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'With the Left at odds over how to understand the Chinese party-state and its growing international influence, Ralf Ruckus’ thorough but clearly written new book does a great service by shifting our attention to the oppositional movements of Chinese workers, peasants, students, and women who have contested inequality and exploitation over the past century-plus, often in the face of severe repression'

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Manfred Elfstrom, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of British Columbia, Ok

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‘Raucous’

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‘The Wire China’

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‘Ruckus … has an enviable ability to summarise complex histories in a compact and readable form’

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‘rs21’

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‘A timely and clarifying intervention … Ruckus’ careful attention to historical detail allows the categorical broadness of “the left” to instead draw out the depth and continuity of non-party dissent that suffuses the PRC’s history.’

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‘Lausan’

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'Ruckus has taken on the task of encapsulating for a western audience the history of the Left in China, where it stands today, and its prospects … comprehensive, detailed, and strikingly insightful'

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Brian Chee-Shing Hioe, Founding Editor of New Bloom

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'A must-read portrayal of the development of the left in China from the 1950s to the present, with important insights on how, despite its revolutionary rhetoric, the Chinese Communist Party has been an anti-left-wing force. Essential reading for global activists and scholars who believe a more egalitarian, democratic world is possible'

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Elaine Hui, School of Labour and Employment Relations, The Pennysylvania State University

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'In this riveting analysis, Ruckus rescues left politics' from the monopoly of the Chinese state and recenters the motor of history around social struggles from below - a much needed perspective in understanding China from the international left'

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Yige Dong, Department of Global Gender and Sexuality Studies, University of Buffalo, US