Table of Contents

Prologue: "The Rebellion Is Spreading, and I Want to Be on the Side I Believe In" 1

How a deleted scene suggests a more radical Star Wars than often we recognize.

Episode I "Many of the Truths We Cling to Depend Greatly on Our Own Point of View" 4

A revolt is underway against elites, but it's coming from the right. The left needs to remember how to tell rebellion stories, including by drawing on popular culture.

Episode II "Rebellions Are Built on Hope" 24

Far from being an escapist fantasy, Star Wars is a fable rooted in the 1960s American new left, intended as a beacon of new hope to rebels everywhere.

Episode III "Nothing Will Stand in Our Way" 46

Star Wars' Empire mirrors the corruption of republics and the rise of authoritarianism in our own world. Challenged by a spreading rebellion, empire had to strike back.

Episode IV "The Death Star Will Be in Range in Five Minutes" 67

Star Wars' Rebels acted because they had to. We too now have no choice but to rebel against an oppressive, exploitative, crisis-ridden, planet-destroying system.

Episode V "That's How We're Gonna Win. Not Fighting What We Hate, but Saving What We Love" 87

We need a new story, the most important we've ever told, about an anti-empirist struggle for a free, pluralist, democratic, humane world.

Episode VI "There Has Been an Awakening. Have You Felt It?" 108

A new, new left, led by young people and demonstrating these values, should give us hope, but needs to come together in a broad, radical, popular rebel alliance.

Epilogue: "The Rebellion Is Reborn Today" …and every day. 129

Endnotes 131