What Then Must We Do?: Straight Talk about the Next American Revolution

by Gar Alperovitz

Never before have so many Americans been more frustrated with our economic system, more fearful that it is failing, or more open to fresh ideas about a new one. The seeds of a new movement demanding change are forming. But just what is this thing called a new economy, and how might it take shape in America? In What Then Must We Do? Gar Alperovitz speaks directly to the reader about where we find ourselves in history, why the time is right for a new-economy movement to coalesce, what it means to build a new system to replace the crumbling one, and how we might begin. He also suggests what the next system might look like―and where we can see its outlines, like an image slowly emerging in the developing trays of a photographer's darkroom, already taking shape. He proposes a possible next system that is not corporate capitalism, not state socialism, but something else entirely―and something entirely American. Alperovitz calls for an evolution, not a revolution, out of the old system and into the new. That new system would democratize the ownership of wealth, strengthen communities in diverse ways, and be governed by policies and institutions sophisticated enough to manage a large-scale, powerful economy. For the growing group of Americans pacing at the edge of confidence in the old system, or already among its detractors, What Then Must We Do? offers an elegant solution for moving from anger to strategy.

Genres: Politics, Economics, Nonfiction, Sociology, Social Science, Social Justice, Political Science

224 pages, Paperback

First published April 16, 2013

Reviews

[Lester Spence · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've been working on a short book examining the contemporary condition as it applies to black politics. And I heard about this book from Marc Steiner. It was extremely helpful for my own work as it neatly consolidates a number of radical ideas that could fundamentally change the way we think about how economies should work. It's a neater, slimmer version of his AMERICA BEYOND CAPITALISM. But, like that book, I think the organization suffers a bit. There's not as much redundancy as there is in ABC, but it's still there. If an editor would've gone back over it once more I'd have given it one more star.

With that said, if you're interested in thinking about what an alternative society could look like (if given a push) check it out.

[Scott Schneider · Rating 5 out of 5]

A wonderful hopeful book for those who believe in social change but are getting discouraged.

[Soph Nova · Rating 4 out of 5]

I highly recommend this book as a big-picture survey of the system of political economy in the United States, from someone who has been doing this for decades. Gives very clear concrete examples of long-term real-world system trends and how we need to shift our thinking/strategy to the same kind of scope in order to effect serious change. Overall the strategy pointed to resonates deeply, and is very influenced by socialism/social democracy - my one differentiation is probably a question of tactics more than strategy. Namely, can we engage in community wealth-building and an overall strategic framework of decentralized community control, but also talk seriously about revolution in the short term to speed up the process and wrest power away from the ruling class? The clock is ticking.

(If there were .5 stars, this would be 4.5)

[Louise · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gar Alperovitz challenges the logic of the current "free market" economic system in the US. He shows how the markets aren't free and for the past 3-4 decades have delivered a declining standard of living for most. He discusses the unique structural forces, not likely to return, that created the post war boom. He covers the trends that inhibit the system’s effectiveness, particularly the political system, that gives undue access to the elite which uses it to enhance its own economic position.

The traditional solution is the ballot box – electing those supporting policies for social betterment and will appoint socially responsive judges. Alperovitz sees this as fleeting. Without deep structural changes progressive initiatives can be swept out with the next election.

Alperovitz sees permanent change resulting from ownership shifting from the elite to the people. He discusses the many already existing structures that can be built upon. The largest and most familiar are credit unions (an alternative to the banks that have and may again crash the economy) and government run utilities that provide cheaper, more accountable service. He cites an astonishing array of such arrangements already in place from public-private partnerships, to cooperatives, to B (benefit) corporations (new to me, allowed in 12 states including my own) where all the profit goes to a public or group good) to state owned enterprises, such as a bank in North Dakota.

The book discusses General Motors, which, while the government “gave the corporation back”, did demonstrate that government intervention and oversight can work on a large scale. Banking and heath care are singled out for special treatment.

Alperovitz raises awareness about the “checkerboard” of such structures. He can’t cite them all, but in keeping with the diversity he presents, I’m adding two in Hawaii. Our 14th largest employer, the Polynesian Cultural Center, is operated by Brigham Young University. It was set up to provide part time employment for its students, and serves this mission. If you tour it, talk with your boat operator, the dancers, the security personnel… all are BYU students. We also have a more traditional non-profit corporation, but this one, the Bishop Trust has assets of over $10 billion making it one of the largest in the world. If you have been to Waikiki, you have most likely supported this trust through patronizing its tenants located on the world’s most prime real estate once owned by Hawaii’s royal family members. This trust supports Pre-K to 12 schools and other projects to benefit native Hawaiian.

