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Eski Tanrılar Yeni Bilmeceler: Marx’ın Kayıp Teorisi
Marx geri döndü, ama hangi Marx?
Yakın geçmişte yayımlanan yaşamöyküleri, onu bir 19. yüzyıl figürü olarak konumlamakta ısrarlı. Mike Davis’in Marx ve Marksizm hakkında tezlerini ilk kez doğrudan kaleme aldığı bu kitapta ise, sadece geçmişe değil bugüne dair de konuşan bir düşünür çıkıyor karşımıza.
Bir dizi araştırıcı ve kışkırtıcı makaleyi bir araya getirdiği kitabında Davis, Marx’ın zamanımıza dönük iki temel sorgulamasını keşfe çıkıyor: “Toplumun devrimci dönüşümüne kimler önderlik edebilir” ve “Gezegenimizdeki çevresel krizin nedeni ve çözümü nedir?”
Davis, Marx’ın kuramsal metinlerinin ve siyaset yazarlığının yeni boyutlarını aydınlatmak için emek tarihinin o geniş arşivine başvuruyor. Bize “kayıp bir Marx” öneriyor. Bu Marx’ın, tarihin aktörlerine, milliyetçiliğe ve sınıf mücadelesinin “arada kalan sınıflarla ilgili görünümü”ne dair çözümlemeleri, bizim karanlığa gömülmüş çağımızda devrimci düşüncelerin yeniden canlandırılması için kritik önemde. Davis, küresel istihdam krizi ile giderek bozulan iklim şartlarını da ele aldığı çözümlemesinde kapitalizmin insanlığın devamını sağlama konusundaki başarısızlığına dikkat çekerken, “insanlık çağına” dair fetişizmi de kıyasıya eleştiriyor.
Eski Tanrılar, Yeni Bilmeceler’in son bölümünde, artık unutulup gitmiş eski bir tartışmaya, “alternatif sosyalist kentçilik” (1880-1934) tartışmalarına bakan Mike Davis, sürdürülebilir bir çevrede evrensel ölçekte yüksek nitelikli bir yaşamın temel kavramlarını aramaya koyuluyor.
Tarihsel sosyoloji, kültürel analiz ve strateji alanında bir el kitabı olduğu kadar, Marksist tartışmalara mükemmel bir giriş de olan Davis’in bu kitabı, eyleme geçirici bir silah özelliği de taşıyor. – Robert Brenner
Marx’ın Manifesto ve 18 Brumaire’de ortaya koyduğu o derin ve yoğun siyasi analiz mirasını inşa etmede, Mike Davis kadar başarılı bir isim daha yok. – Leo Panitch
Yakın geçmişte yayımlanan yaşamöyküleri, onu bir 19. yüzyıl figürü olarak konumlamakta ısrarlı. Mike Davis’in Marx ve Marksizm hakkında tezlerini ilk kez doğrudan kaleme aldığı bu kitapta ise, sadece geçmişe değil bugüne dair de konuşan bir düşünür çıkıyor karşımıza.
Bir dizi araştırıcı ve kışkırtıcı makaleyi bir araya getirdiği kitabında Davis, Marx’ın zamanımıza dönük iki temel sorgulamasını keşfe çıkıyor: “Toplumun devrimci dönüşümüne kimler önderlik edebilir” ve “Gezegenimizdeki çevresel krizin nedeni ve çözümü nedir?”
Davis, Marx’ın kuramsal metinlerinin ve siyaset yazarlığının yeni boyutlarını aydınlatmak için emek tarihinin o geniş arşivine başvuruyor. Bize “kayıp bir Marx” öneriyor. Bu Marx’ın, tarihin aktörlerine, milliyetçiliğe ve sınıf mücadelesinin “arada kalan sınıflarla ilgili görünümü”ne dair çözümlemeleri, bizim karanlığa gömülmüş çağımızda devrimci düşüncelerin yeniden canlandırılması için kritik önemde. Davis, küresel istihdam krizi ile giderek bozulan iklim şartlarını da ele aldığı çözümlemesinde kapitalizmin insanlığın devamını sağlama konusundaki başarısızlığına dikkat çekerken, “insanlık çağına” dair fetişizmi de kıyasıya eleştiriyor.
Eski Tanrılar, Yeni Bilmeceler’in son bölümünde, artık unutulup gitmiş eski bir tartışmaya, “alternatif sosyalist kentçilik” (1880-1934) tartışmalarına bakan Mike Davis, sürdürülebilir bir çevrede evrensel ölçekte yüksek nitelikli bir yaşamın temel kavramlarını aramaya koyuluyor.
Tarihsel sosyoloji, kültürel analiz ve strateji alanında bir el kitabı olduğu kadar, Marksist tartışmalara mükemmel bir giriş de olan Davis’in bu kitabı, eyleme geçirici bir silah özelliği de taşıyor. – Robert Brenner
Marx’ın Manifesto ve 18 Brumaire’de ortaya koyduğu o derin ve yoğun siyasi analiz mirasını inşa etmede, Mike Davis kadar başarılı bir isim daha yok. – Leo Panitch
336 pages, Paperback
First published June 26, 2018
76 people are currently reading
1618 people want to read
About the author
Mike Davis
232 books675 followersMike Davis was a social commentator, urban theorist, historian, and political activist. He was best known for his investigations of power and social class in his native Southern California. He was the recipient of the MacArthur Fellowship and the Lannan Literary Award. He lived in San Diego.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 56 reviews
August 21, 2018
Old Gods, New Enigmas (VERSO, 2018). So, turns out author Mike Davis recently retired and got on to the total of Marx's collected works, much of it which wasn't available in English when Davis first studied Marx. (The kind of retirement project I had in mind too, unless I move to another place like Addis in which case I may get through it much sooner.)
