ABSTRACT
This chapter presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of the book. This book provides an account of radical left movements in today's Europe and how they are trying to accomplish social and political change. It focuses on social movement organizations, activist groups, and networks that are rooted in the left-wing ideologies of anarchism, Marxism, socialism, and communism in both newly democratized post-communist and long-standing liberal-democratic polities. The book discusses how radical left movements interact with the political contexts in which they are situated. This regards interaction with possible allies such as new social movements, trade unions, and radical left parties (or other political parties) during specific mobilizations or in general, but also interaction with the political system as such. Social democracy, communism, and anarchism were all heirs to the main currents within the International Workingmen's Association- the "First International".