The book is thought provoking. Alperovitz believes that strengthened and expanded people owned enterprises can create a counterbalance to the negative economic trends. I like the can do spirit of the writer; he has been involved in many projects such as those he cites. The book is short and meaty and definitely worth a read if you are interested in this topic.

[Seth Wilpan · Rating 2 out of 5]

Planet being ravaged, wealth concentrated in the hands of a few. How to respond?

First of all, is it wise and worthwhile, effective to resist? Might it be better to abide by an alternate model of living? Among the problems with that approach, in my mind, is that there is no way to isolate oneself from the destruction. Isolation could come from non-attachment, refusal to live in anything other than joy and rely on the infinite and mysterious powers of grace to make all whole in the end. The problem with this approach, to me, is that it’s no fun. But maybe the drama of struggle is a trap that perpetuates the drama of struggle. Just because a miraculous outcome is inconceivable to me doesn’t mean it’s not possible. Maybe it becomes more possible when I let go, surrender to possibility. This is a hard pill for someone who is accustomed to carrying the world on his shoulders.

Grappling with this conundrum, I turned to this book, in which I found little solace or inspiration, but I think that has more to do with my being a nomad that with its contents. The message of the book is basically as follows. Our problems are systemic in nature and can only be addressed by changing the system. . The prosperity and relative equality of income distribution following World War 2 was not a natural result of our political/economic system, but an accidental one caused by the temporary confluence of U.S. dominance of productive capacity and the pre-globalist need for labor. While it’s important to continue to resist the depredations of the current political system, the future lies in systemic changes characterized by democratization of the means of production and the reclamation of the public commons for the service of the public. He gives numerous examples of these kinds of projects that are underway, which is useful and heartening, but interrupts the narrative flow and would have been better placed in a separate section at the end of each chapter.

Since I’m not rooted in a community, I found this dialog unsatisfying. Perhaps I was looking for a more detailed vision of tactical approaches to the impending cataclysms, but perhaps that’s a prurient predilection for what I’ll call apocalypse porn. Nevertheless, I think the only practical response is the cultivation of resilient community. That may be implicit in the message of this book, but it’s never explicit, and it doesn’t address the cultural obstacles to such a community. How do we shed the shibboleths of shame-based privacy norms, put our deaths and our appetites in right relation with the natural order of things. These are issues that catastrophe will force upon us, but which this book doesn’t even so much as acknowledge.

[Stephen · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that says, yes things are fucked, but look at how they're getting better! And heres stuff you can do to expedite the getting better! Anything that makes me feel like it's going to be ok in Trump's America is a good thing in my eyes. This is a good book to read to set your mind on a goal that's attainable, and if all the anger from anti trumpers like myself can be focused on something that looks like this, then the future might not be as dark as we think.

[Robert Wechsler · Rating 5 out of 5]

An excellent popular summation of and argument for a different sort of revolution based on the patient creation of alternative, democratic, participatory institutions based in communities and linked with each other and with the community’s principal institutions, such as hospitals, schools, governments, and universities. It’s just the right length and features little of the repetition and exaggerated claims of most such political works. I found it not only convincing, but often exciting.

[Rhys · Rating 3 out of 5]

"It is difficult in the extreme to grasp the possibility - embrace and understand fully the likelihood – that we may be entering a many-decades-long period in which the dominant reality is one of erratic growth, punctuated stagnation, commodity inflation, substantial political stalemate, and decay" (p.131).

It's nice to read a moderate who recognizes the necessity of redemocratizing at the local level.

[Donald Powell · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very important book on American economics. Change must come or we will keep getting what we have gotten, or, worse. Popular media will not address the issues raised. This is proof the mainstream media is part of the problem.

