Crack Capitalism : 33 thèses contre le capital

by John Holloway

Edition actualisée et augmentée.

« La révolution ne consiste pas à détruire le capitalisme mais à refuser de le fabriquer. La présenter comme la destruction du capitalisme, c'est partir perdant, c'est la mettre à distance de nous, c'est la reporter dans le futur. La question n'est pas dans le futur. Elle se pose ici et maintenant : comment cessons-nous de produire le système par lequel nous détruisons l'humanité ? »
Dans cet essai, John Holloway suggère que le capitalisme est déjà largement fissuré, en crise permanente, et contrarié par de multiples refus de sa force de cohésion. La force des brèches qui le sape réside dans leurs aspirations partagées contre le travail capitaliste et pour un type d'activité différent : faire ce que nous considérons nécessaire ou désirable. Clairement construit et argumenté en 33 thèses, Crack Capitalism ranime le débat dans les réseaux militants, parmi les acteurs des luttes, les chercheurs critiques et toutes celles et ceux qui aspirent aujourd'hui à changer le monde.

Professeur à l'université de Puebla (Mexique), John Holloway est notamment l'auteur de Changer le monde sans prendre le pouvoir (Lux/Syllepse, 2007) et de Lire la première phrase du Capital (Libertalia, 2015).

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Philosophy, Economics, Sociology, Activism, Society

447 pages, Pocket Book

First published June 15, 2010

About the author

Librarian Note:
There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Sociologist, philosopher and lawyer by profession. Holloway is closely associated with Open or Autonomous Marxism and anti-globalisation movements such as the Zapatistas.

His 2002 book, Change the World Without Taking Power, has been the subject of much debate and brought him to a wider audience.

Reviews

[Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea · Rating 5 out of 5]

I can't say enough great things about this book. First off, after reading his "change the world without taking power," crack capitalism seemed effortless. Unlike the first book, he really tries to articulate and breakdown his argument. He accomplishes this by writing shorter chapters (2-4 pages, with maybe 3 exceptions) and reducing the amount of pages he uses to elucidate his arguments. This is unlike "Change the World" because in the middle of that book, it seemed like his arguments got really long and involved, rolling into each other. I found this book so much more digestible. It's such an amazing read. His argument is that we have to struggle against labor--not the capitalists--because labor and capital are inherently bound together. You cannot have capitalists without the labor to make the capitalists. It is a contradiction and by fighting against one side of the contradiction, we re-create the problem. We need to abolish labor. How do we do this? By doing in against-and-beyond. Our doing--creative, life activity--has the potential to truly change the world whereas labor--a disciplining, coercive, and uncreative kind of work--simply pulls us back into the logic of the market, the logic of capital, and re-creates the world as we know it, slowly destroying itself under the guise of commodity relations. This book was totally inspiring and had such wonderful spaces for new thinking. I really appreciate his analogies and writing. Great great book!

[Rhys · Rating 4 out of 5]

It took me a while to understand where Holloway was going with Crack Capitalism, as he seemed to be trying to be a bit Invisible Committee and a bit David Harvey. Once things settled down in the prose, however, his thesis on labour vs. 'doing' came shining through; as did his theme of ek-stasis - of the revolutionary excess that cannot be totalized.

"There is a concrete doing that exists in-against-and-beyond, that exists in ecstatic relation to abstract labour, that already pushes beyond abstract labour, both as project and as actual practice. This ecstatic relation is a matter of everyday experience, not the invention of left-wing intellectuals, not the privileged experience of dedicated militants. It is from this standing-out-beyond (this ek-stasis) that another world will be born, or it will not be born at all. This ecstatic space is the space of dignity, the substance of the cracks" (p.99).

I think there is merit to this perspective: "Revolution is not about destroying capitalism, but about refusing to create it. To pose revolution as the destruction of capitalism is to reproduce the abstraction of time that is so central to the reproduction of capitalism: it is self-defeating" (254). Other authors might have called Holloway's 'doing' something like 'play' or 'jouissement'. Not a new idea, but he applies it well against the 'duration of abstract time' and the concept of 'labour'.

