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20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal
@20thccommunism.bsky.social
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Twentieth Century Communism is a journal of communist history and theory from across the globe. Posts about radical history, and its writing and research. Published by Lawrence & Wishart.
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20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
The latest issue of Twentieth Century Communism journal has been published by @lawrencewishart.bsky.social

Issue 29 is the second issue dedicated to looking at histories of 1956 globally, edited by Madeleine Davis and George Odysseos.

A 🧵 of the articles...

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
Twentieth Century Communism: Volume 2025 Issue 29 (2025) - Lawrence Wishart
Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history - Issue contents for Volume 2025 Issue 29 (2025)
journals.lwbooks.co.uk
1 5 7
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · Oct 4
On October 4, 1936, over 100,000 people flocked to London's East End to prevent Oswald Mosley's British Union of Fascists from marching. Known as the 'Battle of Cable Street', this blockade is recognised as an important event in the history of British anti-fascism.
6 6
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · Oct 1
On 1 October, 1949, Mao Zedong declared the creation of the People's Republic of China.

This issue of @20thccommunism.bsky.social looks at the influence of Communist China and Maoism across the globe between the 1950s and 1980s, with 2 open access articles.

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2022...
Twentieth Century Communism: Volume 2022 Issue 22 (2022) - Lawrence Wishart
Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history - Issue contents for Volume 2022 Issue 22 (2022)
journals.lwbooks.co.uk
2 2
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
pablogv17.bsky.social
Pablo @pablogv17.bsky.social · 8d
🌍 Le 2e número spécial "Global 1956" vient de paraître chez @20thccommunism.bsky.social !

J'ai eu le plaisir d'y participer avec un article qui veut contribuer à l'histoire globale de l'Espagne pendant la guerre froide, ici dans une approche transnationale et microhistorique.
3 3
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
Plus reviews of the following books

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
Max Farrar and Kevin McDonnell, Big Flame: Building Movements, New Politics DAN FROST The Latin American revolutionary movement. Proceedings of the First Latin American Communist Conference, June 1929 JEAN-GANESH FARIA LEBLANC Roman Danyluk and Gabriel Kuhn, From Hash Rebels to urban guerrillas: A documentary history of the 2nd of June Movement JAMES HOGG Dan Hancox, Multitudes: How Crowds Made the Modern World KATRINA NAVICKAS Margarite Poulos, Refugee to Revolutionary: A Transnational History of Greek Communist Women in Interwar Europe DARIA DYAKONOVA
1
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
5. 'The international Trotskyist movement and the Soviet Bloc in 1956: growing divergences' by Marcio Lauria Monteiro

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
The international Trotskyist movement and the Soviet Bloc in 1956: growing divergences Marcio Lauria Monteiro Abstract: Events in the Soviet Union and its ‘satellite states’ in East Europe were significant for all those affiliated with the communist tradition, including Trotskyists, in whose theoretical-programmatic framework the characterisation of the Soviet Union always played a central role. This paper discusses how the 1956 events in the Soviet Bloc impacted the then-divided Trotskyist forces. It first presents an overview of the international Trotskyist movement, to contextualise its reactions to the 1956 events. It then goes on to demonstrate how reactions and interpretations of those events help us to better understand divisions within international Trotskyism and the divergent paths taken by its different sections. Keywords: Trotskyism, Soviet bloc, Fourth International (FI), International Committee of the Fourth International (IC), United States Socialist Workers Party (SWP), Internationalist Communist Party (PCI), Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN)
1 1 1
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
4. 'A portrait of the activist in 1956: Jordi Solé Tura and a new generation of communists' by Pablo Gil Valero