[Karrie · Rating 5 out of 5]

must read

[Gaylord Dold · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alperovitz, Gar. What Then Must We Do? Straight Talk about the Next American
Revolution, Chelsea Green Publishing, White River Vt. 2013 (205pp. $27.95)

Crouch, Colin. Making Capitalism Fit for Society, Polity Press, Malden, Massachusetts,
2013 (192 pp ??price)

Something terrible is happening to our country and its people. The share of income
taken by the top 1 percent of Americans has risen from 10 percent to roughly 20 percent in three decades while the bottom 99 percent has seen their income drop by 10 percent. Top tax rates for the wealthy have dropped precipitously while the tax burden on the middle and working classes has risen sharply. People remain mired in poverty, corporate taxes have declined as a share of GDP and Americans are fundamentally unhealthy. We live in a Gun Culture. Prison populations have skyrocketed and the amount of money involved in buying and selling political candidates in presidential elections reached $2 billion in 2012. The Supreme Court is poised to allow the rich to spend what they want in elections anywhere and everywhere.

Two recent books discuss these vital problems, posing solutions designed to save democracy from its steady erosion by money, to balance and harmonize our human needs against free enterprise and its domination by corporations at all levels, and to reorganize American values, all as a way beyond constant fiscal crisis, inequality, poverty and violence.

What Then Must We Do? analyzes the despair felt by progressives who see the dominant corporate culture and political gridlock as unfixable. Professor Alperovitz, a noted political economist at the University of Maryland, provides a long-term historical context for the evolution of activism and change, while proposing (with illustrations) solutions that can slowly alter our system in strategic increments. Alperovitz discusses a checkerboard strategy involving local mixed-solutions using municipal powers, local self-government, worker ownership of business, land-trusts, election reform (beginning locally), the destruction of cable and internet monopolies and many other tactics. Beyond that, Alperovitz proposes new banking approaches to break the stranglehold of Wall Street on our communities as well as a way forward to a new environmental consciousness.

Making Capitalism Fit for Society provides a European perspective on the topic of corporate domination of human life. Professor Crouch of Warwick in England, surveys the way unrestrained markets have expanded the neo-liberal agenda, especially in light of the recent destruction of the labor movement and the collapse of any countervailing power to wealth. He suggests that a countervailing power might arise from the uniting of a green movement with re-energized third parties (or altered platforms of established parties), though his suggestions are more apposite to the parliamentary forms of government that characterize Europe.

In any case, the situation is dire for democracy and for American citizens trapped in a downward spiral towards the dead-end of corporate slavery. There is a long slog ahead and we’d best start now.

[Economics of Compassion Initiative · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is about democratizing wealth and building a community-sustaining economy. The author is Professor of Economics at the University of Maryland and has served in multiple national and international roles – well known and qualified for his economic views.

Alperovitz takes a view of US history from about the 1930's forward and presents a case that the current economic system of rules and regulations is fundamentally not capable of producing a more compassionate economy simply because those in positions of wealth control the power of change. Said differently, tweaks to the current system by regulations are not likely to produce substantial change; the problem is fundamentally a system problem. Further, the author argues that the degree the U.S. even has the middle class it does is due to two factors totally beyond anyone's control, namely the Great Depression and World War II. These two extraordinary events combined to create economic opportunities for multitudes of people, not planning or execution by those in power.

While Alperovitz touches on the possibility of radical system change, he spends his energies in searching for the emergence of economic enterprises that are already operating according to a different system. This is the real crux of the book. Importantly for our Economics of Compassion initiative, Alperovitz does a good job presenting examples of several enterprises that are more compassionate and are better at democratizing wealth by virtue of how they are designed, owned and managed. In the private sector, this includes "the development of local cooperatives, worker-owned companies, neighborhood corporations, land trusts, social enterprises, B Corps and many other community-based forms." The author terms the development of these "evolutionary reconstruction" to emphasize that these have evolved on their own and are fundamentally involved in rebuilding the economy. At the governmental level, there are also numerous examples, "including public land development and ownership, municipalization of utilities and internet services, land trusts, sustainability planning and related public energy strategies..." There are also chapters devoted to areas where Alperovitz sees change coming (health care, big banking) or areas where large financial crises may force change.

While this book is almost solely focused on the U.S. economy, it is a must read for everyone interested in an economics of compassion. The many examples of existing organizations that are working toward an economics of compassion gives us hope, as well as equips us to engage others in conversation around what's possible. The book is short (150 pages), contemporary (2013) and written in a relaxed, conversational style. For those who want details, the book has lots of technical notes and references at the end.