[Dusan · Rating 5 out of 5]

I am rereading parts of John Holloway's Crack Capitalism in the light of protests in my home country, Bosnia. Very strong call for non-partisan stepping out of the unnatural, unjust and not functioning capitalist system. It is all cracking.
"Critical/crisis theory is the theory of our own misfitting. Humanity (in all its senses) jars increasingly with capitalism. It becomes harder and harder to fit as capital demands more and more. Ever more people simply do not fit in to the system, or, if we do manage to squeeze ourselves on to capital's ever-tightening Procrustean bed, we do so at the cost of leaving fragments of ourselves behind, to haunt. That is the basis of our cracks and of the growing importance of a dialectic of misfitting."

[Zéro Janvier · Rating 1 out of 5]

J'avais tout pour être conquis, mais après en avoir lu les premiers chapitres, il a fallu que je me rende à l'évidence : ce livre n'est pas pour moi. A mes yeux, et vous me pardonnerez l'expression, c'est de la pure branlette intellectuelle. J'ai renoncé à aller plus loin dans ma lecture.

[Loren · Rating 2 out of 5]

Goodreads Crack Capitalism
This is so very disappointing. I had high hopes for this thesis. I wanted something that built on Galbraith's polemic Affluent Society or even challenged Friedman's didactic Capitalism & Freedom with more than bold caps and exclamation points. Or it could of taken a more journalistic feel similar to Paul Hawken's deliberating Blessed Unrest or Naomi Klein's shocking Shock Doctrine.
It lacked prose, fluidity, a strong underlying narrative and a convincing argument. If you got drunk at a party with one of your radical sometimes eloquent often pensive notably analytical best friend, he/she would probably have a lot to passionately say against capitalism & monetary gain, (preaching to the choir of course), but likely he would also be redundant and overly erudite in his delivery. My Best Friend has some great ideas and I love him so much for the attempt, but he still fails because he too doesn't have the answers. Like so many others who wish for a better world he believes moving backwards into time to a period they particularly liked is the answer. He simultaneously plays the nice baseball coach of social activism handing out trophies to all those looser kids saying "dont worry, you're all winners because you tried." Well I dont buy that crap one bit. Lowering your expectations is just embarassing and doesnt build confidence anyway. You cant stop this moving train, all you can do is derail it. And before we collectively take that big leap jeopardizing all our lives in an effort to stop flying into that inevitable wall down the line, we need to know where we are hoping to fall instead. Socialism failed. Communism doesn't work. Give me something else God Damnit!

[Tina Doncheva · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hands down, one of the best books I've ever read! Argumentative, clear, focused, incredibly well-written in an equally persuasive way. The best thing about the book is that Holloway states every single thought of mine in relation to capitalism so simply and with such straightforwardness that I found myself exclaiming 'yes, exactly!' every now and then. Which left me with the feeling of Holloway presenting my thoughts in a concise and thorough way (in a way I, frankly, cannot express myself :)). I love the fact that he marked the tyrannical manner in which capitalism treats women; I love the fact that he constantly mentions individuals and groups of individuals who are repeatedly oppressed by the capitalist system; I love the fact that Marx is present on almost every single page so that to show that he is even more relevant now than ever; and I love the fact that he does not say 'kill capitalism now and forever!' but rather presents the hardest but more definitive way of 'cracking' it slowly, to the bones. Inspirational book, which I could easily grade with much more than 5/5, and which made me think and evaluate even hours after reading it (and making me certain I would read it again). And, if there are just a few sentences from the book that could summarise its author's stance (and my thoughts), they are such: 'We create the society which keeps us trapped.'; 'Communism (or whatever you wish to call it) becomes an imminent need, not a future stage of development.' and 'What matters is the motion. The power of the cracks is in their motion.'

