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Ed Lewis

Poverty, exploitation, instability, hierarchy, subordination, environmental exhaustion, radical inequalities of wealth and power—it is not difficult to list capitalism’s myriad injustices. But is there a preferable and workable alternative? What would a viable free and democratic society look like?

Alternatives to Capitalism: Proposals for a Democratic Economy presents a debate between two such possibilities: Robin Hahnel’s “participatory economics” and Erik Olin Wright’s “real utopian” socialism. It is a detailed and rewarding discussion that illuminates a range of issues and dilemmas of crucial importance to any serious effort to build a better world.

Is it worth devoting energy to thinking about alternatives to capitalism? There is a tradition within anti-capitalist politics that thinks not. It is argued that idle speculation distracts from what really matters: the struggles emerging in the here and now, which are the soil from which any emancipatory future will spring. Moreover, if participation in those struggles is done on the basis of a preconceived vision, their creativity and experimentation may be inhibited.

However, a compelling case can be made that serious visionary work can invigorate and strengthen radical politics. The most powerful movements of the left in the twentieth century failed to produce a desirable alternative to capitalism, leading instead to authoritarian “really existing socialism” in the USSR and its satellites, on the one hand, and “humanized capitalism” of social democracy, on the other. This has led to pessimism about widespread transcending capitalism, even among radical movements and their sympathisers. By contrast, a left animated by a shared vision, resting on the kind of credible intellectual foundations that Robin and Erik supply, could help provide confidence and strategic direction that lacking to day.

This dialogue brings together two writers who, motivated by such considerations, have devoted substantial efforts to thinking systematically about a next economic system. Both Robin and Erik began this process in the 1990s, when the collapse of the USSR heralded a new era of capitalist triumphalism. Robin and his collaborator Michael Albert built on ideas that had emerged within the libertarian socialist tradition in the twentieth century—including council communists, anarcho-syndicalists and elements of the New Left—to develop a plausible anti-capitalist economic model known as “participatory economics.” This model dispenses with the defining features of a capitalist economy—private ownership, markets and a hierarchical division of labor—replacing them with self-managing worker and consumer councils, and a novel procedure of participatory planning. His latest book on the subject is Of the People, By the People: The Case for a Participatory Economy (AK Press, 2012), where he presents a comprehensive, yet accessible explanation of the model.

In the 1990s Erik initiated the Real Utopias Project, editing a series of books canvassing and assessing a range of proposals for emancipatory institutional arrangements. This eventually led to the publication of his own work, Envisioning Real Utopias (Verso, 2010). By far the most ambitious book in the series, developed in part through a speaking tour of 18 countries over four years, it outlines a novel conception of socialism, anchored in the concept of “social empowerment”; a variety of general institutional configurations that could facilitate its realization; and a detailed discussion of strategy for social transformation.

In Alternatives to Capitalism Erik and Robin bring to bear the ideas developed in Of the People, By the People and Envisioning Real Utopias. Part one focuses on participatory economics, while part two focuses on real utopian socialism. Each part opens with a lead essay that summarizes the main ideas of the author’s approach, followed by a critical commentary by the other author, followed by a rejoinder. The distinctive nature of this text is the depth of the dialogue that emerges. New arguments and ideas surface in each of the six contributions, while key issues are revisited throughout and subjected to sustained evaluation. The result is a work that, even as it covers a range of issues in economics, social theory and history, achieves a rare degree of depth and thoroughness.

Important points of disagreement emerge. These concern, among other things, the level of detail to which post-capitalist visions should aspire, the future of markets, and whether a revolutionary strategy has a credible role to play in anti-capitalist politics. Readers will have to make their own judgments about the competing arguments on these issues—a task made easier by the constructive spirit with which Erik and Robin pursue their disagreements, with no time wasted on straw-manning or point scoring. This reflects the genuine political desire, shared by the authors and publishers, that motivates Alternatives to Capitalism: to strengthen the intellectual resources of anti-capitalist politics. We hope it makes a worthwhile contribution to this most vital of tasks.