201 pages
English language
Published June 9, 2012
Capitalism as a system has spawned deepening economic crisis alongside its bought-and-paid-for political establishment. Neither serves the needs of our society. Whether it is secure, well-paid, and meaningful jobs or a sustainable relationship with the natural environment that we depend on, our society is not delivering the results people need and deserve.
One key cause for this intolerable state of affairs is the lack of genuine democracy in our economy as well as in our politics. The solution requires the institution of genuine economic democracy, starting with workers directing their own workplaces, as the basis for a genuine political democracy.
Here Richard D. Wolff lays out a hopeful and concrete vision of how to make that possible, addressing the many people who have concluded economic inequality and politics as usual can no longer be tolerated and are looking for a concrete program of action.
This is a blueprint to a modern and more sincere workers’ revolution, or more specifically the economic framework for one. I especially appreciated the definition of state capitalism and context I did not have there before.
The third part of this book, which I think was Wolff’s primary purpose, was theoretical and less interesting to me than his recap of the development and costs of modern capitalism - including the 20th century examples of state capitalism that many people believe represent socialism.
