''Crack Capitalism'' (2010) is a book by sociologist
John Holloway that carries on with the political ideas developed in his earlier ''
Change the World Without Taking Power
''Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today'' is a book by John Holloway first published in 2002. It looks at the understanding of power as the central focal point of how to effect meaningful change. Holloway uses t ...
''. Holloway sees the problem of
political activism, in terms of those struggling “in-and-against” the system, as one of continuing to perpetuate
capitalism through their commitment to abstract labour. Holloway defines "abstract labour" as labour which is subordinated exclusively to the
demands of the
market.
He argues that from the Marxist stand-point of “two-fold nature of labour” or
abstract labour and concrete labour Abstract labour and concrete labour refer to a distinction made by Karl Marx in his critique of political economy. It refers to the difference between human labour in general as economically valuable worktime versus human labour as a particular act ...
, that
anti-capitalist
Anti-capitalism is a political ideology and Political movement, movement encompassing a variety of attitudes and ideas that oppose capitalism. In this sense, anti-capitalists are those who wish to replace capitalism with another type of economi ...
struggles should be about concrete doing being against labour, and not a struggle of labour against capital. In this respect it is critical of
Leninism
Leninism is a political ideology developed by Russian Marxist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin that proposes the establishment of the Dictatorship of the proletariat#Vladimir Lenin, dictatorship of the proletariat led by a revolutionary Vanguardis ...
,
orthodox Marxism
Orthodox Marxism is the body of Marxist thought that emerged after the death of Karl Marx (1818–1883) and which became the official philosophy of the majority of the socialist movement as represented in the Second International until the Firs ...
and other attempts to address
social change either exclusively in terms of socialising the
means of production, through the formation of
political parties
A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific ideological or pol ...
or working within state structures.
The books name is derived from the analogy of ice breaking from struggles against capitalism. It sets out 33 theses which also touch upon
dialectics
Dialectic ( grc-gre, διαλεκτική, ''dialektikḗ''; related to dialogue; german: Dialektik), also known as the dialectical method, is a discourse between two or more people holding different points of view about a subject but wishing to ...
,
primitive accumulation,
sexual dimorphisation and struggles in the
global south
The concept of Global North and Global South (or North–South divide in a global context) is used to describe a grouping of countries along socio-economic and political characteristics. The Global South is a term often used to identify region ...
.
The book was published by Pluto Press in 2010.
See also
*
Anti-globalization movement
*
Autonomism
*
Open Marxism
*
Zapatistas
References
{{reflist
External links
Reviews
Steven Poole Reviewfrom
guardian.co.uk
TheGuardian.com, formerly known as Guardian.co.uk and ''Guardian Unlimited'', is a British news and media website owned by the Guardian Media Group. It contains nearly all of the content of the newspapers ''The Guardian'' and ''The Observer'', ...
Crack Capitalism, John Hollowayfrom Counterfire
Crack Capitalismfrom
Socialist Review
The ''Socialist Review'' is a monthly magazine of the British Socialist Workers Party. As well as being printed it is also published online.
Original publication: 1950–1962
The ''Socialist Review'' was set up in 1950 as the main publication o ...
2010 non-fiction books
Autonomism
Marxist books
Pluto Press books