Radical Abundance: How to Win a Green Democratic Future

by Kai Heron, Keir Milburn, Bertie Russell

Sets out a blueprint for the radical transformation of society using public-common partnerships, replacing artificial scarcity with collective abundance.

Radical Abundance tackles the central problem of our times — the transition to a new, environmentally friendly economic model — and argues that a ‘just transition’ has to move us away from a global economy defined by resource extraction and ecological degradation and towards the establishment of an alternative, self-sustaining social order in which democratic economic planning and radical new approaches to the control and ownership of assets are vitally important.

Radical Abundance proposes Public-Common Partnerships (PCPs) as a way for organised communities, working in partnership with public bodies, to gain ownership and control over the assets and resources which impact their lives and to set in motion self-expanding circuits of radical democratic governance, where the focus isn’t just on individual assets but the development of a wider democratic a Community Wealth Building ¨gone viral¨.

Drawing on a wide range of case-studies developed through five years of research, and situating their arguments in wider debates on Community Wealth Building and the Social and Solidarity Economy, the authors offer alternative models to those proposed by Bidenomics and the EU’s Green Deal, opening up a key battleground in which social movements can organise, and a broader strategy of transition can take root.

Genres: Politics, Environment, Nonfiction, Economics

Kindle Edition

Published July 8, 2025

Reviews

[Darran Mclaughlin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book as I hosted a launch for it at bookhaus with Keir Milburn and Frances Northrop. At first I was a little surprised that the book wasn't really discussing climate and the environment that much. It starts by exploring the failures of markets and capitalism. Their supposed virtue and the reason that markets are supposed to be superior to a planned economy is that they are meant to be the most efficient way of allocating resources so as to fulfil human wants, needs and desires. If you have spent much time thinking about this proposition it is such obvious bullshit and so evidently incorrect as to be absurd. The book opens by pointing this out and making the argument that we need to plan what we produce and how we allocate resources fairly and democratically. But rather than simply arguing that the state should do it, which is what some people on the Left think, and what people on the Right accuse the Left of, the authors argue that we should do this through Public-Common partnerships.

This is a novel idea, and I think it is the core of the argument of the book. The proposal is that, in contrast to other ideas such as community ownership, worker controlled co-ops or state control, there should be a system that brings each of these into the decision making process through having a board that gives some control to the workers, some to the state (national or local government) and some to the local community, which will be defined differently according to what the factory or farm or site of production is making.

As I read the book I thought it was a bit wonky and policy heavy. I don't see it taking off as a popular book beyond the core audience of the kind of people who read books like this, like me. But, the more I read and thought about the proposals the more I was convinced that this is a great idea and that it is a very valuable contribution to the political, economic and environmental issues of our time.

Unlike many of the books I have read on the issue of climate change this has an actual practical proposal, that can begin to be implemented now in our present conjuncture. A lot of the books I read on climate politics are utopian or idealistic and don't provide a roadmap of how we would get there. A lot of the time I have the idea in mind that we need to have a Revolution in order to address the crisis, and then its back to square one. How do we build a Revolution? The last book I can remember on the climate crisis that had a practical proposal for what to do was Climate Change as Class War by Matthew Huber, but unfortunately, although I appreciate the practicality of the idea, I cannot see it happening. It harks back to an era of worker organisation and trade union militancy that I can't see returning in the Global North, and I would say it is limited by a Trade Unionist, Social Democratic ideology that is ultimately aimed at American workers, and maybe European workers, but is leaving the rest of the world out of the equation.

I would say that this book has emerged from the authors doing the research and thinking to really consider where we are today, and what forces are opposed to us, and what do we have at our disposal. Doing the kind of thinking that Marxists should be doing of analysing the conditions of our time and place, and thinking through how to affect change. On that basis, I think it is a very useful and valuable contribution.

[Fin]

Some form of “anti-capitalism” is a given for most that consider themselves leftists, but what this anti-capitalism looks like in practice and how this envisioned non-capitalist reality would operate is mostly only vaguely defined. Some describe a fundamentally restructured society beyond a revolutionary horizon that is untethered from the immense structural forces sustaining capitalism as we know it today, with little explanation of how these forces are to be overcome. Others point to more modest economic projects like worker-owned cooperatives as vehicles for anti-capitalist transformation, without understanding that these do not challenge the fundamental capitalist tenet of profit-driven allocation and distribution of resources.

