A review by mcwyss
Can't Pay, Won't Pay: The Case for Economic Disobedience and Debt Abolition by Debt Collective

3.0

I largely agree with the goals of this book. We need to build socialism if we want to survive the coming crises. However, a question is raised by Astra Taylor in the forward that goes unanswered and lingers in the background for the entire book, namely how do we build debtors unions when people who have the same lender are often separated by great distances? This is central to their project and is seemingly insurmountable if the strategy is to build a new type of union based solely on debt. What allows labor unions and tenant unions to organize is that the members live and work in close proximity to each other; they see each other and talk all the time and locals can meet in person to socialize and strategize. This leads me to believe that unless debtors unions are reworked to be caucuses in existing labor and tenant unions that campaign to participate in debt strikes, then the idea of a debtors union is doomed to fail.