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
A Portrait of the activist in 1956: Jordi Solé Tura and a new generation of communists Pablo Gil Valero Abstract: This article examines the formation of a new generation of communist militants, members of the Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya (PSUC), beginning in 1956, through one of its most unique figures: Jordi Solé Tura (1930 –2009). It explores the multi-scalar transformations – ranging from the international to the local – experienced by Spanish and Catalan communists, leading to a ‘tactical shift’ in the second half of the 1950s. In this new context, a group of young people – a generation that did not fight in the Spanish Civil War –took a stand against the Francoist dictatorship. From student activism in Barcelona to exile in Paris and Bucharest, Jordi Solé Tura rose through the ranks of the Communist Party and emerged as one of its future leaders, until his expulsion in 1964. This article seeks to situate Solé Tura’s experience within the transnational framework of Spanish and Catalan communism, to develop an actor-centred understanding in the evolution of the Partido Comunista de España (PCE) and the PSUC as the leading anti-francoist parties from the 1960s onward. By focusing on Solé Tura’s individual trajectory, this article offers a new perspective on the generational renewal of the Spanish and Catalan communist movements during the Cold War. Keywords: Francoism, Communist Party of Spain, Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia, clandestinity, Jordi Solé Tura, transnational communism
1 2 1
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
3. 'José Revueltas and the temporalities of the Mexican 1956' by @williamabooth.bsky.social

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
José Revueltas and the Temporalities of the Mexican 1956 William A. Booth Abstract: Taking the thought and action of José Revueltas as a heuristic thread and the ‘Global 1956’ as a centre of gravity, this article examines the significant changes which occurred in the configuration of the Mexican Marxist left between the crisis over Trotsky’s exile and assassination (1939-40) and the collapse of the National Liberation Movement in the early 1960s. Between these dates, José Revueltas had (in)famously described a ‘proletariat without a head’, seeing both class and party structures in Mexico as inimical to the feasible achievement of socialism. The reaction of the Mexican Communist Party to the wider upheaval of 1956 supports Revueltas’ claim; the party, already much diminished through external oppression, internal factionalism and strategic ignorance, seemed to put its institutional head in the sand. However, there were signs of change, particularly at grassroots level, where renewed labour militancy encouraged cooperation among militants from across the left. Moreover, a period of self-reflection in the late 1950s set the stage for the emergence of the National Liberation Movement (MLN) in 1961. The Cuban Revolution radically altered the mood too, though did not immediately undermine the faith of left luminaries in the as-yet unfulfilled potential of the Mexican Revolution. It was not until the MLN was managed out of existence by the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that the Marxist left gave up on the illusion of a Popular Front, a fundamental tenet of faith which defined its strategy for almost thirty years. Keywords: Mexican Communist Party (PCM), José Revueltas, National Liberation Movement (MLN), Mexican Workers Confederation (CTM), Mexican left
1 2 2
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
2. "‘That crucial summer of 1956’? Stalinism, anti-imperialist strategies and the fragmentation of the international communist movement – a view from Cyprus, c. 1949-1960" by George Odysseos

This article is open access

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
‘That crucial summer of 1956’? Stalinism, Anti-imperialist Strategies and the Fragmentation of the International Communist Movement – a view from Cyprus, c. 1949-1960. George Odysseos Abstract: This article explores the complicated impact of Stalinism’s political crisis and anti-imperialist politics on Cypriot communism in the 1950s. While the year 1956 has featured prominently in the historiography of western communist parties, the date hardly features in studies of Cypriot communism, nor in the history of the communist AKEL (Progressive Party of Working People). These latter studies have instead focused on AKEL’s stance towards the rightwing EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) campaign against British colonialism (1955-1959). Nevertheless, many of the issues that lent their weight to the significance of 1956 – such as the process of de-Stalinisation and question of party discipline, as well as the dilemmas opened up by the development of ‘national roads’ to socialism – played an important role in Cypriot communism during the period. AKEL, then, offers a case of a party connected to the ‘global 1956’ that did not centre on that particular calendar date. The article focuses on two prominent figures who were expelled from the party as a result of AKEL’s intra-party crisis of 1952; the young lawyer George Cacogiannis, and Evdoros Joannides, perhaps the party’s foremost propagandist resident in London. In discussing their writings and activities, the article reveals the global arena Cypriot communists
1 1 2
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
1. '1956 as dual conjuncture: Aimé Césaire between Paris and Fort-de-France' by Kevin Morgan