“Radical Abundance” attempts to do better by focussing on the messy problem of transition, more specifically how capitalism can be challenged in a world where commodification has penetrated every crevice of our society. Capital is the governing logic of our world and solutions that either don’t challenge that logic or don’t acknowledge the overwhelming balance of power in its favour are not real solutions. The authors propose two necessary features of a successful anti-capitalist strategy, irrespective of the enormous variations needed to accommodate local contexts.

The first is that of “contested reproduction”, meaning an economic mechanism that operates outside of profit-seeking competitive markets but can sustain itself in a world governed by exactly those markets. The economic surpluses generated by these initiatives are not profits appropriated by capitalists, but resources invested in the expansion of further sites of contested reproduction. This approach paves the way for a sustainable transition away from capitalism, starting from the very reality we find ourselves in now.

The second feature is that of “popular protagonism”, meaning genuine democratic participation of the general populace in economic decision making. A world where resource allocation is not governed by profit-seeking but by the needs of society can only function when we as individuals participate to define those needs. This will require a new subjectivity of the citizen and organizational structures that encourage those.

The authors then propose a schematic that satisfies these criteria, which they call “Public-Common Partnerships” (PCPs). Much of the book is dedicated to explaining how PCPs work in practice by examining a number of examples, from independent communities in the Basque country to associations of market vendors in inner-city London. Across these varied contexts, the logic of PCPs as vehicles for directly challenging capitalist hegemony is articulated.

The tangibility of the theory was refreshing and the real-life examples felt empowering. In a historical period (or maybe just my mind) where the brutal unsustainability of global capitalism is more evident than ever but countervailing forces are next to non-existent, theories of change that are grounded in the very concrete here and now give a glimmer of hope. While revolutionary aspirations are good and important, I see these in no conflict with the more modest frameworks proposed in this book. As clearly articulated, they are intended as transitionary impulses towards something much bigger.

[Ruairí]

Struck a strange tone (not in a bad way) between policy/‘wonk’-ness while also engaging most seriously with communisation theory and their interpretation of secular stagnation of all things. Very admirable effort by the authors to not allow the inherently technical material to become technocratic in approach. I wonder if it bends the stick too far the other way in disavowing the immediacy of the communisers by replacing a theory of revolution with a theory of transition. Revolution doesn’t seem to have much of a part to play here, aside from being the end result of the transition. Interesting but under-explored element here. Paired nicely with in and against the state.

[Peter Harrison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This collaboration between Keir Milburn, Kai Heron, and Bertie Russell feels like it is built on a deep analysis of the modern world and the different aspects of a multi-polar crisis which is gradually overwhelming our society and economy. It wears this deep analysis lightly however contrasting the 'bullshit abundance' of goods under capitalism to the 'radical abundance' we need for a sustainable future. This leads to a clear focus on the practical. The authors specifically target the development of practical activity that can drive the transition to this future, in contrast to much left thinking which either analyses the present or skips forward to a utopian future society.

From this analysis they therefore draw two specific goals, the development of which is required for any transition away from capitalism. 'Popular protagonism' meaning the engagement of the people themselves in constructing and fighting for the future, and 'contested reproduction' meaning the development of means to contest capitalism's 'metabolic' control of the production of the things we all need to live. Their wager is that if we can contest this control, and build engaged communities which have started producing some of the things they need outside of capital's control this will create the initial cells which can eventually grow organically.

They suggest a model that can be adapted to many different sectors to both drive public engagement and build structures that, in contrast to existing cooperatives, can operate outside the control of capital. These are public-common partnerships or PCPs, initially described in theory the second half of the book is dedicated to descriptions of examples drawn from real life which shows both the possibility for variation and the sense of implementing a similar approach adapted to different specific situations.

This is the first book I've read in a long time that feels like a realistic proposal for tangible steps that can move society towards a future beyond capitalism and build the engaged class consciousness that will be needed to take us beyond the despair of living in actual existing late capitalism. I particularly like the emphasis on class consciousness as something that is constructed through practical activity rather than something that is given based on individual. This is a point of contention in much left thought and I was struck throughout by parallels to the EP Thompson's description of the development of working class in England in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries (which I've no doubt the authors are aware of, even though they don't cite Thompson specifically).

Of course, I remain sceptical that the proposed strategy could actually drive a transition beyond capital's control. As the quote attributed to both Slavoj Zizek and Fredric Jameson says, it's easier to imagine the end of the world than the end of capitalism. In particular the final 'real' example of food production in the UK feels like something of a stretch. But we have to start somewhere, and for a grounded exploration of what that starting point might look like I've read nothing better.

