Capitalism Must Die!

by Stephanie McMillan

Get a signed copy (free shipping) directly from the author: http://stephaniemcmillan.org/shop/cap...
There's an evil force dominating the people of the world and even destroying the planet itself. This force is our enemy, and the enemy of all life. Before we can defeat it, we have to correctly identify it. We have to understand its underlying structure, how it works, and who controls it, in order to pinpoint its vulnerabilities and effectively fight against it.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, History, Economics

241 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2014

About the author

Stephanie McMillan, a lifelong resident of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, has been a political cartoonist since 1992. She is the creator of the editorial cartoon Code Green, and the comic strip Minimum Security, syndicated through Universal Uclick.

Her cartoons have earned several major awards, including the RFK Journalism Award (2012) and the Sigma Delta Chi from the Society for Professional Journalists (2010). They have appeared in hundreds of print and online publications worldwide including the Los Angeles Times, the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, Daily Beast, Yes! magazine, Climate Progress, Funny Times, Yahoo.com, San Francisco Bay Guardian, and The Occupied Wall Street Journal (of Occupy Wall Street).

She has seven books, including The Minimum Security Chronicles: Resistance to Ecocide (graphic novel, 2013, Seven Stories Press), The Beginning of the American Fall (comics journalism, 2012, Seven Stories Press); and The Knitting Circle Rapist Annihilation Squad (a novel, 2012, PM Press), plus another graphic novel, comic strip collection, and a children’s book. Her latest book, Capitalism Must Die! (2014, INIP), combines comics with political theory.

A solo show of her work was exhibited in October 2013 at the West Gallery, California State University, Northridge. In addition, her cartoons have been included in numerous group exhibits, including at the Museum of Comic and Cartoon Art (New York), the San Francisco Comic Art Museum, the Andy Warhol Museum (Pittsburgh), and the Institute for Policy Studies (Washington, DC).

An organizer all her life, Stephanie is a founding member of the anti-capitalist/anti-imperialist group One Struggle. She also contributes political theory to the publishing project Idées Nouvelles, Idées Prolétariennes.

McMillan is a dynamic public speaker on cartoons, political art, and social change. She has given presentations at political conferences such as the Left Forum and Sierra Summit, on radio programs such as Terra Verde and Air America’s Ring of Fire, and at many other venues..

Testimonials:

“McMillan’s expressive style, pared down to the basics and intensified over the years, allows for instant communication of thoughtful rage.”
— Comics Journal

“Very talented.”
— Washington Post

“This is social satire at its wittiest and most engaging.”
— Howard Zinn, author of A People’s History of the United States

“Her politics are perfect, her drawings sly and subtle, and her dialog funny as hell.”
– Derrick Jensen, author of Endgame

“Visionary and honest.”
— Ted Rall, past president of Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, author of Anti-American Manifesto and To Afghanistan and Back

“Minimum Security is like oxygen for our suffocating times.”
— Vandana Shiva, author of Soil Not Oil: Environmental Justice in an Age of Climate Crisis

” Razor-sharp critique packaged as cute-kid-and-funny-animal cartoon.”
— Booklist

“Provocative, insightful, and entertaining.”
— Jeff Monson (“The Snowman”), MMA championship fighter

Reviews

[Clare · Rating 2 out of 5]

Explains what capitalism is and that it must die with fun-looking illustrations but as other reviews allude to it being an intro to capitalism it oversimplifies a little and some things are implied as a given without deeper explanation. My favorite illustration was the person in the business suit sitting on a tree branch but sawing it from the tree while exclaiming the "profit" he would make from it, it epitomized the logic of capitalism and why it must die.

[Claudia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall, excellent and does exactly what the title suggests: offers an understandable and readable introduction to capitalism and why it can't be reformed. The only reason I give less than 5 stars is the fact that in many places ideas that warrant deeper discussion or explanation are presented kind of as "givens", in ways that might only work if you're preaching to the choir. This was especially true of the sections that talk about how to destroy capitalism, whereas the introduction to capitalism seems to do better at walking people through the ideas. The how to destroy it piece should've offered greater explanation for why certain ideas/approaches were being promoted. For example, in the sections discussing oppression versus exploitation, I felt some justification needed to be given for the separation of exploitation from oppression (particularly to make sense of issues like mass imprisonment). In the same vein, it should be stated outright what it means to define workers as people who we traditionally view as employed as the ONLY ones who should lead the struggle and destroying capitalism, especially in light of mass imprisonment in this era since the focus is on what any reader anywhere can do to fight back. In practice, I don't think these are issues that can be just passed over as if there's no points requiring further discussion. I think it makes sense if we're talking about the global workers, but that doesn't easily translate to discussions of what to do NOW in places like the US. Somewhere like the US would usually see dismissiveness toward "non-worker" issues, like the disposal of surplus labor via police murder, elimination of public housing and benefits, and mass imprisonment. Also related, it would've been interesting to see more discussion of what mass unemployment means for how we fight capitalism since class is so racialized: it seems some people who were previously workers are made into de facto lumpenproletariat (and therefore aren't supposed to lead) because they are being punished for fighting their own racial oppression and/or class exploitation. Either way, regardless of these issues, I can imagine using this book as am educational tool for people of all ages.