[Pierre-Olivier · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pour Holloway , la révolution ne consiste pas à détruire le capitalisme et le remplacer par une autre totalité, mais bien de cesser de le reproduire au quotidien. La théorie des brèches et la révolution par interstices ce veut la création d’espace, de lieux et de temporalité autonome et autodéterminé exempt et libéré de rapport sociaux capitaliste réifié, ici et maintenant peut importe leur échelle et leur rayon d’action, tout en essayant de les interconnecter les une aux autres , pour faire craquer les fondations structurales du système de la valeur. De remettre en priorité l’action quotidienne des subjectivité vivantes contre et au delà du capital, du “faire” qui crée l’usage et non pas du travail abstrait qui crée la valeur. Refuser d’obéir à l’abstraction, et d’affirmer la création du réel. C’est l’abolition complète de l’aliénation. Si le mouvement de la critique de la valeur est la théorie à prioriser comme grille de lecture du réel , Holloway lui offre littéralement le chemin politique de l’émancipation à suivre. Un des meilleurs livre que j’ai lu de ma vie, très inspiré par la pensée du groupe Krisis , des opéraïstes italiens, des Zapatistas et des libertaires. Je le recommande grandement.

[Lizanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of the most influential authors I have ever read... This is a tough read, but well worth the struggle.

[Kin · Rating 4 out of 5]

รีวิวครึ่งเล่มแรกไว้ประมาณหนึ่ง อ่านจบครึ่งเล่มหลัง ยังถึงไม่ออกเลยว่าจะรีวิวอะไรเพิ่ม ประเด็นมันมีหน่อยเดียวแหละ ที่เหลือเป็นรายละเอียดมหึมา

[Lucien Finch · Rating 4 out of 5]

I want the left to succeed. I really do. And in many parts this book gave me hope. We cannot wait for Godot. We cannot wait for corporatist non-states to give in to our demands and finally implement a just, equitable structure. The wait for that stretches back to at least the mid 19th century. Exploiting existing 'cracks' on the capitalist order (sites of agency rather than abstracted labor) therefore seems to be an appealing idea. Granted, it's not wholly original and I feel it has debts to a large part of 20th century continental-political philosophy, most notably, Sartre on the group vs the mass. Of course, in an age where impotence has been internalised and agency is at a minimum the idea of being able to solely do what one loves is incredibly appealing. However, there are two major deficiencies with this proposal (at least as Holloway puts it).
1) It is economically naive. As Marcuse himself notes (an author H sites frequently), a certain amount of repression is needed in order for the system of needs to be replenished. We cannot drink, fornicate and play guitar 24/7, but need to engage in some sorts of unpleasant or 'abstracted' labor in order to ensure that we don't die from cold and hunger.
2) Enjoyment has largely been interpellated into the system of domination H rails against. Many of us would love to stay home and watch Netflix. Such practices are entirely commensurate with the pleasure principle. However, if we truly want to be happy, we need some kind of egoistic repression, a "no" which organises our drives. This factor of the major corporations exploiting our immediate desires seems to be absent in Holloway's fetishism of doing over being.

More broadly, critical theory needs to get out of this constant vacillation between idolising non-identity, becoming etc.. (see Butler, Brown, Connolly and Gibson-Graham) and wanting a return to stable identities that are absent in post-modern society (Han, Stiegler, Fisher...Heidegger)-Perhaps its relevant that this split is largely down gender lines! Some becoming and non-identity is good, but it can turn into despair and disorientation. A sort of nihilism wherein one has no grounding. Some identity is good, but it can turn into fascism, reification and a lack of imagination. A foreclosure of the future. Dare I suggest a third way? Or are these two theoretical poles of the infinite and the finite irreconcilable (as big boy Kierkegaard pointed out in sickness unto death)?

Despite these criticisms, I love the general point of not waiting for the future. To seize all sorts of ruptures, like dance shows, community activism, reading groups or whatever as a means of revolution. The left has been patient for too long and in the process has become old and bitter. Sex appeal is lacking, an investment in the now is lacking and Holloway's work really helps us overcome that. Once you get a taste of agency, of unfreezing reified structures and existing in genuine, horizontal relations with other people, there is no need for me to tell you that the revolution needs to happen. It'll be in your bones.

Peace.

