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The Embrace of Capital: Capitalism from the Inside
The "spectre of communism" which Karl Marx confidently evoked in 1848 is now nothing more than a ghostly and ghastly nightmare, without form or substance. This is because working people have developed a love-hate relationship with capitalism. They hate insecurity, inequality, and greed, and love civic and political freedom. They love mass consumption, and accept the logic of commerce. