Beyond Money: A Postcapitalist Strategy

by Anitra Nelson, John Holloway (Foreword)

'A fascinating portal into arguments about why we need to get beyond money' - Harry Cleaver

What would a world without money look like? This book is a lively thought experiment that deepens our understanding of how money is the driver of political power, environmental destruction and social inequality today, arguing that it has to be abolished rather than repurposed to achieve a postcapitalist future.

Grounded in historical debates about money, Anitra Nelson draws on a spectrum of political and economic thought and activism, including feminism, ecoanarchism, degrowth, permaculture, autonomism, Marxism and ecosocialism. Looking to Indigenous rights activism and the defense of commons, an international network of activists engaged in a fight for a money-free society emerges.

Beyond Money  shows that, by organizing around post-money versions of the future, activists have a hope of creating a world that embodies their radical values and visions.

Genres: Economics, Nonfiction, Politics

232 pages, Paperback

Published January 20, 2022

Reviews

[Debbie Notkin · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book makes strong, if unoriginal, claims for why money is problematic. The author spends a lot of time arguing with leftist academics and theorists who believe that money should be modified rather than abolished. She promises in the beginning of the book to provide some clear guidelines as to how to move beyond money, but in the end she provides only one fantastic chapter about a nation she calls Yenomon (spell it backwards). Yenomon is a pretty familiar utopian construct, which follows basis Marxist dicta (needs are met, effort is supplied) in a consensus format. I couldn't help but think of the central society in Ursula K. Leguin's Always Coming Home, which is a far better developed society along the same lines.

After introducing us to Yenomon, Nelson returns to all the reasons that Money Is Bad, and all the good things that could happen if we didn't have Bad Money. However, she never provides the promised pathways: rather she seems to think that if we all want it hard enough, money will disappear of its own accord. She also completely fails to contend with issues of technology: there are still computers and cell phones in Yenomon (fewer of them), and they are somehow built by the collective will of the people -- not of Yenomon but of surrounding societies. No one mines the metals or extracts them from contemporary landfills. No one seems to be responsible for shipping goods to where they are needed. No one worries about how the real (as opposed to monetary) costs of extractive industry or intensely technical garbage-mining are handled.

It's books like these that give speculative futurism a bad name.

[Geoff Lehr · Rating 3 out of 5]

A frustrating book. Most of the analysis and critique is on point, and I found the historical sections interesting. But I don't think the central point - that money qua money is destructive, rather than money as capital - is successfully made. I also found the sketch of a post capitalist society "Yenomon" to be far too thinly drawn to make the point.

[Mariano · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book does a disservice to the very idea of postcapitalism — wishful thinking at best; dangerous romantization at worst.

[Ana · Rating 3 out of 5]

The critique of money is cool and convincing, the solutions and the case for abolishing money not so much

[Juliane · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book goes beyond the usual anti-capitalist literature in making the argument that we can‘t dismantle capitalism without dismantling money as such. While to me the writing seemed a bit all over the place, with deeply theoretical parts, examples of non-monetary practices from around the world as well as more general thoughts on overcoming capitalism and achieving the good life for all, the book has definitely given me a lot to think about. Especially if you are starting to feel a bit bored by the current writings on degrowth, ecosocialism, green new deals etc., this book offers some interesting and - to me at least - fresh thoughts that I am excited to take up further.

[Gralha · Rating 2 out of 5]

A little disappointing, I’m afraid. I was expecting something more substantial in terms of solutions, rather than the same battered overly dense diagnoses of doom.

[The Link · Rating 1 out of 5]

Disappointing read. Lots of arguments, little strategy.