We know, obviously, who the old gods are. The new enigmas are the two key questions of of our time: who can lead revolutionary transformation and what to do about the environmental crisis?
I am particularly interested in the first question which makes up 3/4 of the book. Given the more or less disappearance of the organized working class (in the West), how do we conceptualize class struggle and revolutionary agency? The first essay on this question contains a fairly awesome 150-page timeline of the evolution of the concept of class struggle and Marx's theory of proletarian agency (and a history of the classical proletariat from 1838-1921) and concludes, somehow, that today's technology allows for the kinds of economic democracy and worker control that Marx envisioned over a century ago.
I kind of wish the chapter included a more comprehensive discussion on what this means, concretely, for today's social struggles and politics; in the precariously employed West as much as the informally employed and largely unemployed Global South.
Instead, the book includes three rather random and short essays, examining Marx’s theory of nationalism and two final essays which focus on the environment, and the many recent efforts to link environmental debates with Marx’s writings.
Well then, I'll find more answers to the first question elsewhere!
We know, obviously, who the old gods are. The new enigmas are the two key questions of of our time: who can lead revolutionary transformation and what to do about the environmental crisis?
I am particularly interested in the first question which makes up 3/4 of the book. Given the more or less disappearance of the organized working class (in the West), how do we conceptualize class struggle and revolutionary agency? The first essay on this question contains a fairly awesome 150-page timeline of the evolution of the concept of class struggle and Marx's theory of proletarian agency (and a history of the classical proletariat from 1838-1921) and concludes, somehow, that today's technology allows for the kinds of economic democracy and worker control that Marx envisioned over a century ago.
I kind of wish the chapter included a more comprehensive discussion on what this means, concretely, for today's social struggles and politics; in the precariously employed West as much as the informally employed and largely unemployed Global South.
Instead, the book includes three rather random and short essays, examining Marx’s theory of nationalism and two final essays which focus on the environment, and the many recent efforts to link environmental debates with Marx’s writings.
Well then, I'll find more answers to the first question elsewhere!
December 8, 2018
Like all of Mike Davis' books, this is an intellectual tour de force and the culmination of a lifetime of erudition. It addresses three distinct topics with chapters of wildly varying length: an extremely long survey synthesizing working class history for some 150 pages, then a brief excursus about the relationship between Marxism and nationalism and ending with some chilling thoughts on environmental struggles. While the conclusion seems a bit catastrophist and I have minor quibbles about his use of the outdated term "special needs" when referring to people with disabilities, this is a stunningly well researched book that demands immediate attention by anyone concerned about social justice and equality. Davis displays an impressive command of several disciplines at once, marshalling germane facts and forgotten memories of past class battles across continents from Buenos Aires to Red Vienna to New York and back. The single chapter, a historical sociology of class with set theses on class formation and analysis, is alone worth the price of the book. The reference to the book, Beer and Revolution by Tom Goyens, a study of the German American anarchist movement in 19th century New York, is one of many magnificent references that make this book such a pleasure to read. Few scholars would be capable of achieving such brilliance. If this book does not make you reconsider the importance of incorporating green values in building a working class social justice movement, nothing will. Absolutely essential reading.
September 8, 2018
Just finished this book. Some of the best and most elegantly substantive writing I can recall reading in some time.
Goes deeper and in more detail into the kind of historical analyses I’d read in David Harvey and Murray Bookchin, and in its proscription for the present essentially echoes and affirms the conclusion of those two writers.
Namely, that the future of transformation of human society must be rooted in cities, and specifically in the reorganization of the fundamentals of physical built environments and equitable access to built resources, and even the physical and technological ways we practice politics, and that this ‘brick and mortar’ transformation must occur in tandem with a similarly evolving collective ideology that our shared society is based on.
Highly recommend this book to all my friends who are serious and energized to have a positive impact on the world right now.
Goes deeper and in more detail into the kind of historical analyses I’d read in David Harvey and Murray Bookchin, and in its proscription for the present essentially echoes and affirms the conclusion of those two writers.
Namely, that the future of transformation of human society must be rooted in cities, and specifically in the reorganization of the fundamentals of physical built environments and equitable access to built resources, and even the physical and technological ways we practice politics, and that this ‘brick and mortar’ transformation must occur in tandem with a similarly evolving collective ideology that our shared society is based on.
Highly recommend this book to all my friends who are serious and energized to have a positive impact on the world right now.
May 29, 2020
Ok, Mike, take it down a fuckin notch, not everyone went to college. This didn't have to be so intricately impenetrable in places, or so dense. I enjoyed the ride- the critique, the information, the analysis- but I'm very nearly over academics writing for other academics. Y'all have to make these things more accessible to the people who are actually being oppressed and need these interpretations most.
Grade: B-
Grade: B-
July 28, 2023
The first (and predominant) essay ‘Old Gods, New Enigmas’ was absolutely incredible (although I do probably disagree slightly from some of Davis’ views on the role of technology). The other essays were interesting, but unfortunately not quite as invigorating as the first.
September 11, 2022
This is a mess of a book:
The first chapter is a great historical synthesis of labour movements around the globe from the XIXth century. It is by far the best section of the book.
The second is an interesting discussion of Marx concepts, in contrast to other authors perspectives, but nothing so big to claim something like "Marx's Lost Theory".
The third chapter is an abomination that tries to unite modern ambientalist issues with Kropotkin's thought (why is this relevant to the discussion we were having in the last two chapters only Davis knows).
The last chapter goes in depth with more ecological topics that I sincerely didn't care about: it seems, in my opinion, that Davis fell for the alarmist academic approach (at some points I felt I was reading Rachel Carson!)
Also the book replicates the anti-stalinist paradigm so you know the deal (when authors always bring on the table Stalin, when they are talking about something else, you can smell the ideology).
The first chapter is a great historical synthesis of labour movements around the globe from the XIXth century. It is by far the best section of the book.
The second is an interesting discussion of Marx concepts, in contrast to other authors perspectives, but nothing so big to claim something like "Marx's Lost Theory".
The third chapter is an abomination that tries to unite modern ambientalist issues with Kropotkin's thought (why is this relevant to the discussion we were having in the last two chapters only Davis knows).
The last chapter goes in depth with more ecological topics that I sincerely didn't care about: it seems, in my opinion, that Davis fell for the alarmist academic approach (at some points I felt I was reading Rachel Carson!)
Also the book replicates the anti-stalinist paradigm so you know the deal (when authors always bring on the table Stalin, when they are talking about something else, you can smell the ideology).
April 13, 2023
that’s it. i read 100 pages and i’ve decided this book still sucks so i am simply putting it down. way too many old gods, no new enigmas, poor organization of writing (if you are an adult i do not want to see you italicize the topic sentence of every paragraph please be serious). just information being thrown at me in somewhat historical order for what seems like no reason. 2023 is the year of not making myself miserable for no reason. goodbye mike davis
August 27, 2019
The first half is excellent, bring forward some of the best and lesser-known views of Marx, plus showing us what was going on at the time, rival thinkers and allies. The last half I found disappointing, ie, the detour ito colonizing Mars held by the turn of the century writers, and other diversions.
November 5, 2021
Too lazy to write a review. Don't read it if you don't want the author's opinion on marxism and Marx himself. The guy misunderstood many of basic marxism's outspoken theories.
January 17, 2023
This covers so much ground so well, with simple and exact language that puts together essential questions, challenges, histories, and realities of marxism and socialism. The author puts into words things ive thought in bits and never quite been able fully conceptualize, the perfect sorta book!
November 21, 2018
I bought this book blind, of course, and it far exceeded my expectations. While many of Davis' one-off books tend to be collections of his past essays, most of Old Gods New Enigmas is a brand new 150-page-long series of theses on "class consciousness." Davis' wide-ranging exploration of the character of revolutionary movements from 1848-1917 is masterful in its simultaneous breadth and depth. We learn about everything from socialist bike clubs to sailor mutinies to slum riots against coal shortages. While the introduction sets up the theses as an account of revolutionary agency that can speak to the present, the argument is a bit undermined by Davis' omission of both theoretical and historical events between 1917 and today. On the theoretical side, we get the usual dismissals of Althusser, post-marxism, and anything linguistic; on the historic side, I worry that some of the economic, political, and ideological shifts in global capital that coalesce around 1970 under various names like postfordism, neoliberalism, decolonization, etc might drastically alter our view of "revolutionary agency." I love the account of class politics from the POV of Lukacs, but I wonder whether this in fact puts Davis much closer to Althusser, autonomia, and post-Marxisms than he'd be willing to accept.
Even if we accept the main premise of Old Gods, New Enigmas on its own terms, it is riven by an internal contradiction - namely, what is a class? Much of the essay is written as if a class (or the proletarian class) is an actually-tangible social subject inhabited by workers, the unemployed, and women (this is a largely Euro-American history, although at times interesting accounts of Korea, Argentina, etc are woven in). Yet on page 116, we get EP Thompson's relational thesis that "Classes do not exist as separate entities...class-struggle is the prior, as well as the more universal, concept." This relational position is more helpful in my mind as it forces us to look at antagonism-in-process, but taken to its full logical extension it indicts the structural position of "THE proletariat" as it is written throughout the rest of the essay. To me, it is precisely the later generation of Marxists who Davis summarily dismisses who would help us theorize this relation.
The other 3 essays are old NLR essays. "Who will build the ark?" is a stone-cold classic about climate change, but reading it 10 years after its initial publication, it feels a little outdated. "Marx's Lost Theory," an essay on nationalism, focuses on the profound analyses of Class Struggle in France and the 18th Brumaire, probably my favorite texts written by Marx. Yet Davis' analysis of nationalism is a bit weird here, wrapped up in an attempt to castigate theories of language and culture. And "The Coming Desert" is a fun exploration of theories of climactic change and desertification in turn of the century physical geography (including Kropotkin, of course), but its relevance is only suggestive.
