James Burnham (1905–1987) was an American popular political theorist, former Communist activist and intellectual, known for his work The Managerial Revolution, published in 1941, which heavily influenced George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four". Image File history File links James_Burnham2. ... Image File history File links James_Burnham2. ... 1905 (MCMV) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1987 (MCMLXXXVII) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... An intellectual is a person who uses his or her intellect to work, study, reflect, speculate on, or ask and answer questions with regard to a variety of different ideas. ... Eric Arthur Blair (25 June 1903[1][2] – 21 January 1950), better known by the pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist. ... This article is about the Orwell novel. ...

Life and work

Burnham was of English Catholic stock, although he was an atheist for much of his life before converting just before his death. He graduated at the top of his class at Princeton before attending Balliol College, Oxford. Princeton University is a coeducational private university located in Princeton, New Jersey in the United States of America. ... College name Balliol College Named after John de Balliol Established 1263 Sister College St Johns Master Andrew Graham JCR President Jack Hawkins Undergraduates 403 MCR President Chelsea Payne Graduates 228 Homepage Boatclub Balliol College, founded in 1263, is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in...

As a member of the U.S. Workers Party Burnham was a leading Trotskyist in the 1930s, forming what became the Socialist Workers Party, which was a communist and anti-Stalinist party. He allied with Max Shachtman in a faction fight with the majority in the party led by James Cannon over the question of the nature of the Soviet Union. Cannon, backed by Leon Trotsky held that the USSR was a degenerated workers state while Shachtman and Burnham contended that the Soviet Union was bureaucratic collectivist and thus not worthy of being supported even critically. The specific event which led to the dispute was the Soviet invasion of Finland in November 1939. A number of parties have gone by differing versions of the name Workers Party. The Workers Party of the United States, also called the U.S. Workers Party, formed in December 1934. ... 1915 passport photo of Trotsky Leon Davidovich Trotsky (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Trotskii, Trotski, Trotzky) (October 26 (O.S.) = November 7 (N.S.), 1879 - August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (&#1051... The Socialist Workers Party is a small communist political party in the United States. ... This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... Iosif (usually anglicized as Joseph) Vissarionovich Stalin (Russian: Иосиф Виссарионович Сталин), original name Ioseb Jughashvili (Georgian: იოსებ ჯუღაშვი&#4314... Max Shachtman (September 10, 1904 - November 4, 1972) was an American Marxist theorist. ... A political faction is a grouping of individuals within a political organisation, such as a political party, a trade union, or other group with some kind of political purpose (referred to in this article as the “broader organisation”). It may also be referred to as a power bloc... James Cannon in Moscow (1922) James Patrick Cannon (1890-1974) was an American Communist and Trotskyist leader. ... Note: This page is very long. ... In Trotskyist political theory, degenerated workers states are states where capitalism has been overthrown through social revolution and the property forms have changed into a collectivized planned economy, but where the working class has lost its political power and socialist democracy has been replaced by a form of dictatorship. ... Bureaucratic collectivism is a theory of class society. ... Combatants Finland Soviet Union Commanders Carl Gustaf Emil Mannerheim Kliment Voroshilov, later Semyon Timoshenko Strength 250,000 men 30 tanks 130 aircraft[1][2] 1,000,000 men 3,000 tanks 3,800 aircraft[3][4] Casualties 26,662 dead 39,886 wounded 1,000 captured[5] 126,875 dead... 1939 (MCMXXXIX) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ...

The party dispute led to Shachtman, Burnham and their supporters leaving the SWP in 1940 but soon after Burnham broke with Shachtman and left the communist movement altogether and worked for the Office of Strategic Services during the war. After the war he called for an aggressive strategy to undermine Soviet Union power. During the Cold War, he was a regular writer for National Review. In 1983 he received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from Ronald Reagan. His ideas were an important influence on both the neoconservative and paleoconservative factions of the American Right. This article is about communism as a form of society and as a political movement. ... The Office of Strategic Services (OSS) was a United States intelligence agency formed during World War II. It was the wartime (but not direct) precursor to the Central Intelligence Agency. ... For other uses, see Cold War (disambiguation). ... National Review (NR) is a biweekly magazine of political opinion, founded by author William F. Buckley Jr. ... The Presidential Medal of Freedom The Presidential Medal of Freedom is one of the two highest civilian awards in the United States, considered the equivalent of the Congressional Gold Medal of Honor. ... Ronald Wilson Reagan (February 6, 1911 – June 5, 2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989) and the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975). ... Neoconservatism is a political movement, mainly in the United States, which is generally held to have emerged in the 1960s, coalesced in the 1970s, and has had a significant presence in the administrations of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush. ... Paleoconservatism (sometimes shortened to paleo or paleocon when the context is clear) is an anti-authoritarian[1] right wing movement based primarily in the United States that stresses tradition, civil society and classical federalism, along with familial, religious, regional, national and Western identity. ...

