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Exodus General Idea of the Revolution in the XXI Century

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Exodus General Idea of the Revolution in the XXI Century Exodus General Idea of the Revolution in the XXI Century Kevin A. Carson 2021 Contents Reviews 5 Abstract 6 Preface 7 Part One: Background 8 Chapter One: The Age of Mass and Maneuver 9 I. A Conflict of Visions .................................... 9 II. The Triumph of Mass in the Old Left .......................... 15 III. The Assault on Working Class Agency ......................... 42 IV. Workerism/Laborism .................................. 49 Chapter Two: Transition 52 I. Drastic Reductions in Necessary Outlays for the Means of Production . 52 II. The Network Revolution and the Imploding Cost of Coordination . 57 III. The Impotence of Enforcement, and Superiority of Circumvention to Resistance . 70 IV. Superior General Efficiency and Low Overhead .................... 74 V. Conclusion ......................................... 78 Part Two. The Age of Exodus 79 Chapter Three: Horizontalism and Self-Activity Over Vanguard Institutions 80 Introduction ......................................... 80 I. The New Left ........................................ 81 II. Autonomism ........................................ 90 III. The 1968 Movements and the Transition to Horizontalist Praxis . 98 IV. The Post-1994 Movements ................................ 100 Chapter Four: The Abandonment of Workerism 115 I. The Limited Relevance of Proletarianism in the Mass Production Age . 115 II. Technology and the Declining Relevance of Proletarianism . 116 III The Abandonment of Proletarianism by the New Left . 117 IV. The Abandonment of Workerism in Praxis . 127 Chapter Five: Evolutionary Transition Models 131 Introduction and Note on Terminology . 131 2 I. Comparison to Previous Systemic Transitions . 132 II. The Nature of Post-Capitalist Transition . 146 Chapter Six: Interstitial Development and Exodus over Insurrection 157 Introduction ......................................... 157 I. The Split Within Autonomism .............................. 159 II. The Shift From the Factory to Society as the Main Locus of Productivity . 159 III. Negri et al vs. the Commons .............................. 162 IV. Theoretical Implications ................................. 163 Chapter Seven: Interstitial Development: Practical Issues 198 I. Post-1968 (-1994?) Movements .............................. 198 II. Strategy .......................................... 207 Chapter Eight: Interstitial Development: Engagement With the State 217 Part Three. Seeds beneath the Snow 245 Chapter Nine: The Commons Sector and the Theory of Municipalism 246 Introduction ......................................... 246 I. The Growth of the Commons Sector As a Lifeline . 249 II. Municipalism: The City as Commons and Platform . 262 Chapter Ten: Municipalism: Local Case Studies 282 I. North America ....................................... 282 II. Europe ........................................... 299 Chapter Eleven: Municipalism: Building Blocks 317 Chapter Twelve: The Global South and Federation 367 I. Commons-Based Economies in the Global South . 367 II. Federation ......................................... 370 Backmatter 384 Bibliography 385 About the Author 411 3 To the hundreds of thousands or billions engaged in building the new society within the shell of the old. 4 Reviews “Carson’s writing is always as incisive and informed, as it is mobilizing and bold. Like Homebrew Industrial Revolution, Exodus will be the source to turn to for his- torical insight and contextualizing the maker movement in the political economy of today.” — CINDY KOHTALA researcher on peer production, Aalto University “Kevin Carson is the kind of thinker I appreciate most-bold, pioneering, rigorous, fiercely independent, focused on grand challenges of the day, humble before the complexities of the world, but willing to grapple deeply with them. His latest book, Exodus, perfectly exemplifies this. It puts forward a theory of post-capitalist tran- sition with ordinary people as the main revolutionary protagonists and backs it up with nearly 500 pages of detailed argumentation. It’s a passionate, but reasoned call to recognize the agency that all of us already possess and the new possibilities of the day. The result is illuminating, inspiring, practical, and thus perfect medicine for today.” — NEAL GORENFLO Executive Director, Shareable “For all those interested in the assault on working class agency, the decline of pro- letarianism, the network revolution, resistance organisation debates, and the nature of post-capitalist transition, this book is absolutely unmissable!” — ATHINA KARATZOGIANNI researcher on new communications media and resistance movements, Leicester University 5 Abstract Old Left models of postcapitalist transition based on