Even if we accept the main premise of Old Gods, New Enigmas on its own terms, it is riven by an internal contradiction - namely, what is a class? Much of the essay is written as if a class (or the proletarian class) is an actually-tangible social subject inhabited by workers, the unemployed, and women (this is a largely Euro-American history, although at times interesting accounts of Korea, Argentina, etc are woven in). Yet on page 116, we get EP Thompson's relational thesis that "Classes do not exist as separate entities...class-struggle is the prior, as well as the more universal, concept." This relational position is more helpful in my mind as it forces us to look at antagonism-in-process, but taken to its full logical extension it indicts the structural position of "THE proletariat" as it is written throughout the rest of the essay. To me, it is precisely the later generation of Marxists who Davis summarily dismisses who would help us theorize this relation.
The other 3 essays are old NLR essays. "Who will build the ark?" is a stone-cold classic about climate change, but reading it 10 years after its initial publication, it feels a little outdated. "Marx's Lost Theory," an essay on nationalism, focuses on the profound analyses of Class Struggle in France and the 18th Brumaire, probably my favorite texts written by Marx. Yet Davis' analysis of nationalism is a bit weird here, wrapped up in an attempt to castigate theories of language and culture. And "The Coming Desert" is a fun exploration of theories of climactic change and desertification in turn of the century physical geography (including Kropotkin, of course), but its relevance is only suggestive.
November 25, 2019
Mike Davis does what he wants and hell, if he wants to write a 150 page long thesis on Marx and revolutionary transformation, I will read it. I will also say that it might have been nice if there was more flesh to the thesis, and more of a body to the bones, but for readability I concede that Davis has described the trajectory of modern social revolution with remarkable clarity.
What isn't as laudable are the three trailing essays, of which one - on nationalism and Marx - is a fine enough scholarly argument for the Marxists. Another is an undercooked if interesting article on Pyotr Kropotkin and the ecological thesis of climate change, pace Anthropos. Again, fine enough as a historical sketch. Last is Davis' article from the New Left Review, "Who Will Build the Ark?", first published in 2010 - that's almost a decade ago now. While the article was incendiary when it was published, in some respects it begs for attention and updating that - sadly - it failed to receive for publication in this collection. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and reminds me at least that the conversation about revolutionary transformations and the conversation about ecological sustainability are quite separated, and anyone wanting to bring them together has a lot of ground to cover to make it work.
But, to return to my major point: Mike Davis. Heck yes.
What isn't as laudable are the three trailing essays, of which one - on nationalism and Marx - is a fine enough scholarly argument for the Marxists. Another is an undercooked if interesting article on Pyotr Kropotkin and the ecological thesis of climate change, pace Anthropos. Again, fine enough as a historical sketch. Last is Davis' article from the New Left Review, "Who Will Build the Ark?", first published in 2010 - that's almost a decade ago now. While the article was incendiary when it was published, in some respects it begs for attention and updating that - sadly - it failed to receive for publication in this collection. It sticks out like a sore thumb, and reminds me at least that the conversation about revolutionary transformations and the conversation about ecological sustainability are quite separated, and anyone wanting to bring them together has a lot of ground to cover to make it work.
But, to return to my major point: Mike Davis. Heck yes.
July 4, 2022
Fabulous opening section that takes up a healthy portion of the entire book, in which a lifetime of learning and experience is compiled. David's depth of reading on Marx and working class organizing is on full display here, and he's at his best composing in the associative writing style of this section. It's hard to overstate how valuable the anecdotes and theories discussed here will be to readers on the Left. This book would be an easy 5 stars for me if this section had been expanded all the way to the end.
The 'Lost Theory' section relies on extensive quotations from the doctoral thesis of historian Erica Benner, to the point that it's hard to see what David's novel contribution to the discussion is. And this chapter introduces a wooden and jargony prose that unfortunately continues throughout the rest of the book. The following essay on Kropotkin's climate science feels like a random addition to bulk up the book, as does the passionate but outdated lecture on socialist urbanism that closes the work.
My advice to interested readers would be to read the opening section and to resist the temptation to explore the remaining essays, which do not match the beginning in substance or style.
The 'Lost Theory' section relies on extensive quotations from the doctoral thesis of historian Erica Benner, to the point that it's hard to see what David's novel contribution to the discussion is. And this chapter introduces a wooden and jargony prose that unfortunately continues throughout the rest of the book. The following essay on Kropotkin's climate science feels like a random addition to bulk up the book, as does the passionate but outdated lecture on socialist urbanism that closes the work.
My advice to interested readers would be to read the opening section and to resist the temptation to explore the remaining essays, which do not match the beginning in substance or style.
January 10, 2023
the title here is devious and would make you think this is Davis' big contribution to Marxology when its actually an unbalanced collection of four disparate essays
the main one, that grants the book its name and takes up half of it, puts a lot of granular detail, geographic, sociological and labour history on the bones of Marxist historiography from the nineteenth century to the present, and is very very good.
the second, which grants the volume its subtitle, is a proposed reading of Marx's theory of nationalism via the Eighteenth Brumaire. it's decent as a reading of that text, but the new theory never really comes together. it was interesting to see Marx and Engels' getting swept up in Prussian chauvinism during the war with France wasn't a bourgeois smear, I'll probably be returning to this if it's ever necessary for me to want to debunk Trotskyist arguments about lesser-evilism in the future.
final two essays on ecology, Kropotkin's contributions to early understandings of climate change are fine.
the main one, that grants the book its name and takes up half of it, puts a lot of granular detail, geographic, sociological and labour history on the bones of Marxist historiography from the nineteenth century to the present, and is very very good.
the second, which grants the volume its subtitle, is a proposed reading of Marx's theory of nationalism via the Eighteenth Brumaire. it's decent as a reading of that text, but the new theory never really comes together. it was interesting to see Marx and Engels' getting swept up in Prussian chauvinism during the war with France wasn't a bourgeois smear, I'll probably be returning to this if it's ever necessary for me to want to debunk Trotskyist arguments about lesser-evilism in the future.
final two essays on ecology, Kropotkin's contributions to early understandings of climate change are fine.