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
1956 as dual conjuncture: Aimé Césaire between Paris and Fort-deFrance Kevin Morgan Abstract: In October 1956 the Martinican communist and parliamentary deputy Aimé Césaire announced his resignation from the French communist party in an open letter to Maurice Thorez. Widely cited in contexts of black Marxism and anti-colonialism, the letter is a famous testimony to 1956 as a year of disillusionment with Stalinism. This paper shows that it has tended to be abstracted from its immediate political context and Césaire’s relationship with communism underplayed or misrepresented in a good deal of commentary on his career as a public intellectual. Focusing on Césaire’s relationship with both French and Martinican communism, we explore the interplay of anti-Stalinism and anti-colonialism, both in Césaire’s very public defection and in the reactions it provoked among other Martinican communists usually overlooked, most notably René Ménil. Keywords: Aimé Césaire, Martinican communism, French communism, Stalinism, anti-colonialism
1 2 6
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
The latest issue of Twentieth Century Communism journal has been published by @lawrencewishart.bsky.social

Issue 29 is the second issue dedicated to looking at histories of 1956 globally, edited by Madeleine Davis and George Odysseos.

A 🧵 of the articles...

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
Twentieth Century Communism: Volume 2025 Issue 29 (2025) - Lawrence Wishart
Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history - Issue contents for Volume 2025 Issue 29 (2025)
journals.lwbooks.co.uk
1 5 7
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
Plus reviews of the following books

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
Max Farrar and Kevin McDonnell, Big Flame: Building Movements, New Politics DAN FROST The Latin American revolutionary movement. Proceedings of the First Latin American Communist Conference, June 1929 JEAN-GANESH FARIA LEBLANC Roman Danyluk and Gabriel Kuhn, From Hash Rebels to urban guerrillas: A documentary history of the 2nd of June Movement JAMES HOGG Dan Hancox, Multitudes: How Crowds Made the Modern World KATRINA NAVICKAS Margarite Poulos, Refugee to Revolutionary: A Transnational History of Greek Communist Women in Interwar Europe DARIA DYAKONOVA
1
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
benjamenwalker.bsky.social
benjamenwalker.bsky.social @benjamenwalker.bsky.social · 12d
both of these look great! @20thccommunism.bsky.social journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025... journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
Twentieth Century Communism: Volume 2025 Issue 28 (2025) - Lawrence Wishart
Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history - Issue contents for Volume 2025 Issue 28 (2025)
journals.lwbooks.co.uk
1 1
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
5. 'The international Trotskyist movement and the Soviet Bloc in 1956: growing divergences' by Marcio Lauria Monteiro

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
The international Trotskyist movement and the Soviet Bloc in 1956: growing divergences Marcio Lauria Monteiro Abstract: Events in the Soviet Union and its ‘satellite states’ in East Europe were significant for all those affiliated with the communist tradition, including Trotskyists, in whose theoretical-programmatic framework the characterisation of the Soviet Union always played a central role. This paper discusses how the 1956 events in the Soviet Bloc impacted the then-divided Trotskyist forces. It first presents an overview of the international Trotskyist movement, to contextualise its reactions to the 1956 events. It then goes on to demonstrate how reactions and interpretations of those events help us to better understand divisions within international Trotskyism and the divergent paths taken by its different sections. Keywords: Trotskyism, Soviet bloc, Fourth International (FI), International Committee of the Fourth International (IC), United States Socialist Workers Party (SWP), Internationalist Communist Party (PCI), Algerian National Liberation Front (FLN)
1 1 1
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
4. 'A portrait of the activist in 1956: Jordi Solé Tura and a new generation of communists' by Pablo Gil Valero

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
A Portrait of the activist in 1956: Jordi Solé Tura and a new generation of communists Pablo Gil Valero Abstract: This article examines the formation of a new generation of communist militants, members of the Partit Socialista Unificat de Catalunya (PSUC), beginning in 1956, through one of its most unique figures: Jordi Solé Tura (1930 –2009). It explores the multi-scalar transformations – ranging from the international to the local – experienced by Spanish and Catalan communists, leading to a ‘tactical shift’ in the second half of the 1950s. In this new context, a group of young people – a generation that did not fight in the Spanish Civil War –took a stand against the Francoist dictatorship. From student activism in Barcelona to exile in Paris and Bucharest, Jordi Solé Tura rose through the ranks of the Communist Party and emerged as one of its future leaders, until his expulsion in 1964. This article seeks to situate Solé Tura’s experience within the transnational framework of Spanish and Catalan communism, to develop an actor-centred understanding in the evolution of the Partido Comunista de España (PCE) and the PSUC as the leading anti-francoist parties from the 1960s onward. By focusing on Solé Tura’s individual trajectory, this article offers a new perspective on the generational renewal of the Spanish and Catalan communist movements during the Cold War. Keywords: Francoism, Communist Party of Spain, Unified Socialist Party of Catalonia, clandestinity, Jordi Solé Tura, transnational communism
1 2 1
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
3. 'José Revueltas and the temporalities of the Mexican 1956' by @williamabooth.bsky.social