[Alamein · Rating 3 out of 5]

Disclaimer j'ai lu qu'une douzaine de ses thèses.
Pas mal de blabla inutile, pourrait facilement être plus concis, on dirait ces tik tokers qui veulent absolument que la video dure plus d'une minute donc iels tournent en rond et c chiant
Part trop loin dans ses métaphores, ex. "La dignité est une pioche brandie contre les murs envahissants qui menacent d'écraser toute l'humanité. La dignité est une lame qui coupe les fils d'une toile d'araignée dans laquelle nous sommes emprisonnés" mdrrr ok mec
De bonnes idées cela étant dit
⬇️⬇️⬇️





"Nous pouvons peut-être même franchir un pas de plus et, en suivant une suggestion de Horkheimer, dire que faire quelque chose pour le plaisir peut être considéré comme une brèche anticapitaliste, simplement parce que cela brise la chaîne instrumentale du raisonnement typique du capitalisme, au moyen duquel chaque chose doit être justifiée comme un moyen de parvenir à une fin."

"Nous ne pouvons attendre une future révolution, et l'idée même d'une future révolution est devenue l'ennemi de l'émancipation."

"Je ne me conformerai pas aux exigences du capital."

"Vous semez vos champs pour qu’il les dévaste, vous meublez et remplissez vos maisons pour fournir ses pilleries, vous élevez vos filles afin qu’il puisse assouvir sa luxure, vous nourrissez vos enfants pour qu’il en fasse des soldats dans le meilleur des cas, pour qu’il les mène à la guerre, à la boucherie, qu’il les rende ministres de ses convoitises et exécuteurs de ses vengeances. Vous vous usez à la peine afin qu’il puisse se mignarder dans ses délices et se vautrer dans ses sales plaisirs. Vous vous affaiblissez afin qu’il soit plus fort, et qu’il vous tienne plus rudement la bride plus courte. Et de tant d’indignités que les bêtes elles-mêmes ne supporteraient pas si elles les sentaient, vous pourriez vous délivrer si vous essayiez, même pas de vous délivrer, seulement de le vouloir.
Soyez résolus à ne plus servir, et vous voilà libres. Je ne vous demande pas de le pousser, de l’ébranler, mais seulement de ne plus le soutenir, et vous le verrez, tel un grand colosse dont on a brisé la base, fondre sous son poids et se rompre. « 
-La Boetie, Discours de la servitude volontaire (1546)

[Özgür Balmumcu · Rating 4 out of 5]

Holloway bildiğimiz gibi. Yine coşkun bir dil; daha çok vaaz verir gibi, karşısında büyük bir kalabalık varmış da onları harekete geçirmek için konuşuyormuş gibi yazıyor. Bu açıdan meseleleri ağır olmasına rağmen okunurluğu akıcı bir yazar. Bu yıl okuduğum üçüncü kitabı sanırım. Hep aynı coşkun dil. Sorunları irdelemekte, bunu farklı bir bakış açısıyla yapmakta üzerine yok. Ancak bu kitabında da dönüp dolaşıp aynı yerde kilitleniyor yazar. Bazı noktalarda alternatif sunamıyor, ben de bilmiyorum diyor, yolda yaşayarak öğreneceğiz demeye getiriyor. Sahi Kapitalizmde Çatlaklar Yaratmak kitabı mevcut sistemin ve bunu yıkmaya çalışanların başarısızlıklarını kaleme alırken bu sefer (diğer kitaplarına göre) ne yapılması gerektiği hususunda daha fazla kalem oynatıyor ama bir noktaya kadar. Devrimin türlerini ve bunların neden şimdiye kadar işe yaramadığını, yaramayacağını açıklarken devleti ele geçirerek gerçekleşen devrimin de ne gibi sakıncalar doğuracağını ortaya koyuyor. Bütün bunlara karşı önerisi ise önce bireysel yaşamlarımızda kapitalizmi yıkmak. Yani kapitalizmde çatlaklar yaratmak diyor öncelikle kapitalist toplumsal ilişkilerden kopuştur. Bireyler kapitalizmi beslemeye devam ettikçe, gündelik alışkanlıklarımız yeniden düzenlenmedikçe farklı bir ekonomik sistem mümkün değil iddiasında yazar. Haksızda sayılmaz. Kapitalizmi eleştirirken günlük yaşamımızdaki alışkanlıklarımızın kapitalizmi nasıl beslediğinin farkında değil çoğumuz. Özetle, yanlış hayatı yaşarken doğru değişim mümkün değil. Bu iddiasını kitabında 8 bölüm üzerinden; emeğin ikili niteliği, soyut emek, emeğe karşı eyleyiş gibi unsurlar üzerinden ortaya koyuyor. Yazarın en azından Türkçede yayımlanmış en geniş kapsamlı kitabı.

