Matthew reviewed Specters of Revolt by Richard Gilaman-Opalsky
Review of 'Specters of Revolt' on 'Goodreads'
4 stars
A really phenomenal book which does an admirable job of drawing out what is so important about the revolt. Gilman-Opalsky's thesis is not just that the revolt can and must be understood theoretically and philosophically, but that the revolt - each in its complex singularity - expresses a reasonable and rational philosophical and theoretical content. This, I take it, is really the core thesis, though with Gilman-Opalsky's wonderful prose, I never minded the various twists, turns, and - occasionally - indulgences the book takes in order to get there. But he really does a great job of not only emphasising the importance of the revolt, and that it really does express something very important, but provides a crucial reflection on the role of the intellectual in relation to the real movement, arguing that at this juncture more than any other, 'intellectuals' need to be learning from the autonomous social …
A really phenomenal book which does an admirable job of drawing out what is so important about the revolt. Gilman-Opalsky's thesis is not just that the revolt can and must be understood theoretically and philosophically, but that the revolt - each in its complex singularity - expresses a reasonable and rational philosophical and theoretical content. This, I take it, is really the core thesis, though with Gilman-Opalsky's wonderful prose, I never minded the various twists, turns, and - occasionally - indulgences the book takes in order to get there. But he really does a great job of not only emphasising the importance of the revolt, and that it really does express something very important, but provides a crucial reflection on the role of the intellectual in relation to the real movement, arguing that at this juncture more than any other, 'intellectuals' need to be learning from the autonomous social movements, not lecturing them and prescribing their praxis in advance. Gilman-Opalsky seems to operate within the Autonomist-Marxist tradition, and is clearly influenced primarily by Marx, Raya Dunayevskaya, Felix Guattari, Gilles Deleuze, and the work of Situationists Guy Debord and Raoul Vaneigem. His broadsides against Anarchists are unfortunate, not least because a more measured and sympathetic engagement with Anarchist thinkers and activists might have shed further light on the link between theorists and autonomus social movements.
Nevertheless, a superb book which is likely to change the way you think about the world.