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
José Revueltas and the Temporalities of the Mexican 1956 William A. Booth Abstract: Taking the thought and action of José Revueltas as a heuristic thread and the ‘Global 1956’ as a centre of gravity, this article examines the significant changes which occurred in the configuration of the Mexican Marxist left between the crisis over Trotsky’s exile and assassination (1939-40) and the collapse of the National Liberation Movement in the early 1960s. Between these dates, José Revueltas had (in)famously described a ‘proletariat without a head’, seeing both class and party structures in Mexico as inimical to the feasible achievement of socialism. The reaction of the Mexican Communist Party to the wider upheaval of 1956 supports Revueltas’ claim; the party, already much diminished through external oppression, internal factionalism and strategic ignorance, seemed to put its institutional head in the sand. However, there were signs of change, particularly at grassroots level, where renewed labour militancy encouraged cooperation among militants from across the left. Moreover, a period of self-reflection in the late 1950s set the stage for the emergence of the National Liberation Movement (MLN) in 1961. The Cuban Revolution radically altered the mood too, though did not immediately undermine the faith of left luminaries in the as-yet unfulfilled potential of the Mexican Revolution. It was not until the MLN was managed out of existence by the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (PRI) that the Marxist left gave up on the illusion of a Popular Front, a fundamental tenet of faith which defined its strategy for almost thirty years. Keywords: Mexican Communist Party (PCM), José Revueltas, National Liberation Movement (MLN), Mexican Workers Confederation (CTM), Mexican left
1 2 2
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
2. "‘That crucial summer of 1956’? Stalinism, anti-imperialist strategies and the fragmentation of the international communist movement – a view from Cyprus, c. 1949-1960" by George Odysseos

This article is open access

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
‘That crucial summer of 1956’? Stalinism, Anti-imperialist Strategies and the Fragmentation of the International Communist Movement – a view from Cyprus, c. 1949-1960. George Odysseos Abstract: This article explores the complicated impact of Stalinism’s political crisis and anti-imperialist politics on Cypriot communism in the 1950s. While the year 1956 has featured prominently in the historiography of western communist parties, the date hardly features in studies of Cypriot communism, nor in the history of the communist AKEL (Progressive Party of Working People). These latter studies have instead focused on AKEL’s stance towards the rightwing EOKA (National Organisation of Cypriot Fighters) campaign against British colonialism (1955-1959). Nevertheless, many of the issues that lent their weight to the significance of 1956 – such as the process of de-Stalinisation and question of party discipline, as well as the dilemmas opened up by the development of ‘national roads’ to socialism – played an important role in Cypriot communism during the period. AKEL, then, offers a case of a party connected to the ‘global 1956’ that did not centre on that particular calendar date. The article focuses on two prominent figures who were expelled from the party as a result of AKEL’s intra-party crisis of 1952; the young lawyer George Cacogiannis, and Evdoros Joannides, perhaps the party’s foremost propagandist resident in London. In discussing their writings and activities, the article reveals the global arena Cypriot communists
1 1 2
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
1. '1956 as dual conjuncture: Aimé Césaire between Paris and Fort-de-France' by Kevin Morgan

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
1956 as dual conjuncture: Aimé Césaire between Paris and Fort-deFrance Kevin Morgan Abstract: In October 1956 the Martinican communist and parliamentary deputy Aimé Césaire announced his resignation from the French communist party in an open letter to Maurice Thorez. Widely cited in contexts of black Marxism and anti-colonialism, the letter is a famous testimony to 1956 as a year of disillusionment with Stalinism. This paper shows that it has tended to be abstracted from its immediate political context and Césaire’s relationship with communism underplayed or misrepresented in a good deal of commentary on his career as a public intellectual. Focusing on Césaire’s relationship with both French and Martinican communism, we explore the interplay of anti-Stalinism and anti-colonialism, both in Césaire’s very public defection and in the reactions it provoked among other Martinican communists usually overlooked, most notably René Ménil. Keywords: Aimé Césaire, Martinican communism, French communism, Stalinism, anti-colonialism
1 2 6
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 12d
The latest issue of Twentieth Century Communism journal has been published by @lawrencewishart.bsky.social

Issue 29 is the second issue dedicated to looking at histories of 1956 globally, edited by Madeleine Davis and George Odysseos.

