Edited by Paolo Mossetti
After the Occupy Wall Street "People's Library" was brutally dismantled by the police, last November, I asked some of my favourite writers, activists, and academics to help me compile a list of books that would recreate, though only virtually, the library's shelves.
Cover by Kaf & Cyop [1]. Image courtesy of the artist
[Here you can find Part I [2], Part II [3] and Part III [4]]
§ Part 4 §
Linda Martina ALCOFF
Philosopher at the City University of New York who specializes in epistemology, feminism, race theory and existentialism.
Foucault, Michel (2007) - Security, Territoriality, Population [5]
This collection of lectures applies his well known concepts of power and normalization to some historical examples, producing a complex and brilliant critique of the value of ‘security.’
Reed, John(1919) - Ten Days That Shook the World [6]
An unforgettable eyewitness report of the Russian Revolution, from the ground.
Georgakis, Dan; Surkin, Marvin (1975) - Detroit: I Do Mind Dying [7]
This is a gripping account of urban rebellion, with class and race at the forefront, showcasing the integration of new forms of cultural expression and an engagement with reform politics within the struggles of labor and the unemployed.
Flanders, Laura (ed.) (2010) – At the Tea Party [8]
A wide collection of smart and funny and therapeutic short essays that includes analyses of race and gender issues.
Sitrin, Marina (Ed.) (2006) – Horizontalism [9]
An interesting, innovative, and reflective, on the ground daily report of conflicts and challenges from grassroots activists engaged in the effort to build democracy anew in the midst of the recent economic rebellion in Argentina, where the concept of horizontalidad first emerged.
Ariella AZOULAY
Teacher of visual culture and contemporary philosophy at the Program for Culture and Interpretation, Bar Ilan University.
Benjamin, Walter(1969) – Illuminations [10]
Benjamin's explicit discussion in the last chapter - “Theses on The Philosophy of History” - on writing history from the perspective of the “oppressed” and the implicit understanding of history as incomplete, was a moment of illumination for me as an Israeli Jew born to be identified with the oppressors.
Arendt, Hannah (1958) - The Human Condition [11]
Arendt's understanding of the common is the most challenging contribution to the re-invention of civil practices to oppose the national-sovereign ones that rule our lives.
A French revolutionary of the 18th century, known mainly for he “Declaration of the rights of woman and female citizen”, wrote the most challenging political text of the 18th century. In this particular theater play, written seven years before the onset of the French Revolution, she stages a double resistance of a black slave and a woman, in a way that redefines community in opposition to the colonial power.
Arendt, Hannah (1951) - Origins of Totalitarianism [13]
This book reconstructs the way our world was shaped by colonialism and imperialism that made change possible only within the limits of the existent nation-states. The civil movements of today are the expected outcome of the world described in this book which was not dismantled after the Second World War.
Milford BATEMAN
Freelance consultant specializing in local economic development policy, particularly in relation to the Western Balkans. Author of: Why Doesn't Microfinance Work?(Zed Books, 2010)
The best and most entertaining explanation I have seen as to why the western policies forced on developing countries, possibly with good intentions, have actually made things much worse.
Harriss, John (2002) - Depoliticizing Development: The World Bank and Social Capital [15]
A brilliant explanation of why and how the World Bank so often grabs and runs with ideas that are almost completely empty and without any foundation (another obvious example is microcredit), but which can be carefully deployed and built up in order to promote their own neoliberal agenda under cover of ‘helping the poor’.
Harvey, David(2006) - A Brief History of Neoliberalism [16]
The most brilliant, and brilliantly readable, summary of how neo-liberalism came about, how it captured government, how it survived in the face of economic collapse, and why it has been so very bad for the majority of ordinary people.
Galbraith, John Kenneth (1958) - The Affluent Society [17]
The very first book you need to read if you want to know why capitalism is increasingly artificially propped up by meaningless consumer demands, and so it is fundamentally incompatible with any sort of genuine concern for the environment and natural resource depletion.
Norman FINKELSTEIN
Political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust.
Chomsky, Noam (1983) – Fateful Triangle [18]
The book is perhaps a little outdated now, but it exerted a huge influence on me upon its publication because of its near-perfect synthesis of facts, reason and passion. I am told that Prof Chomsky wrote the whole book in six months at night after work. A remarkable achievement.
