Hope in Hopeless Times
At a low point for the left, one of the world's leading Marxist philosophers demonstrates the grounds for revolutionary hope
Hope lies in our richness, in the joy of our collective creativity. But that richness exists in the peculiar form of money. The fact that we relate to on another through money causes tremendous social pain and destruction and is dragging us through pandemics and war towards extinction.
Richness against money: this battle will decide the future of humanity. If we cannot emancipate richness from money-capital-profit, there is probably no hope. Money seems invincible but the constant expansion of debt shows that its rule is fragile. The fictitious expansion of money through debt is driven by fear, fear of us, fear of the rabble. Money contains, but richness overflows.
In this final part of his ground-breaking trilogy, John Holloway expertly fuses anti-capitalism and anti-identitarianism, and brings hope into the critique of political economy and revolutionary theory, challenging us to find hope within ourselves and channel it into a dignified, revolutionary rage.
John Holloway has published widely on Marxist theory, on the Zapatista movement and on the new forms of anti-capitalist struggle. His book Change the World without Taking Power has been translated into eleven languages and has stirred an international debate, and Crack Capitalism is a renowned classic. He is currently Professor of Sociology in the Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades of the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla in Mexico.
'With a sure touch, Holloway gathers in this volume what he has sown in a life of militancy'
- Antonio Negri, author of 'The End of Sovereignty''John Holloway has a great talent for working through complex, erudite, intellectually satisfying arguments in wonderfully readable prose. His uncompromising critique of capitalist control and his affirmation of 'the rabble' in this book serve as antidotes to some of the poisons we are subjected to in contemporary society'
- Michael Hardt, author of 'The Subversive 70s''A wonderful call to fight and destroy the monstrous capitalist Hydra'
- Michael Löwy, Marxist sociologist and philosopher'We are at the point zero of a history where everything must disappear or be reborn. For the first time, a movement is growing without leaders or external organisation, with the freedom to become really human. John Holloway is one of those who discern in this poetry of overflowing an uprising of life'
- Raoul Vaneigem, author of 'The Revolution of Everyday Life''The world is driving towards a catastrophe. Against the current trend, John Holloway argues that even in hopeless times hope should not be abandoned. To some that may seem too optimistic, but Holloway's reflections are important, and must be engaged with'
- Joachim Hirsch, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the Johann Wolfgang Goethe University in Frankfurt'This is Holloway at his subversive best'
- Werner Bonefeld, lecturer in Politics at the University of York'In this finale to his remarkable trilogy, Holloway's work reaches a crescendo as he captures and chokes that darkest of forces, the veritable Hydra of money'
- Anitra Nelson, author of 'Beyond Money: A Postcapitalist Strategy'Preface: Stop that train
Part I Rage-Hope-Richness
- Today, any day.
- Start again. Not from fear but from hope. Not from containment but from overflowing.
- Better, start from antagonism, from struggle.
- Start from anguish, from Janus. Start from Not Enough! Start from the hydra that we must slay.
Part II We must re-learn hope
- It is time to re-learn hope.
- To learn hope is to learn to think hope: a docta spes.
- Hope pushes beyond identity.
- Our hope starts from the scream, not from absence.
- The Scream takes us in a negative direction, to overflow.
- Beyond negative thought: Thinking In-Against-and-Beyond.
Part III Historicity
- Hope-against is rooted in historicity.
- Historicity does not mean historical materialism.
- There is a Grand Narrative: the train taking us towards Destruction. It is a narrative to be broken.
Part IV The Subject
- Hope is not for victims, nor for heroes.
- Richness is the revolutionary subject.
- Listen to the latent Richness.
- Listen again: there is a deeper level of latency.
- Turn it all upside down, feel sorry for the capitalists.
Part V The Object: Money
- Hope is a movement of the subject against an object: a breaking against a binding.
- The links in the chain of destruction are difficult to break.
- The weakness of the binding lies not in the links between the forms but in their internal antagonisms.
- Unbinding the binding: Revolutionising revolution.
- Richness against the commodity: the world faces two ways.
Part VI Think hope, think crisis
- A theory of hope requires an understanding of the weakness or crisis of its object, the hoped-against.
- Crisis is inherent in capital.
- From crisis to restructuring, or not: this is the salto mortale of capital.
Part VII Crisis postponed
- Hope confronts the Hydra of Money.
- Money rules. Money is the serial killer destroying us all.
- Capital today is increasingly fictitious. Money is ill.
- We are the subjects of the crisis of money.
- Putting off disaster is the central principle of political economy. The abandonment of the gold standard opens the way to mob rule.
- The war created the golden age of capital. Its crisis broke the link between gold and money.
- The Volcker shock: the last attempt to impose sound money.
- Black Monday: Debt takes off.
- The breach between money and value continues to grow: a series of heart attacks.
- The fragility of capital explodes in the financial crisis of 2007/2008. Heart attack number 2?
- The storm is on the horizon: Fire Next Time.
- The storm breaks: the Coronacrisis.
- The Great Fragility deepens.
Part VIII A Book in search of a Conclusion. Hope in search of a Happy Ending
- The Container cannot contain.
- We are Rabble-Richness-Resistance-Rebellion.
- From Rage to Dignified Rage, Rabia to Digna Rabia.
- Emancipate richnesses!
- Not enough.
Thanks
Notes
Bibliography
Index
eBook ISBN: 9780745347363
140mm x 216mm