ABSTRACT

The book speaks to the widespread quest for concrete alternative ways forward 'beyond capitalism' in the face of the prevailing corporatocracy and a capitalist system in crisis. It examines a number of institutions and practices now being built in the nooks and crannies of present societies and that point beyond capitalism toward a more equal, participatory, and democratic society – institutions such as cooperatives, public banks, the commons, economic democracy. This seminal collection of critical studies draws on academic and activist voices from the U.S. and Canada, Mexico, Cuba, and Argentina, and from a variety of theoretical-political perspectives – Marxism, anarchism, feminism, and Zapatismo.

chapter |8 pages

Introduction

part |34 pages

Economic democracy / The social economy

chapter |6 pages

Beyond capitalism to sustainability

The public bank solution

chapter |10 pages

Building a grassroots democratic economy

The rising tide of local self-reliance, workplace democracy and social justice

chapter |9 pages

Workers' economy in Argentina

Self-management, cooperatives and recovered enterprises in a time of global crisis 1

chapter |7 pages

Cooperative Cuba

part |38 pages

The commons

chapter |9 pages

Autogestión

Prefiguring a ‘new cooperativism' and the ‘labour commons'

chapter |17 pages

Divisions in the commons

Ecuador's FLOK Society and the Zapatistas' Escuelita

part |36 pages

Alternatives to a system in crisis

part |30 pages

Bringing politics back in

chapter |9 pages

Getting past capitalism

History, vision, hope

chapter |13 pages

Toward a stronger, more influential political left

An appeal for critical self-reflection

part |53 pages

Socialism in the twenty-first century

chapter |9 pages

The communal state (Venezuela)

Communal councils and workplace democracy

chapter |5 pages

The necessary renovation of socialist hegemony in Cuba

Contradictions and challenges 1

chapter |11 pages

Cuba's cooperatives

Their contribution to Cuba's new socialism