At a time of mass discontent, revolutionary weakness, and right-wing ascendancy, John Chalcraft presents a new theory of popular mobilization. From Subordination to Revolution is based on an innovative reading of the living Gramscian tradition, and it offers an alternative to conservative, liberal, Marxist, and poststructuralist theory. Drawing on examples from across the globe, Chalcraft defines popular mobilization as the many ways in which subordinated groups rearrange their relationships to challenge and overcome domination. The theory sets out a fertile constellation of concepts encompassing the many faces and phases of the long journey from subordination to revolution. This approach breaks ground in connecting the social, structural, spatio-temporal, strategic, and transnational elements of popular mobilization. It also enables Chalcraft to situate anew the fundamental issues of domination, autonomy, consent, and leadership and put forward new arguments about party and bloc. The point is to link together diverse popular struggles in the contemporary world.
John Chalcraft is Professor at the London School of Economics and Political Science. His previous books include The Striking Cabbies of Cairo and Other Stories, The Invisible Cage: Syrian Migrant Workers in Lebanon, and Popular Politics in the Making of the Modern Middle East.
"From Subordination to Revolution offers a compelling Gramscian understanding of popular struggle, from resistance to domination via self-organization for autonomy, then alliance-building for consent, and finally a transformative revolutionary bloc. Critical scholars and movement organizers will find powerful ideas here."—Laurence Cox, author of Why Social Movements Matter
"John Chalcraft reveals a Gramsci who is literally everywhere in our twenty-first-century world, lighting up the transformative power of struggles from Brazil to Bangladesh. This indispensable book also gives us a Gramsci for our time when confused multitudes need lucid definition of the phases of popular mobilization if they are to resist authoritarian demagoguery."—Paul Apostolidis, author of The Fight for Time: Migrant Day Laborers and the Politics of Precarity
"This is a masterpiece. From Subordination to Revolution will undoubtedly become the reference book for anyone studying Gramsci and considering his ongoing impact on social activism and mobilization today."—Mark LeVine, author of We'll Play till We Die: Journeys across a Decade of Revolutionary Music in the Muslim World
"From Subordination to Revolution is a dazzling, powerful, and urgent book. It truly succeeds in building a Gramscian 'connective theory' of political mobilizations. Importantly, it shows how to think about and alongside the wide variety of intersecting and transnational political struggles occurring in different parts of the globe through this theoretical framework."—Sumi Madhok, author of Vernacular Rights Cultures: The Politics of Origins, Human Rights and Gendered Struggles for Justice
414 pp.6 x 9
9780520416826$29.95|£25.00Paper
Aug 2025