[Sølvi Goard · Rating 5 out of 5]

john holloway thinks that primitive accumulation is onlly presented by marx as a minor thing

[12:20, 2/6/2019] Sølvi: So in this John Holloway book he talks a lot about how Marxists have abandoned the struggle against abstract labour, how there needs to be a conception of struggle towards a world where there's doing not abstract labour.
[12:21, 2/6/2019] Sølvi: And he really doesn't like time and clocks
[12:22, 2/6/2019] Sølvi: And that primitive accumulation and the abstraction of labour is something that happens every day in deeper aspects of life

Found the doing/labour opposition valuable. Felt like a forbidden fruit for a long time - now feels very common sense.

[Neal Spadafora · Rating 4 out of 5]

Great book. Essentially an autonomous Marxist reading of abstract labor and value-form criticism. While I don’t agree with everything Holloway states (e.g., I don’t think we should equivocate the nation with the state), the book’s foundational claim, that we should be ‘communizing,’ is great.

Holloway is in direct conversation with Postone and other value-form theorists, but I think Holloway pays attention to actual politics and struggle in a way Postone and those at Krisis often do not. If you’re wanting to read a clearer explication of the autonomist/operista tradition than Hardt and Negri’s Empire, then you should read this book.

[Happy Red Panda · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is my first book in anti-capitalist theory that I’ve read in a long while. Feels good to be back.

Really liked how the author talks about abstract labor: AKA the process of us toiling to make a profit to survive in this horrible world. He goes into detail on how it impacts our lives a lot more than we think and how destroying capitalism means the end of labor AKA the end of toiling ourselves in the market and the end of the need to compete to make profit.

Good short book and a nice introduction to Marx for anyone who needs it.

[Kevin Carson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Like How to Change the World Without Taking Power, this is very wordy and could easily be cut by a third or more with no loss of clarity. It mostly repeats points stated in the essays of We Are the Crisis of Capital. Still, it's quite engaging and a good introduction to Holloway's approach as a standalone book.

[Samuel Hilton · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very close to a five star, bit waffle at times though

[André Clements · Rating 5 out of 5]

One of those books which's insights keep haunting you long after you've read it, as if once opened you can never quite close it again. Superb. A little sad, a lot honest, deeply true.

[M. Gilliland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Well so far I've only read some extracts on Ebrary, I gave it 4 stars initially but would reduce that to 2, the later chapters seemed to waffle and his idea of updating Marxism seems to be inventing lots of new jargon.

My preliminary view is that the value of the book is that it points to revolution without taking power, as in his more famous 1st book. No clues however as to how this could happen, but it's true most of our activity is outside capitalism and in many societies it has never worked , eg. most of Africa.

When I read more I'll comment again. Another plus is it's translated into Spanish and Italian..

Like many would-be western gurus he tries to appropriate the Zapatista struggle, but maybe he's respectful, hope to read that part next.

As for the 'cracks' theory it seems a bit crackpot to me, capitalism serves a minority, the famous 1% if you like, and only 'cares' for the rest of us as exploitables. What difference do cracks make in what's always been a chaotic predator market?

[Inna · Rating 4 out of 5]

Pretty good book on what to do about capitalism. The author points out that capitalism is upheld by human action and by human perceptions. As such, it has to have weaknesses, places where it might and does crack. Why? Because capitalism imposes on human being a logic that cannot possibly work - logic according to which all human actions should serve a total system of the market.
I liked the analysis, though I would expect a bit more on how the dialectics of change might work. Though the author states clearly that he does not know, he just points out to weaknesses within the system. He also points out that totalizing ideologies cannot work, since they operate according to logic which is too similar to the capitalist one.
The book is somewhat repetitive, but it seems the author chose it to be so to emphasize his points.

[Rui Coelho · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great book! Even better than his "Changing the World Without Taking Power", "Crack Capitalism" puts out the basis for a new (and very Foucauldian) understanding of everyday politics under capitalist social relations.

[Andrew Novak · Rating 4 out of 5]

Marx is being made useful again...

[Dan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Life changing

[Scott Neigh]

Reviewed here.