBN 968-23-2187-5
• Harnecker, Marta (1990): América Latina, izquerda y crisis actual: Izquierda y crisis actual, Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 305 Seiten. ISBN 968-23-1635-9
• Harnecker, Marta (1986): La Revolución Social: Lenin y América Latina, Siglo Veintiuno Editores, 307 Seiten. ISBN 968-23-1385-6

• Chavez según Harnecker en el periódico chileno Qué pasa (visited 18 August 2008)
• http://pueblounido-peru.blogspot.com/2008/12/martha-harnecker-opina.html

Commendations

To me, this is a book which speaks out to proponents of socialist revolution and ordinary people... a book which could be very useful to everyone. In the chapter dealing with the organic crisis in the left, Harnecker analyzes what has happened and makes some very important proposals about political organization. - Hugo Chavez, President of the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

This book is an illuminating overview of the revolutionary left, particularly in Latin America, and its failings in the second part of the 20th century. Essential reading for all those who are trying to revive the left to meet new challenges. - Samir Amin about Rebuilding the Left.

Full of observations, analyses and reflections which are extremely useful for the times we live in. Harnecker’s personal knowledge of so many social and political movements makes this book particularly important. - Francois Houtart about Rebuilding the Left.

For Harnecker, politics is the art of discovering the potential in the present in order to make possible tomorrow what appears impossible today. In this book she does just this for Latin America and, in particular, Venezuela. But first she ditches the dogmas of the past with a disarming frankness. The result is an original and valuable contribution to rethinking left politics. - Hilary Wainwright about Rebuilding the Left.