[John Lesmeister · Rating 4 out of 5]

They say there's nothing new under the sun, and in a sense that's true of this book, in that its arguments (for a strategy of economic evolutionism based on cooperative forms of ownership) are essentially a rehash of views put forth by folks like Sidney and Beatrice Webb almost 100 years earlier. Nevertheless, it's a salutary presentation of the argument, if for no other reason than its realistic engagement with the contemporary American political and ideological climate. It also provides a valuable empirical overview of the heterogeneity of contemporary American micro-socialisms, from traditional producer and consumer co-ops through credit unions, ESOPs, nonprofit development corporations, and publicly owned municipal and state banks, utilities, hospitals, etc. The most helpful aspect of Alperovitz' book is his reasoned assessment of the possible synergies between the public sector, and public policy as controlled by 'politics' in the traditional sense, and semi-private cooperative forms. Alperovitz imagines that, with progressives in power on the local levels, this synergy has the potential to create a self-sustaining and expanding transformative logic, allowing for the eventual displacement of corporate capitalism in the overall economic system. Personally, I am a bit more skeptical; my idea of systemic transformation has considerably more class struggle involved; but this is nevertheless the single best presentation of a competing view, with some strong arguments in its favor, currently available.

[Sammy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I listened to Gar Alperovitz speak, knowing little about his work. His ideas seemed so eminently sensible and so urgently needed that I picked up a copy of What Then Must We Do? at the local library. He makes a strong case for the problems with our deregulated market economy and its corrupt interactions with government being above politics; he calls them systemic problems. They will not likely be solved from within the system (voting for certain candidates, enacting certain ballot measures, etc.). Instead, an entirely new system is needed.

Alperovitz then goes on to demonstrate some examples of grassroots organizing that are laying a foundation for the next chapter in human history: cooperative projects on the municipal scale that intertwine democratic governance and market economics into one fabric (Cleveland, Ohio in the shell of the collapsed steel industry and the Mondragon Cooperative in the Basque province of Spain, to name two). The sixty-four thousand dollar question is, of course, can these projects scale up? Can an entire nation replace its corporate plutocracy with something better without becoming a totalitarian state?

Cautiously, I am optimistic. But things might have to get a lot worse for the working classes in places like the United States before such radical transition takes place. And when it does happen, we will all be better off having read Alperovitz.

[Drick · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alpervotiz is an economist who exposes the lie of capitalistic democracy, neoliberalism or plutocracy or whatever you want to call our current state of government and offers an alternative vision of a society characterized by grassroots democracy, economic democracy and public ownership of vital sectors of society that addresses the huge inequities, climate change and the current imbalance of power. He points to examples where these things are taking place and offers a cautious hope of what our nation must move to if it is to continue operate.There are many pithy quotes but here is the most compelling for me: "A nation that proclaims a crewed based on centrally important values but continues to violate them in practice is setting itself up for challenges much more serious than the problems of "normal" politics. ....we will clearly be entering what social scientists term a 'legitimation crisis:' a time when the values that give legitimacy to the system no longer can, in fact, be achieved by the system." (p. 140). Anyone who cares about the future of the globe, much less the nation must read this book.

[Dennis · Rating 5 out of 5]

If you are an American who enjoys a good police state. Don't read this book.
If you are an American who enjoys watching the top one percent gain wealth at an alarming rate while your neighbors, yourself and your family continues to struggle to pay even a basic bill; don't read this book.
If you enjoy watching corporations feed billions of dollars into the political process, and those elected seem further and further away from your interests as an American: Don't read this book.
If you enjoy watching the cities around you turn into poverty centers with little to no ownership: don't read this book.
This book is only for those Americans who subscribe to a system of government; a system of ownership, that is democratic in nature.
This book is for those few Americans that believe in one voice. One vote. One interest.
This is a book for someone looking to exercise Democracy.
Now, let's get to work.

[Pat · Rating 5 out of 5]

After Reading Morris Berman's "Dark Ages America: The Final Phase of Empire", a factual look at the serous economic and social problems in the United States, I read this book which gave me hope for the future. This book took me into various locations to view positive change. Facing a reality of labor's diminishing influence politically, sophisticated worker-owned companies are emerging and linking with community-building nonprofit corporations along with revolving funds designed to help create more such linked, community-building cooperative businesses.

Professor Alperovitz writes, "It is possible, quite simply, that we may lay the groundwork for a truly American form of community-sustaining and wealth-democratizing transformative change---and thereby lso the reconstitution of genuine democracy, step by step, from the ground up."

