We Make Our Own History: Marxism and Social Movements in the Twilight of Neoliberalism

by Laurence Cox, Alf Gunvald Nilsen

We live in the twilight of the ruling classes can no longer rule as before, and ordinary people are no longer willing to be ruled in the old way. Pursued by global elites since the 1970s, neoliberalism is defined by dispossession and ever-increasing inequality. The refusal to continue to be ruled like this - 'ya basta!' - appears in an arc of resistance stretching from rural India to the cities of the global North. From this network of movements, new visions are emerging of a future beyond neoliberalism. We Make Our Own History responds to these visions by reclaiming Marxism as a theory born from activist experience and practice. This book marks a break both with established social movement theory, and with those forms of Marxism which treat the practice of social movement organising as an unproblematic process. It shows how movements can develop from local conflicts to global struggles; how neoliberalism operates as a social movement from above, and how popular struggles can create new worlds from below.

Genres: Politics, Theory, Social Justice, Economics, Activism

274 pages, Kindle Edition

First published August 20, 2014

About the author

Laurence Cox co-directs the MA in Community Education, Equality and Social Activism at the National University of Ireland Maynooth. He co-edits the social movements journal Interface.

Reviews

[Pete Dolack · Rating 5 out of 5]

The two authors argue that the failure of neoliberalism is “evident” and that we are now living in the “twilight” of the neoliberal era. That neoliberalism is reaching its end does not necessarily mean that capitalism is reaching its end; merely capitalism’s latest phase. “There is no alternative” retains a powerful punch even as conditions continue to deteriorate around the world. Moreover, activists are at a disadvantage when operating within rules designed to maintain the status quo.

Professors Cox and Nilsen argue the "movement from above" of elites is imposed and can be overturned by movements from below. They envision a “movement of movements”: The coming together of independent movements without the intention of submitting to the leadership of any single party or of privileging narrow definitions of working class interests. This necessitates not only learning from one another to increase the body of knowledge that can be drawn upon but also learning from the past. It also stresses the full incorporation of struggles against racism, sexism and all other forms of oppression.

The world we live in is one of human construction; it not something pre-ordained or destined. Anything of human construction can be dismantled and replaced. This is is recommended reading for activists serious about bringing into being a better world.

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

review to follow