January 21, 2023
not sure I understood all of this or could follow the histori-critical beats of the first two-thirds, but the last two essay/chapters whipped ass and I really don’t think we’ll ever get a mind like this again, so long as our ‘greatest’ socialist thinkers are making half-baked podcasts and founding ‘artist collectives’ in bushwick.
October 24, 2025
this is the best book i've read this year.
October 5, 2025
A very creative and insightful last testament from the author, who advances his socialist vision while including a number of criticisms of Marx and Engels and giving due credit to the IWW and anarcho-communist climatologists like Peter Kropotkin.
July 4, 2019
This felt a little more like a jumbled collection than a coherent book - like it could have used some editing to create a solid thesis/throughline connecting everything together. But, the theses that make up the bulk of the book were interesting to read through, given the vast historical examples that Davis commits to the page; and the other chapters had enough tidbits of useful information to make the book worth reading (although maybe not worth paying full price for).
October 11, 2018
The last 2 essays are extremely engaging, particularly the penultimate one on Kropotkin & the history of climate change as concept.
June 18, 2020
This is a joyous collection of essays, which focuses on an understanding of the ever-shifting nature of the proletariat. This is a class, which changes due to the economic system (the modes of production) that comes to unify it and make it conscious of itself as a unified class. Globalisation has altered our understanding of class, as reactionary politicians and media-owners attempt to utilise the power of the proletariat and turn it towards xenophobic ends, thus attempting to erase the material unity that exists between the international labouring classes. The process of capital, however, constantly ensures the proletariat's adaptation and agitation, making the latter eco-Marxist focus in the collection a logical corollary of the first titular essay.
As always, Davis' prose has the comfort and precision of a seasoned academic, yet always maintains the excitement and passion of the autodidact. In terms of radical Marxism, this is the only style which can rescue it from its obfuscatory history in Western Marxism. On a much more superficial, though not to be overlooked note, Davis is eminently readable and approachable by both experienced Marxists and developing radical thinkers.
I believe that this approachability is achieved through Davis' decision to make no distinction between high and low cultures (with the obvious class signalling which inheres within these terms), but prefers to assess the culture of the working-class as it presents itself. This means that "Old Gods, New Enigmas" is able to cover all forms of proletarian expression from architecture to football. The strength of this essay lies not in prophesy, but in an explicit demonstration of the political and cultural movements of the proletariat, providing a detailed and firm history. A history, notably, that they are denied as their projects are co-opted by the capital-owning classes. Despite its best efforts, Davis proves once more that, capital creates the conditions for its own undoing by unifying the proletariat. He demonstrates that the power of the proletariat is not simply negative (the notion that their power extends only insofar as the revolution is 'necessary' and the seizing of the means of production takes the form of necessity), but rather that the proletariat is the most creative class. ‘Class consciousness’ loses its academic air and is discussed in terms of progress and expression.
I cannot recommend this collection highly enough to anyone who feels dispirited by academic Marxism, or by the world today.
As always, Davis' prose has the comfort and precision of a seasoned academic, yet always maintains the excitement and passion of the autodidact. In terms of radical Marxism, this is the only style which can rescue it from its obfuscatory history in Western Marxism. On a much more superficial, though not to be overlooked note, Davis is eminently readable and approachable by both experienced Marxists and developing radical thinkers.
I believe that this approachability is achieved through Davis' decision to make no distinction between high and low cultures (with the obvious class signalling which inheres within these terms), but prefers to assess the culture of the working-class as it presents itself. This means that "Old Gods, New Enigmas" is able to cover all forms of proletarian expression from architecture to football. The strength of this essay lies not in prophesy, but in an explicit demonstration of the political and cultural movements of the proletariat, providing a detailed and firm history. A history, notably, that they are denied as their projects are co-opted by the capital-owning classes. Despite its best efforts, Davis proves once more that, capital creates the conditions for its own undoing by unifying the proletariat. He demonstrates that the power of the proletariat is not simply negative (the notion that their power extends only insofar as the revolution is 'necessary' and the seizing of the means of production takes the form of necessity), but rather that the proletariat is the most creative class. ‘Class consciousness’ loses its academic air and is discussed in terms of progress and expression.
I cannot recommend this collection highly enough to anyone who feels dispirited by academic Marxism, or by the world today.
October 5, 2020
Este libro de Mike Davis esta compuesto por cuatro ensayos que tratan de poner en perspectiva lo escrito por Karl Marx, además de tratar el cambio climático con una perspectiva materialista de izquierda.
