Book Review: Nick Hewlett, Blood and Progress: Violence in Pursuit of Emancipation
| Date | 01 November 2017 |
| Published date | 01 November 2017 |
| DOI | 10.1177/1478929917712910 |
| Subject Matter | Book ReviewsPolitical Theory |
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I found The Shadow of Unfairness both
In search of an ethic of violence, Hewlett
impressive and unpersuasive. The innovative
revisits Fidel Castro’s revolutionary movement
scholarship which Green pours into each chapter
in Cuba as a positive counterpoint to the
is remarkable, and serves as a model for original
excesses of the French and Russian revolu-
political thought. Likewise, Green’s analysis and
tions, and he also revisits the work of Marx and
the measures which he proposes are, from the
Engels to explore the ethic of violence in revolt
perspective of democratic theory, long overdue.
that might be derived from their writings.
However, it is not clear that the institutions of the
Finally, the author concludes with an analysis
family and private property inevitably cause
of terrorism, arguing against both the utility
extreme political inequality. Economic inequal-
and the ethical nature of terror tactics, even if
ity is probably an inescapable fact of life, but the
employed against a state that practises its own
question must surely be its relevance to political
terrorism from above.
and educational opportunities rather than its
Blood and Progress is part of a growing
mere existence. A society which fails to inculcate
literature which acknowledges the regrettable
an egalitarian ethos into its citizens (as most
necessity of constrained violence in some cases
societies do) cannot be surprised when inequali-
for progressive social change. For example,
ties in wealth and income have political bite.
Charles E. Cobb Jr. in This Nonviolent Stuff’ll
Now and around here, Green’s prescriptions may
Get You Killed: How Guns Made the Civil
be appropriate, even wise; but they should never
Rights Movement (2014) and David F. Krugler
be the best we can hope for.
in 1919, the Year of Racial Violence: How
African Americans Fought Back (2015) both
James David Hodgson
argued that armed self-defence was a crucial
...
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