Occupy the Economy

Reviews / Votes

"Richard Wolff and David Barsamian truly understand, at the deepest levels, both the need for political, social, and economic change in this nation, and the ways such change can happen. This is an essential read for everybody concerned with the future of the world, from academics to concerned citizens, it's also a brilliant and thoughtful manual that every activist must own."--Thom Hartmann, internationally syndicated radio/TV host, and author of The Last Hours of Ancient Sunlight "Occupy activists everywhere are heatedly debating the question, "What's next for our movement?' In his collected interviews with David Barsamian, radical economist Richard Wolff lays out a compelling framework for further anti-corporate organizing that focuses on the root of the problem: capitalism and its never-ending assault on the 99%. Occupiers (past, present, and future) now have an intellectual guide to a different kind of economy--one that's equitable, sustainable, and, let's hope, politically achievable, sooner rather than later. Wolff's deep but conversational synthesis of recent practice and older theory couldn't be more timely, persuasive, and readable. This book should be required reading for all labor and community organizers newly inspired by Occupy Wall Street!"--Steve Early, labor activist, journalist, and author of The Civil Wars in U.S. Labor "We blame corrupt bankers, their industry, and the government who refused to properly regulate it for the financial crisis, but we need to look further back, to a time when the capitalist system itself shifted. Author David Barsamian devotes his entire book to interviews with renowned economist Richard Wolff, during which the two seek to understand the root causes of the current economic crisis, and what concerted efforts by individuals can do to bring about meaningful change."--SF Weekly "Like the writings of Karl Marx himself, Wolff's Occupy the Economy: Challenging Capitalism (2012, City Lights Books) gives a far more detailed analysis of the current systemic crisis than of how to build an alternative, democratic economy. The book does end, however, with a "Manifesto for Economic Democracy and Ecological Sanity," signed by seven activist intellectuals, which gives strong acknowledgment to the role of co-ops as training grounds for worker democracy. 'The change we propose... as a new and major addition to the agenda for social change,' says the Manifesto, '... is to occur inside production... the workers must become collectively their own bosses, their own board of directors...'"--Jewish Currents "Wolff, a Marxist economist, gives a deeper analysis of capitalism, so that the 'mysteries' of wealth accumulation become clear in all their exploitative nature. By reading "Occupy the Economy," the reader will unknowingly receive an excellent introductory lesson into Marx's greatest literary achievement, "Capital."--Smirking Chimp