Los dos primeros capítulos están dedicados a Marx, en los cuales escribe sobre diversas tesis del mismo y cómo estas se contextualizan con el momento en que vivió. No sólo como un enfoque histórico, sino que tratan de cómo las luchas obreras del siglo XIX fueron parte importante de lo que forjó su teoría política, en especial sobre la agencia política del proletariado (que se crea en la praxis de las circunstancias y de la organización) y sus visiones sobre el nacionalismo (algo que si analizó políticamente). En los mismos se derriban varios mitos, pues muestra que los cambios de lo que escribe Marx en relación a su momento político.
El tercer capitulo, más breve, esta dedicado a escribir sobre las ideas de desertificación mundial que surgieron a principios del siglo XIX y XX, poniendo énfasis en las tesis del anarcocomunista ruso Kropotkin sobre la desertificación de Asía. Entre los puntos más interesantes de este capítulo no es sólo el desarrollo de la ciencia climática, sino el adelanto de que el cambio climático es creado por el hombre. Una idea muy avanzada para su momento y muy vigente en el actual.
El libro termina con otro breve ensayo sobre las perspectivas del mundo en términos del cambio climático, desde el punto de vista de Mike Davis. Realiza tanto un acercamiento negativo al futuro como uno más optimista, en el cual resalta la necesidad de la acción inmediata de los países desarrollados para enfrentar el cambio climático y sus efectos desastrosos en el futuro. Esta ensayo resulta un poco endeble, dado que no es tan riguroso como los anteriores. Aunque sin duda profundo para e momento de crisis climática que vivimos.
Altamente recomendable para quienes les interesa conocer más sobre las discusiones históricas y la teoría marxista, así como el punto de vista de Mike Davis al respecto. Para mayor análisis sobre este libro, recomiendo la reseña de Dominc Alexander en Counterfire
Los dos primeros capítulos están dedicados a Marx, en los cuales escribe sobre diversas tesis del mismo y cómo estas se contextualizan con el momento en que vivió. No sólo como un enfoque histórico, sino que tratan de cómo las luchas obreras del siglo XIX fueron parte importante de lo que forjó su teoría política, en especial sobre la agencia política del proletariado (que se crea en la praxis de las circunstancias y de la organización) y sus visiones sobre el nacionalismo (algo que si analizó políticamente). En los mismos se derriban varios mitos, pues muestra que los cambios de lo que escribe Marx en relación a su momento político.
El tercer capitulo, más breve, esta dedicado a escribir sobre las ideas de desertificación mundial que surgieron a principios del siglo XIX y XX, poniendo énfasis en las tesis del anarcocomunista ruso Kropotkin sobre la desertificación de Asía. Entre los puntos más interesantes de este capítulo no es sólo el desarrollo de la ciencia climática, sino el adelanto de que el cambio climático es creado por el hombre. Una idea muy avanzada para su momento y muy vigente en el actual.
El libro termina con otro breve ensayo sobre las perspectivas del mundo en términos del cambio climático, desde el punto de vista de Mike Davis. Realiza tanto un acercamiento negativo al futuro como uno más optimista, en el cual resalta la necesidad de la acción inmediata de los países desarrollados para enfrentar el cambio climático y sus efectos desastrosos en el futuro. Esta ensayo resulta un poco endeble, dado que no es tan riguroso como los anteriores. Aunque sin duda profundo para e momento de crisis climática que vivimos.
Altamente recomendable para quienes les interesa conocer más sobre las discusiones históricas y la teoría marxista, así como el punto de vista de Mike Davis al respecto. Para mayor análisis sobre este libro, recomiendo la reseña de Dominc Alexander en Counterfire
November 30, 2022
First- Rest in Power, Mike Davis. Your contributions to a variety of fields shall not be forgotten. But in terms of Old Gods, New Enigmas, the book comprises more or less, 4 essays with a vague theme tying them together of Marxism and climate. The introduction overviews what the book contains, and has a cute story of Davis’ experiences with Marx in his youth and today. The first “essay,” over a 150 pages, serves as a manifesto which overviews the history of the leftist movement since the advent of the first true proletariat in the middle 19th century. Looking to examples of how the proletariat has previously interacted with its environment, Davis carves out commonalities, and platforms which contemporary subjects should take into account as potential planks for their own organization to adopt (some of my favorites revolve around the forgotten project of New Socialist Humanity- quite popular in a lot of infantile parts of Socialist revs or psuedo-socialist polities like ‘Red Vienna.’) Various brilliant organizing tactics, projects and potential ways to commit to a revolution are presented, all of which should be taken to account for any modern socialist org. The next essay (this and the next few are much shorter) is one which requires some digestion, which is on Marx and Engels’ recordings on nationalism- which is that, from my understanding, it served as a way to bring together disparate class interests (especially artisan and even proto-proletarian interests)in a common platform, thus making their endorsement not entirely a form of “false consciousness,” since endorsing nationalism is seemingly better than their alternatives. The next is one which is more fanciful and occasionally confusing, about Kropotkin’s postulation of desertification and the bastardization by bourgeois scientists for the “canals of mars” hypothesis. The final essay, which serves as a brief two part on the pessimistic and optimistic view on climate change, contains the common prattling of bleak statistics, followed by the ever-popular urbanist fantasies (only logical following some of the first essay’s focus on urbanism.) Overall, a brilliant book, I may have to revisit it since I did not get the chance to read it as in depth due to life circumstances.