This review is also on my blog here https://marxadventure.wordpress.com/2...

[Tadeáš · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really enjoyed reading Radical Abundance, largely because of its strong dramaturgy. The book moves convincingly from big, conceptual critiques of capitalism toward concrete political imagination. Its central diagnosis—capitalism producing artificial scarcity alongside what the authors call “bullshit abundance”—is both intuitive and powerful.

The world of artificial scarcity and bullshit abundance is one where we have too much of what we don’t need (processed food, microplastics, the newest gadgets) and too little of what we do (affordable housing, time, care, and high-quality public space). Framing the crisis this way feels more politically promising than narratives focused solely on self-limitation—even though self-limitation is clearly necessary. Redefining abundance, rather than moralising restraint, strikes me as a much stronger strategic move.

I especially appreciated the more theoretical chapter on which the rest of the book stands. Here, the authors argue that any meaningful strategy for transformation must contain two core elements.

First, popular protagonism: people must feel empowered to collectively act in their own interests, rather than waiting for an external subject—be it the state, a charismatic leader, or even a “good” socialist party—to deliver change on their behalf.

Second, contested reproduction: instead of understanding systemic change as a single rupture, the authors frame it as the gradual construction of institutions that allow people to reproduce their lives within communal, non-capitalist logics. These institutions prioritise use value, care, and social need over profit and growth. Transition, in this sense, is a process in which two logics—capital and community—coexist, clash, and compete over time.

One of the book’s most concrete and original contributions to debates on economic democracy is the concept of Public–Commons Partnerships (PCPs). These are institutions governed by at least three stakeholders: the workers themselves, a public body or municipality, and an association of commoners. This governance structure makes it possible to balance different interests when planning production or deciding how to reinvest surplus, while preventing both state capture and market enclosure. I found this framework particularly promising because it anchors the often abstract idea of economic democracy in institutional design. PCPs function not only as a vision, but as a strategic wager—one that translates popular protagonism and contested reproduction into something politically legible and actionable.

This strategic clarity is one of the book’s strengths, especially in contrast to a recurring weakness on parts of the Left. Too often, the question of strategy is either omitted or glossed over: cooperatives, community gardens, or local initiatives are assumed to somehow “naturally” outcompete capitalism, or strategy is replaced altogether by imagining radically different futures—as if the core problem were a lack of imagination rather than entrenched power relations that actively need to be confronted. Radical Abundance refuses this shortcut. It takes power seriously and insists that institutions, struggle, and long-term strategy matter.

What I probably enjoyed most were chapters two and three. One lays out the conceptual framework of popular protagonism and contested reproduction, while the other grounds these abstract ideas in real political experiments. The case studies—from Kerala to Jackson (Mississippi), from communes in Venezuela to Berlin and Hernani in Spain—are not presented as models to be copied wholesale, but as context-specific practices we can learn from. Together, they offer a rare combination of theoretical clarity and political hope.

I also found the chapter on pharmaceuticals particularly compelling. The analysis of Big Pharma through the lens of capitalist logic—profit maximisation, artificial scarcity, intellectual property regimes—opened up a field I hadn’t previously explored in much depth. The chapter left me wanting to read more on the political economy of pharmaceuticals, and the book usefully points toward further resources for doing so.

While the final chapters are rightly visionary, I would have appreciated a more systematic mapping of how many Public–Commons Partnerships already exist, and in which sectors. Given how central PCPs are to the book’s strategic proposal, a clearer overview of their current scale and diversity could further strengthen the argument.

Ultimately, Radical Abundance argues that the core problem today is capitalism’s metabolic control over production: what is produced, how it is produced, and by whom.

"As counterintuitive as it might appear, the prospects of a green and democratic future aren't decided by how quickly we can replace fossil fuels with more sustainable energy sources. This of course matters, but the question of how quickly we can decarbonise society depends on a more fundamental set of questions: What is the energy we produce used for? Whose interests does its production serve? Who gets to decide what kinds of energy infrastructures are built, where and how? In other words, what regime of metabolic control does our energy system help to produce?

As long as our social metabolism is mediated by capital, as long as the reason why energy is generated and energy-intensive technology is deployed, is to generate the greatest profits, then there can be no end to capital's violent impact on human and non-human nature. As long as human ingenuity is subservient to – and constrained by – the imperative to accumulate, then every relative efficiency gain and every replacement energy source will achieve nothing but an acceleration of the demand for more bullshit abundance." (224)