Scan barcode
Reviews
In, Against, and Beyond Capitalism: The San Francisco Lectures by John Holloway, Andrej Grubačić
tom_green's review against another edition
One of the essential elements of Holloway's thought is a reading of Marx's Capital. How else to critically understand contemporary reality, right? But Holloway stresses that it is important to read Capital not just as a cold analysis of capitalism. In the process of reading it is necessary to involve oneself in the centre of the action and so experience the emotions. In this way, we will feel anger as one of the underlying emotions during the reading, similar to the anger we often feel in our everyday personal lives, but also when we watch social events. This anger, according to Holloway, can connect us to other people, whether we are "activist" or not. The question is how to use this anger and where to direct it.
Reading Capital is a common entry point into the analysis of capitalist society for a variety of Marxist approaches. The goal of the analysis is usually also the same - the overcoming of capitalism. Where Marxisms differ from each other is in the trajectory that is supposed to lead from the start to the finish. Holloway is representative of "Open Marxism" which, among other things, gives new meaning to some classical Marxist categories. For example, he refuses to speak of the "working class" as a revolutionary subject in the third person. Instead, he uses the broader category of "we," which may sound abstract, but Holloway knows why he does it. This "we" is also an important starting point for his account of how to overcome capitalist society. And it is at this point that the "story" of this book begins. A book full of "cracks" that allow us to form new relationships not only with other people, but also with "plants and other forms of life".
-------------------------
Jedným zo zásadných prvkov Hollowayovho myslenia je čítanie Marxovho Kapitálu. Ako inak kriticky porozumieť súčasnej realite, však? Holloway však zdôrazňuje, že dôležité je čítať Kapitál nie len ako chladnú analýzu kapitalizmu. V procese čítania je potrebné zapojiť seba do centra diania a tak prežívať emócie. Takto budeme pri čítaní ako jednu z nosných emócií pociťovať hnev, podobný tomu, ktorý často cítime v každodennom osobnom živote, ale tiež vtedy, keď sledujeme spoločenské dianie. Tento hnev nás podľa Hollowaya dokáže spojiť s inými ľuďmi, bez ohľadu na to, či sa "aktivisticky" angažujeme alebo nie. Otázkou je ako tento hnev využiť a kam ho nasmerovať.
Čítanie Kapitálu ako vstupu do analýzy kapitalistickej spoločnosti je spoločným prvkom rôznych marxistických prístupov. Cieľ analýzy je zvyčajne tiež rovnaký - prekonanie kapitalizmu. V čom sa marxizmy medzi sebou líšia je trajektória, ktorá má viesť od štartu k cieľu. Holloway je zástupcom "otvoreného marxizmu", ktorý, okrem iného, dáva niektorým klasickým marxistickým kategóriám nový význam. Napríklad o "pracujúcej triede" ako revolučnom subjekte odmieta hovoriť v tretej osobe. Namiesto toho používa širšiu kategóriu "my", ktorá síce znie abstraktne, ale Holloway vie, prečo to robí. Toto "my" je zároveň dôležitým východzím bodom pre jeho rozprávanie o tom ako prekonať kapitalistickú spoločnosť. A práve v tomto bode začína "príbeh" tejto knihy. Knihy plnej "trhlín", ktoré nám umožňujú vytvárať nové vzťahy nielen k druhým ľuďom, ale aj k "rastlinám a ďalším formám života".
Reading Capital is a common entry point into the analysis of capitalist society for a variety of Marxist approaches. The goal of the analysis is usually also the same - the overcoming of capitalism. Where Marxisms differ from each other is in the trajectory that is supposed to lead from the start to the finish. Holloway is representative of "Open Marxism" which, among other things, gives new meaning to some classical Marxist categories. For example, he refuses to speak of the "working class" as a revolutionary subject in the third person. Instead, he uses the broader category of "we," which may sound abstract, but Holloway knows why he does it. This "we" is also an important starting point for his account of how to overcome capitalist society. And it is at this point that the "story" of this book begins. A book full of "cracks" that allow us to form new relationships not only with other people, but also with "plants and other forms of life".