The best eyewitness account of the Nazi death camps. Lingens-Reiner was not Jewish, but rather an Austrian socialist who was imprisoned in Auschwitz for assisting a Jew. A medical doctor by training, she worked with Rudolf Mengele (the "Angel of Death") and discovered that, far from being a fanatical Nazi ideologue, he was just another run-of-the-mill opportunist. It's also deeply moving: she is forced to choose between committing an immoral act and reuniting with her infant son or staying moral but being separated from him.
I read all three volumes as a young man, the first volume four times, the other volumes twice each. I cannot say I learned anything from CAPITAL, in the sense that I came to understand the inner-workings of the capitalist system. But reading it did hone my analytical skills. I copied the volumes out paragraph by paragraph in the left-hand column of several notebooks, and commented on each paragraph in the right-hand column. I learned how to take apart a book and dissect its logic and coherence. I tried the same thing with David Ricardo's PRINCIPLES OF POLITICAL ECONOMY but got stuck in the chapter on profits.
Stuart Milll, John (1859) – On Liberty [21]
I read this little book after my disillusionment with Maoism. I learned that no one has a monopoly on truth, that good arguments can be made on both sides of most questions, that politics is mostly about weighing arguments--which side has the preponderance of good arguments--not absolutes, and that it's useful to listen to everyone's viewpoint. Although I loathe liberals, and although this is classic liberalism, I still consider it excellent advice.
Bill FLETCHER, JR.
Longtime labor, racial justice and international activist.
Marta Harnecker, Martha (2007) – Rebuilding the Left [22]
Marta Harnecker is one of the most outstanding Marxist thinkers of our time. Her book is only one small sample. Her website www.rebelion.org [23] offers a selection of essays on the contemporary struggle against capitalism. She is accessible and one who sees theory as at the service of the mass struggle.
Samir Amin, Samir (1989) – Eurocentrism [24]
The Egyptian-born Marxist theorist has written an enormous number of works but the one that i would mention here is this short book. It is more than about Eurocentrism but is a critique of post-modern approaches to struggle and offers an introduction to understanding social change.
Tse-Tung, Mao (2001) - Selected Readings from the Works of Mao [25]
Contained in this volume are essays that help activists develop a framework to construct strategies for social transformation through an understanding of the world. Mao is to the point, interesting to read, and concerned with breaking complex ideas into "digestible" components.
Davis, Mike (1986) - Prisoners of the American Dream [26]
Which i read in the late 1980s still remains an outstanding look at class struggle in the USA and the recurring issues of race. It poses questions regarding how labor and the organized Left in the USA have approached reform and revolutionary struggle.
A book that reads like a novel, but examines the emergence of capitalism in the North Atlantic. The author examines the class, racial and gender struggles against oppression and the manner in which they have shaped today's world.
Ransby, Barbara () - Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement: A Radical Democratic Vision [28]
A look at a leader who produced many other leaders; an individual who saw in a particular reform struggle a route towards social transformation.
Allen, Theodore (1994) - The Invention of the White Race [29]
This two volume examination of the creation of racism and white supremacy is a must-read. Progressive social movements in the USA continue to trip over the question of race. Allen provides a deep level of analysis to help one understand the historical and strategic significance of white supremacist oppression in the USA.
David GOODWAY
Historian and a respected international authority on anarchism and libertarian socialism. A student of Eric Hobsbawm, Goodway specialised in the history of Chartism in London and his work London Chartism is an acknowledged classic work on the subject.
Marx,Karl (1852) - The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte [30]
Or it could be almost any other work by the early or mid-period Marx. To be read not to extract dogma but as an illustration of how understand (with sardonic humour ) the world in which one lives.
Stuart Milll, John (1859) – On Liberty [21]
The classic libertarian statement. Mill argues for complete liberty of the individual – yet only so far as the freedom of others is not infringed.
Comfort, Alex (1950) - Authority and Delinquency in the Modern State [31]
Comfort maintains modern states attracts psychopaths to positions of authority and fosters delinquent behaviour in power holders. The pretensions of politicians can never be taken seriously again.
