Bursts__ reviewed Overcoming Capitalism by Tom Wetzel
A US Libertarian Socialist Challenge for Today
5 stars
Whew! This book was dense at 400 pages. Wetzel spent a decade writing this introduction to his vision of modern anarcho-syndicalism, which he calls Libertarian Syndlicalism (apparently as a grab-back at the term "Libertarian" in the US context). Wetzel's book is a thorough introduction to anti-capitalism, with a focus on worker control, democratic council administration of everyday life, a broad definition of class as a relation of shared interest and alienation with room for nuance and difference within, and detailed visions of not only how the world might look without the state and capital but also how to get there. Wetzel's book gives good critique of political representation, of the mythologized New Deal, it's step-child the Green New Deal, the failures of Democratic Socialism and Social Democracy the Leninist counter-revolution and the faults of Democratic Centralism in the unions that survive today in this country. While he notes that the US is soaked in racialized capitalism, he notes that anti-Indigenous and anti-Black racism were birthed of the colonial project, pre-date capitalism and the related oppressions are distinct of (but complicate) broad working class oppression. The last chapter is really rich with imagining, though pretty careful to not be prescriptive, in speaking of ways that workers can manage their workplaces, how neighborhood and regional councils with directly recall-able delegates could contribute a to Libertarian Eco-Socialist, discussing price fixing based on the social and ecological costs of goods, engaging with ParEcon concepts and more. The author draws heavily from writings on the Spanish Revolution and the activities of the CNT & FAI in Andalucia and Catalunya up to and through the 1930's. There is just so much here to discuss. I definitely think this'd be a good book club book for anyone wanting to engage in particulars of workers control, economics and anarcho-syndlicalist theory. I'm excited to speak with Tom next week and hope to air the chat on the show on January 15th.