[Sude Nur · Rating 5 out of 5]

Herkes okumalı.

[rabble.ca]

http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2015/0...

Interview by Aaron Leonard

Some of your images are so playful, yet your message is so serious -- how did you arrive at a place of undertaking radical politics through comics?

I loved drawing, and reading comics, ever since I was a kid.

By age 10 I had learned to draw Snoopy by tracing Peanuts, and decided I wanted to be a cartoonist someday. I was in high school during the Reagan years, as the U.S./USSR inter-imperialist struggle was heating up [in the form of the Cold War] to what seemed a very dangerous pitch. I wrote my first article for the school paper, with an accompanying illustration, about the dangers of and need to oppose nuclear weapons.

Then I went to college in New York, studying animation while organizing with the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade (RCP) [the youth group of the U.S. Revolutionary Communist Party]. I quickly realized that it was more important to focus on revolutionary change rather than pursue a career for myself, but my father, dying of cancer, asked me to finish school and graduate. After fulfilling my parents' wishes, I spent the next period of my life organizing, while supporting myself with a succession of temp/clerical, factory and retail jobs.

In the late 1990s, for various reasons, I left the RCP. I still wanted to contribute to the cause of revolution, but now had no organizational framework in which to do that. I thought about how an individual could reach people with ideas and make a social impact. I decided that comics could be an effective vehicle because they are appealing, fast and easy to produce, and can carry a message to a wide audience.

Read more here: http://rabble.ca/books/reviews/2015/0...

[Amelia · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is great. Although I did not need an introduction to capitalism (I know it sucks, man), the comics were more than worth the purchase. I will be passing it along to friends. :)

[Greg · Rating 2 out of 5]

This Marxist analysis seems to have very little relevance to a world in which the manufacturing employment is declining.

[Daijin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Simply Excellent. This book clearly explains the structure of Capitalism and how it exploits workers and accumulates surplus production. The point is crisp and clear. It is a very good beginning for the one trying to understand the current structure. The second half contains organisation building, Collective functioning and Struggle methods. I personally like this book very much and I would suggest this book to all who feels something is going wrong and need to understand what.

[Reading · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fantastic primer for anyone who wants understand basic anti-capitalist theory without a lot of heavy lingo and with a contemporary analysis. McMillian brings humor and hilarious comics, as an approachable style. She also draws important connections between the destruction of our planet and the spread of unfettered greed. Definite must read as an introductory text.

[Agnes · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a solid critique of capitalism using modern, easy-to-understand language. It goes into detail about what capitalism is and why it's upheaval is necessary. It doesn't really offer much information on what communism or life after capitalism looks like but it provides a sound basis for further learning/study on the topic

[Jim Kidd · Rating 5 out of 5]

Entertaining and informative, perfect for graduates of the US public education system.

[JC]

Great and funny graphics. Reminds me of "eat for the world" but less scientific

[Ryan McCarthy · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you’re looking for a succinct and easily digestible overview of communism, look no further.

[Billy Bob · Rating 1 out of 5]

A book FOR SALE, about how capitalism is bad. Is this not an oxymoron? If the author thought capitalism was bad, they would give the book away. How quaint.

[Marbrisa Flores · Rating 3 out of 5]

2019 review:

This book is super easy and simple making it easy to better understand something that is very complex -- capitalism. The political cartoons on this are especially valuable.

[Carol · Rating 5 out of 5]

I read this after finishing McMillan's thoroughly delightful book on climate and denial and am cheered by her radical analysis and no holds barred integrity. Great primer on capitalism and other "isms" and a renewed, militant call to action. Capitalism must die if we are to live!

[Adam · Rating 4 out of 5]

If you are looking for a basic book about capitalism and how to support revolutionary ideals. This is the book for you. If you want extra details. Then read Marx and Lenin.

[Nikki Reads A Lot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Quick, accessible run-through on how capitalism is evil & is killing all life on the planet. Capitalism must die!

[Josh Thies · Rating 4 out of 5]

oppression