November 9, 2022
Old Gods, New Enigmas is a collection of four largely unrelated essays. The first, Old Gods, New Enigmas: Notes on Revolutionary Agency, by far the longest and easily the best of them, starts with a quote from Marxist historian Eric Hobsbawm. In an interview he was asked how he thought socialist ideas might fair in the future. Hobsbawm answered that it "depended on whether or not a 'historic force' would still exist to support the socialist project." Hobsbawm continued, "it seems to me the historic force rested not necessarily on the ideas but on a particular material situation... the major problem on the Left being that of agency." And defining this historical or proletarian agency, including a long and detailed set of what you might call case histories of when, where, and how proletarian agency has developed in the past, eats up about 70% of this book. It was a very interesting read—when thinking about social change, considering this information, considering all the history, is invaluable.
The second essay is about Marx's supposed "lost theory," the Politics of Nationalism, which many a Marx critic (with a stern look at the post-Marxists) accuse him of having missed in his theories, and having in its place an empty hole: they were incorrect.
The third essay, The Coming Desert, is a very partial vindication of Kropotkin's theory of desertification, and the fourth, Who Will Build the Ark, Davis describes as being "organized as a debate with myself, a mental tournament between analytic despair and utopian possibility that is personally, and probably objectively, irresolvable."
So there you go. May Mike Davis rest in peace.
The second essay is about Marx's supposed "lost theory," the Politics of Nationalism, which many a Marx critic (with a stern look at the post-Marxists) accuse him of having missed in his theories, and having in its place an empty hole: they were incorrect.
The third essay, The Coming Desert, is a very partial vindication of Kropotkin's theory of desertification, and the fourth, Who Will Build the Ark, Davis describes as being "organized as a debate with myself, a mental tournament between analytic despair and utopian possibility that is personally, and probably objectively, irresolvable."
So there you go. May Mike Davis rest in peace.
August 21, 2018
Davis is a great writer and reading him is always rewarding given his head-spinning breadth of knowledge and the topics he covers. the 150 essay that leads the book (of the same name) was structured uniquely as a series of short 2-3 page "theses" that cover a large of range of "socialism in action" through the latter half of the 19th century and the early part of the 20th. Great to learn about things from "sewer socialism" to Cybersyn; this will definitely serve as a good reference in the future.
The remaining three essays were all previously published in New Left Review over the last 8 years. Interesting in their own right, though i did sense a bit of despair in the last one. After first laying out the pessimistic view that we're probably en route for unavoidable ecological disaster, he argues with himself that there is grounds to be optimistic if we build upon the more promising aspects of urbanization which include more aspects of democratic control/planning and conservation. I wouldnt say i was convinced that this will save us, but neither, would it seem, was Davis. I read his concluding remarks to be along the lines of "we have to think big and utopian cause we gotta break out of this mold where we're heading towards disaster." Well, okay, let's get on that.
Anyway, a welcome read.
The remaining three essays were all previously published in New Left Review over the last 8 years. Interesting in their own right, though i did sense a bit of despair in the last one. After first laying out the pessimistic view that we're probably en route for unavoidable ecological disaster, he argues with himself that there is grounds to be optimistic if we build upon the more promising aspects of urbanization which include more aspects of democratic control/planning and conservation. I wouldnt say i was convinced that this will save us, but neither, would it seem, was Davis. I read his concluding remarks to be along the lines of "we have to think big and utopian cause we gotta break out of this mold where we're heading towards disaster." Well, okay, let's get on that.
Anyway, a welcome read.
April 21, 2020
An excellent book. As with other work by Mike Davis, such as his 'Planet of Slums' and his recent analysis of the COVID-19 pandemic, it combines incisive Marxist theorising with an incredibly wide knowledge base. Davis has insightful things to say about everything from nineteenth-century geology and modern climate science to architecture and urban planning. His chapter on revolutionary working class politics synthesizes a huge body of research on centuries of class struggle. The historical scope of this book is up there with Hobsbawm's 'Age of...' books or Arrighi's 'The Long Twentieth Century'. I particularly enjoyed the chapter on Marxist theory and nationalism as well.
My only disappointment with the book was the final chapter 'Who Will Build the Ark?'. This is a reproduction of a brilliant piece Davis wrote in the New Left Review in 2010, which surveyed the grim realities of our failure to address climate change while suggesting the utopian and green potentials of cities as a solution. It would have been much better if this had been updated, or rewritten, to take into account developments in the 8 years since the article was first published - it felt a little outdated compared to the rest of the book.
Overall, though, an essential book especially as the politics of nation, class, and climate are radically shaken up by the COVID-19 pandemic.
My only disappointment with the book was the final chapter 'Who Will Build the Ark?'. This is a reproduction of a brilliant piece Davis wrote in the New Left Review in 2010, which surveyed the grim realities of our failure to address climate change while suggesting the utopian and green potentials of cities as a solution. It would have been much better if this had been updated, or rewritten, to take into account developments in the 8 years since the article was first published - it felt a little outdated compared to the rest of the book.
Overall, though, an essential book especially as the politics of nation, class, and climate are radically shaken up by the COVID-19 pandemic.
October 6, 2020
Only Mike Davis can have a four-chapter book, 60% of which is a 150-page first chapter.
However, the book was incredibly interesting. In a series of essays, Davis interrogates ideas about how to think of agency and revolutionary possibility amongst a world that hasn't even since Marx and others wrote, matched the distribution of classes or the development of productive forces in a manner theoretically prescribed.