James currently resides in Atlanta where every night he goes home with another lady, this leaves no time for him to play video games.

The theory of the managerial revolution

Burnham theorised that the world would form into three super-states, the United States, Germany and Japan, which would compete for world power. Clearly at this time he did not foresee the Soviet Union's emerging as a super-power after the war, although he did predict that the United States would be the "receiver" for the disintegrating British Empire. // The British Empire in 1897, marked in pink, the traditional colour for Imperial British dominions on maps. ...

More importantly, he argued that capitalism was disappearing, but that it would not be replaced by socialism; neither, for that matter, would democracy ever gain the ascendancy. A new managerial class, rather than the working class, was replacing the old capitalist class as the dominant power in society. The managerial class included business executives, technicians, bureaucrats and soldiers. He gave Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union as clear examples. Burnham's theory is sometimes thought to have been influenced by Bruno Rizzi's 1939 book La Bureaucratisation du Monde; but despite similarities, there is no evidence that Burnham knew of the obscure book outside of some brief references to it by Trotsky. For other uses, see Capitalism (disambiguation). ... Socialism refers to a broad array of doctrines or political movements that envisage a socio-economic system in which property and the distribution of wealth are subject to social control. ... The term working class is used to denote a social class. ... Nazi Germany, or the Third Reich, commonly refers to Germany in the years 1933–1945, when it was under the firm control of the totalitarian and fascist ideology of the Nazi Party, with the Führer Adolf Hitler as dictator. ... Bruno Rizzi (1901 - 1977) was Italian unorthodox Trotskyist theoretician. ... 1915 passport photo of Trotsky Leon Davidovich Trotsky (Russian: Лев Давидович Троцкий; also transliterated Trotskii, Trotski, Trotzky) (October 26 (O.S.) = November 7 (N.S.), 1879 - August 21, 1940), born Lev Davidovich Bronstein (&#1051...

It is important to note that what Burnham meant by capitalism was the individual ownership and control of production, which is distinct from the modern corporation, an association established by law where individual shareholders have no direct control over production. For other uses, see Capitalism (disambiguation). ... Corporate redirects here. ... A shareholder or stockholder is an individual or company (including a corporation) that legally owns one or more shares of stock in a joint stock company. ...

A later book, The Machiavellians, saw Burnham develop his theory by arguing that the emerging new elite would better serve its own interests if it were to keep at least some of the trappings of democracy, such as political opposition and a free press, and a controlled 'circulation of the elites'.

His 1964 book Suicide of the West became a classic among movement conservatives, defining liberalism as a "syndrome" ridden with guilt and internal contradictions. His works greatly influenced paleoconservative author Samuel Francis. Francis wrote two books on Burnham and based his political theories on the idea of the "managerial revolution." Paleoconservatism (sometimes shortened to paleo or paleocon when the context is clear) is an anti-authoritarian[1] right wing movement based primarily in the United States that stresses tradition, civil society and classical federalism, along with familial, religious, regional, national and Western identity. ... Samuel Todd Francis (April 29, 1947 – February 15, 2005) was a nationally syndicated paleoconservative columnist known for his opposition to immigration, multiculturalism, and his involvement in debates concerning other controversial issues of the day. ...

Books

• The Managerial Revolution: What is Happening in the World (1972) ISBN 0-8371-5678-5
• Suicide of the West: An Essay on the Meaning and Destiny of Liberalism (1985) ISBN 0-89526-822-1
• The Machiavellians

Books and essays about James Burnham

• Kelly, Daniel James Burnham and the Struggle for the World: A Life (2002) ISBN 1-882926-76-5
• Francis, Samuel Power and History, The Political Thought of James Burnham (1984) ISBN 0-8191-3753-7
• Francis, Samuel James Burnham: Thinkers of Our Time (1999) ISBN 1-870626-32-X
• Orwell, George James Burnham and The managerial revolution (long essay).

External links

• Second Thoughts on James Burnham, by George Orwell
• James Burnham Internet Archive at Marxists.org
• James Burnham, The New Class, And The Nation-State, by Samuel Francis,VDARE.com, August 23, 2001.