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.
Forward by Richard D. Wolff
Part I: Economic Democracy / The Social Economy
1. Beyond Capitalism to Sustainability: The Public Bank Solution
Ellen Brown
2. Building a Grassroots Democratic Economy: The Rising Tide of Local Self-Reliance, Workplace Democracy, and Social Justice
Len Krimerman
3. Worker’s Economy in Argentina: Self Management, Cooperatives and Recovered Enterprises in a Time of Global Crisis
Andre Ruggeri
4. Cooperative Cuba
Cliff DuRand
Part II: The Commons
5. Commoning Together
Cliff DuRand
6. Building the Commons as an Antidote to the Predatory Market Economy
Margaret Flowers and Kevin Zeese
7. Autogestión: Prefiguring a New Cooperativism and the ‘Labor Commons’
Marcelo Vieta
8. Divisions in the Commons: Ecuador’s FLOK Society and the Zapatistas’ Escuelita
George Caffentzis
Part III: Alternatives to a System in Crisis
9. Economic Crises, Environmental Crises: Moving beyond Capitalism
David Schweickart
10. The Left and a Green New Deal
Jerry Harris
11. Alternatives to Development in Latin America
Rebecca Hollender
Part IV: Bringing Politics Back In
12. The Limits of Localism
Gregory Diamant
13. Getting Past Capitalism: History, Vision, Hope
Cynthia Kaufman
14. Toward A Stronger, More Influential Political Left: An Appeal for Critical Self-Reflection
Michael McCabe
Part V: Socialism in the 21st Century
15. Building a 21st Century Socialism
Cliff DuRand
16. Out of the Abyss, the New World
Gustavo Esteva
17. The Communal State (Venezuela): Communal Councils and Workplace Democracy
Dario Azzellini
18. The Necessary Renovation of Socialist Hegemony in Cuba: Contradictions and Challenges
Olga Fernández Ríos
19. Cuba’s Cooperatives: Their Contribution to Cuba’s New Socialism
Camila Piñeiro Harnecker
20. The Dialectic of Constituent Power and Constituted Power
Cliff DuRand
Biography
Cliff DuRand is a lifelong political activist and retired Philosophy professor. He is a founder of the Radical Philosophy Association in the U.S. and of the Center for Global Justice in Mexico.
Excerpt from journal review
"...Moving Beyond Capitalism is an indispensable guide for scholars, activists, and grass roots organizations who want to build an alternative world in the twenty-first century." – Kaan Agartan, Framingham State University, in Labour and Industry Journal