organizational mass, hierarchy, and revolu- tionary seizure of power are becoming increasingly irrelevant. Meanwhile, in the interstices of a dying system in hackerspaces and garage shops, neighborhood gardens, community land trusts, and municipalist movements from Jackson to Rojava to Barcelona, people are busy creating the building blocks of a new system within the interstices of a dying one. Exodus explores a model of social, political, and economic revolution driven not by violent upheaval but instead, by the process of fostering new patterns of flourishing social interaction within the shell of an increas- ingly brittle, unsustainable, and unjust status quo. In this book, Kevin Carson draws onhisear- lier insights regarding micromanufacturing technology, ephemeralization, communication, and stigmergic organization to deepen our understanding of post-capitalist transition. Examining a broad range of contemporary trends and employing a diverse array of theoretical perspectives, Carson helps us open our eyes to the possibility of a more humane and flourishing world. 6 Preface On the whole, this is a typical Carson book. Like all my books since Studies in Mutualist Political Economy, it’s to a large extent a direct outgrowth of my earlier books insofar as it addresses in depth issues which I was limited to treating on only in passing in the previous books. In this case, Exodus applies the findings of The Homebrew Industrial Revolution regarding micromanu- facturing technology and ephemeralization, and those concerning networked communications and stigmergic organization in The Desktop Regulatory State, to the questions of political organi- zation entailed in post-capitalist transition. Three of my research papers at Center for a Stateless Society were much more limited preliminary investigations into some of the same subject matter: “Techno-Utopianism, Counterfeit and Real,”1 “The Fulcrum of the Present Crisis,”2 and “Libertar- ian Municipalism.”3 Like the previous books, it is a product of its time, in the sense that I was enthusiastically immersed in the vital events of the day during the writing process. As with Homebrew and Desktop, I was always two steps behind the news related to my research, and eventually had to draw a line beyond which I would not incorporate any new material if I was to complete the book at all. And as with the previous books, it was already becoming dated before I wrote down the last word. Although Homebrew and Desktop are both considerably dated in many regards, I think much of the analysis is still relevant and holds up fairly well. I hope the same will be true of Exodus. In any case, if you liked the previous books, perhaps you will also like this one—or at least find it somewhat useful. I hope so. Many thanks to my friend Gary Chartier, of La Sierra University, for formatting the manuscripts into a finished book that’s actually pleasing to the eyes. January 12, 2021 1 Kevin Carson, “Techno-Utopianism, Counterfeit and Real” (Center for a Stateless Society, Spring 2016) <https:/ /c4ss.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/02/TechnoUtopiaPDF1.pdf>. 2 Carson, “The Fulcrum of the Present Crisis: Some Thoughts on Revolutionary Strategy” (Center for aStateless Society, Winter 2015) <http://c4ss.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/SomeRevCarson.pdf>. 3 Carson, “Libertarian Municipalism: Networked Cities as Resilient Platforms for Post- Capitalist Transition” (Center for a Stateless Society, 2018) <https://c4ss.org/wp-content/ uploads/2018/01/community-platforms.pdf>. 7 Part One: Background Chapter One: The Age of Mass and Maneuver I. A Conflict of Visions I should note, at the outset, that in this section I deal with two dichotomies which are theoreti- cally distinct, but tend to heavily overlap in practice. The first is between interstitial visions of change based on creating the building blocks of the future society within the present one, and in- surrectionary or ruptural visions based on seizure or conquest of the state and other commanding institutions of the existing society. The second is between organizational forms modeled onpre- figuring the future society, and organizational forms (defined mainly by mass, hierarchy andthe central imposition of discipline) aimed primarily at the strategic requirements of seizing power. In the nineteenth century, prefigurative or interstitial visions coexisted with visions centered on mass-based institutions and insurrection. But even the dominant anarchist schools to some extent emphasized the role of organizational mass and insurrection in the transition process. Following a struggle with the Bakuninists in the First International, the Marxists emerged as the dominant school of socialism — a school that was both insurrectionary and envisioned the seizure of state power as a tool for transformation. (Not that Bakunin himself
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