Thompson, E. P.; Morris, William (1955) - Romantic to Revolutionary [32]
In his first great book Thompson rehabilitated Morris as a major intellectual figure - and was enabled to develop the concept of ‘agency’, the organizing innovation of The Making of the English Working Class.
Bookchin, Murray (1971) - Post-Scarcity Anarchism [33]
In these dazzling essays Bookchin dragged anarchism into the late-twentieth century. Yet many (or most) anarchists, intent on reliving nineteenth fantasies, are still kicking and screaming in protest.
Ramsey KANAAN
Lebanese-Scottish singer and publisher of anarchist literature, best known as the founder of AK Press [34], one of the largest distributors of anarchist and left-wing books in the world.
Lilley, Sasha (2011) - Capital And Its Discontents [35]
For those wanting to understand the currents crises (financial, ecologicalet al), and capitalism and its strategic vulnerabilities, this is the place to start. A series of illuminating conversations with a stellar international cast of the sharpest thinkers on the Left.
McNally, David (2010) - Global Slump [36]
One of the world's leading radical political economists provides THE guidebook to understanding the beast that is neoliberalism; and how it has operated over the last 40 years, leading up to the current debacle.
Thompson, E. P.; Morris, William (1955) - Romantic to Revolutionary [32]
It's not enough to fightback against the 1% (though that's a start). Wehave to occupy the Imagination, and start envisioning the paths to the post-capitalist future. Britain's greatest social historian takes on its greatest Marxist mind, and tackles from here to there to Utopia.
The classic novel of youth insurrection, communes, revolution, and bloodyreaction. An inspiring and cautionary tale from one of the greatest feminist writers.
Lynd, Staughton; Grubacic, Andrej (2008) - Wobblies And Zapatistas [38]
A lively conversation spanning generations, radical currents (Marxism and Anarchism), and the last 150 years of history. There's much to learn, and we typically do it better, together.
LOOP
Italian radical magazine.
Céline, Louis-Ferdinand (1932) - Journey to the End of Night [39]
Last chance. Yesterday as today. A journey into the darkness of the twentieth century.
Saramago, José (1995) - Blindness [40]
A work of art from Nobel prize winner Saramago. The dry plot, noir fiction in places, is an excuse for a radical reflection on human nature and contemporary society.
Beck, Ulrich; Grande, Edgar (2007) - Cosmopolitan Europe [41]
A meditation on the geographical, historical, and political space of the idea of Europe. An analysis of the governance processes underlying the old continent.
Pilger, John (2004) - Tell me no lies [42]
The best journalism of the twentieth century reporting on the worst of mankind in the short century.
Calvino, Italo (1972) - Invisible cities [43]
The conversation between Marco Polo and Kublai Khan swings between cities of the past and of the future. A book on the descriptive power of language and on the relationship between the traveller and his/ her destination.
Gigi ROGGERO
Writer, sociologist involved in the editorial board of the transnational project Uninomade.
Dostoevskij, Fëdor – Demons (1871) [44]
The book represents the contrition of Dostoevskij for his revolutionary past, and the contrition is always a sad passion. But it is also a great book, and despite the intention of his author we can say that we are all demons against the tyrants, exploiters, and capital’s vampire.
This is the central question raising from every struggle. Lenin gives an answer at the same time immanent to a specific class composition and that we can generalize: “‘We should dream!’ [...] Of this kind of dreaming there is unfortunately too little in our movement.”
“Now we have to turn the problem on its head, reverse the polarity, and start again from the beginning: and the beginning is the class struggle of the working class.” This radical overthrowing of the point of view constitutes the Copernican revolution of the operaismo.
The love for liberty, the hate for slavery: Toni Morrison expresses this in a unique way. Because our demons are always animated by the love for liberty.
Hardt, Micheal; Negri, Antonio (2009) - Commonwealth [48]
For “The Wall Street Journal” reviewer, Brian Anderson, Commonwealth is a dark, evil book. For Francis Fukuyama, it is dangerous. Their fear has very good reasons. We urgently need evil and dangerous books.
§
IN THE NEXT FEW WEEKSyou will find a complete list of all contributions.
If you want to follow or stimulate discussions on Twitter over this project, you might use the hashtag #occupyreadinglist.