A 🧵 of the articles...

journals.lwbooks.co.uk/tcc/vol-2025...
Twentieth Century Communism: Volume 2025 Issue 29 (2025) - Lawrence Wishart
Twentieth Century Communism: a journal of international history - Issue contents for Volume 2025 Issue 29 (2025)
journals.lwbooks.co.uk
1 5 7
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 20d
Coming soon from @lawrencewishart.bsky.social
Cover of issue 29 of 'Twentieth Century Communism' journal. The special issue is 'Provincialising 1956' and edited by Madeleine Davis and George Odysseus. Image: Aimé Césaire, Jacques Alexis and Richard Wright (left to right) at the First International Congress of Black Writers and Artists, September 19–22, 1956, the Sorbonne, Paris.
3 2
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · 20d
Coming soon from @lawrencewishart.bsky.social
Cover of issue 29 of 'Twentieth Century Communism' journal. The special issue is 'Provincialising 1956' and edited by Madeleine Davis and George Odysseus. Image: Aimé Césaire, Jacques Alexis and Richard Wright (left to right) at the First International Congress of Black Writers and Artists, September 19–22, 1956, the Sorbonne, Paris.
3 2
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · Sep 11
11 September is the anniversary of General Pinochet's right-wing coup against Chile's Allende government in 1973.

Warwick's Modern Records Centre has an extensive digitised collection from Britain's Chile Solidarity Campaign, established following the coup.

wdc.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/coll...
4 7
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · Sep 1
We at Twentieth Century Communism journal are sad to hear of the passing of Quintin Hoare, the managing editor of New Left Review in the 1960s-70s and translator of Antonio Gramsci's works into English, which helped popularise Gramsci in Britain in the 1970s.

lwbooks.co.uk/person/quint...
Quintin Hoare - Lawrence Wishart
Quintin Hoare (b.1938) won his first translation prize at school for a rending of Homer, and studied Modern Languages at Oxford. In 1962 he joined the editorial committee of New Left Review, acting as...
lwbooks.co.uk
3 4
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · Sep 1
We at Twentieth Century Communism journal are sad to hear of the passing of Quintin Hoare, the managing editor of New Left Review in the 1960s-70s and translator of Antonio Gramsci's works into English, which helped popularise Gramsci in Britain in the 1970s.

lwbooks.co.uk/person/quint...
Quintin Hoare - Lawrence Wishart
Quintin Hoare (b.1938) won his first translation prize at school for a rending of Homer, and studied Modern Languages at Oxford. In 1962 he joined the editorial committee of New Left Review, acting as...
lwbooks.co.uk
3 4
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · Aug 19
These two books from Lawrence & Wishart provide contemporary and historical accounts of the Grunwick strike.

lwbooks.co.uk/product/grun...

lwbooks.co.uk/product/stri...
Cover of 'Grunwick: The Workers' Story' by Jack Dromey & Graham Taylor Cover of 'Striking Women: Struggles & Strategies of South Asian Women Workers from Grunwick to Gate Gourmet' by Sundari Anitha and Ruth Pearson.
1 1
Reposted by Twentieth Century Communism journal
20thccommunism.bsky.social
Twentieth Century Communism journal @20thccommunism.bsky.social · Aug 19
This week in August 1976 saw the beginning of the strike at Grunwick Photo Processing Lab in north-west London. Led by South Asian women workers, the strike lasted almost two years, involving thousands, and is considered a turning point in the history of British trade unionism and race relations.
APEX flyer for Grunwick strike in 1977 with header: GRUNWICKS STRIKE IS ABOUT IMMIGRANTS, WOMEN, TRADE UNION RIGHTS, WORKING CLASS SOLIDARITY
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