[Dianne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Alperovitz gives a historical perspective on what has gone wrong in the system over the last few decades for the majority of people in the middle working class in America and what we can do to change the course of the economy.
On a local OC level, he highlights the work that the Irvine Land Trust and Clearinghouse CDFI have done to put resources in the hands of workers. There are chapters on healthcare and banking with actions we can take to create an economy that works better for everyone.

[Rob Bencini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book that questions the disparity in income in America - especially the corporate dominance and the ultra-high incomes and wealth related to the vast majority in the U.S. Highlights the current successes in cooperative economies - employee-owned companies, co-ops, etc. Calls for a new initiative away from pure capitalism and (the lesser choice of) socialism that is Community.

[Sheris225 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Valuable book. Pick this book up for his deep understanding of how polical structures and economics intertwine. He imparts his knowledge in a very comfortable chatty style.
Evan more importantly, the author gives insightful recommendations for creating a fair society in the context of wealth divide, and severe recession. Politicos read this book.

[Dee Halzack · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lots of good ideas. No magic wand. Not that I expected one. Pleased to see a discussion of coops, which he calls democratizing income. Interesting that it was written before the phenomenon of the D (who remains nameless to avoid providing more free hits) and yet talks about the anger that fuels the D's candidacy as one of the responses to the way things are.

[Matt · Rating 5 out of 5]

A pretty perfect book for the despair of the Trump era -- Alperovitz offers some reason for hope when it comes to future change, and also offers a few things that we progressives can begin to participate in and strengthen that are more or less under the broader political radar. Read if, especially if you're feeling really down about the state of the capitalist world.

[Paul Lord · Rating 4 out of 5]

Clear and well organized...implementation, as always, will be most difficult, given it is large numbers of people we need organized!

[David02139 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting in how capitalism will change, evolutionary, regionally, checkerboard and through a number of different smaller ways that will build.

[David Melbie · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was well worth the read. I recommend this book to anyone who is not just tired of our current economic situation, but wants to know what are our available options. Very interesting.

[Adrian Herbez · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fascinating read on the challenges of the near future.

[Tabitha · Rating 4 out of 5]

I gained a lot of insight from this book.

[Dee · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very good and very inspiring, but even though Alperovitz wanted to make this a "conversational" book, he's an academic and it shows. A short but dense read.

[Kirk Cheyfitz · Rating 3 out of 5]

An essential but flawed book for anyone interested in what can be done to democratize our economy and save our democracy. Especially important today, as even modest regulations to control corporate capitalism's worst sins are being eliminated and the economic system continues stubbornly to increase income- and wealth-inequality in America by concentrating more and more assets in fewer and fewer hands.

Alperovich gives us a snapshot of how progressives viewed the U.S. economic and political systems nearly a decade ago. The narrative also reaches back to show the long the history of America's anti-democratic trends, all based in corporate capitalism and the founding purpose of America, which was to maintain the gap between rich and poor and embrace the notion that government's main duty is to protect the wealthy and their wealth from the rest. Importantly, the book talks endlessly about workers and the need for worker-owned enterprises, but, oddly, fails to examine the life and working conditions of a single worker.

This failure leads Alperovich to vest far too much importance in economic statistics and to vastly overrate the impact of what he sees as a rapidly growing movement to give workers more ownership and wealth-building opportunities. A decade further on, we can see that many of the trends Alperovich saw have produced no changes in working people's lives and his predictions have not come to pass. The economic and political disenfranchisement of the average American worker — the phenomenon that Alperovich sought to remedy — is now worse than ever and there seemingly is no political will to do anything about it.

[Karlee · Rating 3 out of 5]

If you took out all of the parts where he says "we'll get to that later" or "we will come back to that" this book would be 30% shorter. He beats around the bush so much that when he is presenting his genuinely interesting content, it's almost hard to concentrate. That said, the research he presents is very compelling.

Some notable quotes:
"The most recent estimate is that a mere 400 individuals in the United States now own more wealth than the bottom 180 million Americans taken together--a degree of wealth concentration that is accurately, not rhetorically, properly designated medieval" (27).
"In a very profound sense, the struggle is also about changing the dominant ideological patterns--about cracking through the dominant cultural and ideological hegemony" (47).
"Once we recognize that government is now inevitably involved in many, many economic development issues, a very different question becomes obvious: Couldn't such involvement help support the developing movement toward democratized businesses as well?" (54).

At the end of the day, I loved the call of action. We are all the Founding Fathers and we can do so much better than they did in the 1700s.