Mike Davis finishes in the last chapter by essentially arguing himself along the line of Gramsci's "pessimism of the mind, optimism of the will." What we have to take pause of to recognize the existential enviromental challenges facing our species and that we're currently hurtling towards the worst of those consequences without any significant mitigation. Bound up with this though, is the possibility that we're laying the groundwork to mediate some of these consequences unintentionally if things were radically reorganized. Cities and suburban sprawl actually allowing for the reintroduction of nature of production and transportation were democratized, etc.
Definitely a good read. Though I do warn, the first chapter will make your head spin... like a lot of Mike Davis' work does for me regularly anyway. ;)
However, the book was incredibly interesting. In a series of essays, Davis interrogates ideas about how to think of agency and revolutionary possibility amongst a world that hasn't even since Marx and others wrote, matched the distribution of classes or the development of productive forces in a manner theoretically prescribed.
Mike Davis finishes in the last chapter by essentially arguing himself along the line of Gramsci's "pessimism of the mind, optimism of the will." What we have to take pause of to recognize the existential enviromental challenges facing our species and that we're currently hurtling towards the worst of those consequences without any significant mitigation. Bound up with this though, is the possibility that we're laying the groundwork to mediate some of these consequences unintentionally if things were radically reorganized. Cities and suburban sprawl actually allowing for the reintroduction of nature of production and transportation were democratized, etc.
Definitely a good read. Though I do warn, the first chapter will make your head spin... like a lot of Mike Davis' work does for me regularly anyway. ;)
June 19, 2019
A solid collection of essays on Marxism, history, revolutionary politics, and ecology. The first essay, which is a good 2/3 of the book, is fantastic, and is a sweeping look at the historical origins of Marxism in the long period of class unrest and socialist politics in the 1800s and early 1900s in Europe and North America. There is a mountain of colorful stories, observations, and lines of analysis here, and a thoroughly enjoyable and immersive read.
The second essay is about nationalism, and is a bit dry and abstract and not nearly as interesting or engaging. The third essay is about early debates about climate change, with the work of the anarchist and scientist Kropotkin as a crux, and is pretty interesting if you're into the history of ecological studies. The fourth essay is about climate change today, and is well written but rather out of date; all its references are from ~2008.
Overall a pretty solid and educational read, although I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who isn't super into Marxism.
The second essay is about nationalism, and is a bit dry and abstract and not nearly as interesting or engaging. The third essay is about early debates about climate change, with the work of the anarchist and scientist Kropotkin as a crux, and is pretty interesting if you're into the history of ecological studies. The fourth essay is about climate change today, and is well written but rather out of date; all its references are from ~2008.
Overall a pretty solid and educational read, although I wouldn't recommend it to anybody who isn't super into Marxism.
June 13, 2020
Excellent scholastic work by Davis, reviving old Marxist texts, Anarchist connections with non-authoritarian approaches to Marxism, along with recent reanalyses, to demonstrate the relevance of this work to current issues around the potential for revolutionary change. The book ends with an interesting self-dialogue about climate change, rethinking the way the Anthropocene has been used and misused in the analysis of what climate change has meant over the centuries in relation to human activity, and what this means in relation for changing course. It may not be the handbook that we can take into the streets and educate ourselves as we try to fight against the current trend towards fascism and to struggle for meaningful, socially and racially just solutions to the challenges posed by climate change, but with a little work, thought, and rereading, it might lead to reformulations that will help.
January 2, 2023
A good reason not to read really serious and important books in e-versions. In what must be the last book of his prolific life Davis takes a long long at Marx and to ask whether he was just another ideologue with a theory or a political theorist asking critical questions about how the world changes and who is responsible for bring it about.
The book is essentially four long essays looking at the issue from the standpoint of revolutionary agency, and whether we should still put our hopes in the working class; the way nationalism was configured in the politics of the mid-19th century and the role it played in Marx's thinking; the role of the planetary environment as a component of left politics, and a final, shorter article of 'building the ark' - ie - moving on from here we are now. So many layers to Davis's thinking I went and bought a hard copy with the intention of reading it all again and making proper marginal notes. Will follow tht up in a more detailed review.
The book is essentially four long essays looking at the issue from the standpoint of revolutionary agency, and whether we should still put our hopes in the working class; the way nationalism was configured in the politics of the mid-19th century and the role it played in Marx's thinking; the role of the planetary environment as a component of left politics, and a final, shorter article of 'building the ark' - ie - moving on from here we are now. So many layers to Davis's thinking I went and bought a hard copy with the intention of reading it all again and making proper marginal notes. Will follow tht up in a more detailed review.
May 4, 2021
The long title essay is a history of working class organisation & struggles from the mid 19th century to the mid 20th century. It's packed with interesting details but doesn't seem to reach any clear conclusions about the question it poses about working class agency today. Davis is an important radical writer and a fearsome intellect but at times the text is just too discursive. At one point, in a single paragraph, he jumps from Trotsky's analysis of the last days of the Weimar Republic, to Marx's 1850s writings about the collapse of the French financial firm Credit Mobilier, to Italian autonomist Marxism's analysis of inflation in the 1970s, to an isolated remark Marx once made of the policies of the French 2nd empire as Napoleonic socialism. Just slow down for a minute Mike!
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