-------------------------
Jedným zo zásadných prvkov Hollowayovho myslenia je čítanie Marxovho Kapitálu. Ako inak kriticky porozumieť súčasnej realite, však? Holloway však zdôrazňuje, že dôležité je čítať Kapitál nie len ako chladnú analýzu kapitalizmu. V procese čítania je potrebné zapojiť seba do centra diania a tak prežívať emócie. Takto budeme pri čítaní ako jednu z nosných emócií pociťovať hnev, podobný tomu, ktorý často cítime v každodennom osobnom živote, ale tiež vtedy, keď sledujeme spoločenské dianie. Tento hnev nás podľa Hollowaya dokáže spojiť s inými ľuďmi, bez ohľadu na to, či sa "aktivisticky" angažujeme alebo nie. Otázkou je ako tento hnev využiť a kam ho nasmerovať.
Čítanie Kapitálu ako vstupu do analýzy kapitalistickej spoločnosti je spoločným prvkom rôznych marxistických prístupov. Cieľ analýzy je zvyčajne tiež rovnaký - prekonanie kapitalizmu. V čom sa marxizmy medzi sebou líšia je trajektória, ktorá má viesť od štartu k cieľu. Holloway je zástupcom "otvoreného marxizmu", ktorý, okrem iného, dáva niektorým klasickým marxistickým kategóriám nový význam. Napríklad o "pracujúcej triede" ako revolučnom subjekte odmieta hovoriť v tretej osobe. Namiesto toho používa širšiu kategóriu "my", ktorá síce znie abstraktne, ale Holloway vie, prečo to robí. Toto "my" je zároveň dôležitým východzím bodom pre jeho rozprávanie o tom ako prekonať kapitalistickú spoločnosť. A práve v tomto bode začína "príbeh" tejto knihy. Knihy plnej "trhlín", ktoré nám umožňujú vytvárať nové vzťahy nielen k druhým ľuďom, ale aj k "rastlinám a ďalším formám života".
unisonlibrarian's review against another edition
4.0
This is a fairly digestible read for any lefty friends on here, which possibly describes most of my friends. It's a verbatim record of three lectures given in San Francisco by the Marxist sociologist John Holloway.
He talks a lot about unity of the left and how we need to stop separating people in to different branches of disenfranchised and oppressed peoples and start thinking as a "we" not a "they" when discussing people of struggle.
He talks about acts of selflessness, from the small to the huge each create a tiny crack in capitalism and the more we create the more we undermine it.
He says honestly that he doesn't have the answers, and if anyone does claim to have all the answers it moves them in to an area of monologue where we need a politics of dialogue - some have ideas, so do some others - sit and talk and implement them.
The overriding message is that we need to stop viewing the crises of capitalism as something done to us, but rather embrace those crises and become them. Sack bankers, elect different politicians but they will still be another version of the capitalist that went before, before the whole philosophy of capital is one of exploitation and oppression. His message is summed up in the words "we are the crisis of capitalism".
He talks a lot about unity of the left and how we need to stop separating people in to different branches of disenfranchised and oppressed peoples and start thinking as a "we" not a "they" when discussing people of struggle.
He talks about acts of selflessness, from the small to the huge each create a tiny crack in capitalism and the more we create the more we undermine it.
He says honestly that he doesn't have the answers, and if anyone does claim to have all the answers it moves them in to an area of monologue where we need a politics of dialogue - some have ideas, so do some others - sit and talk and implement them.
The overriding message is that we need to stop viewing the crises of capitalism as something done to us, but rather embrace those crises and become them. Sack bankers, elect different politicians but they will still be another version of the capitalist that went before, before the whole philosophy of capital is one of exploitation and oppression. His message is summed up in the words "we are the crisis of capitalism".
sean_ngyn's review against another edition
3.0
These lectures cover the crisis of the system and how to mobilize by expanding these different cracks within capitalism and realizing our own self-determination. Good summary for new radicals. I wish Holloway could expand more alternative commodifications and on the authorities of these different anti-capitalist programs, how we can use authority to adjust and reclaim power.
More...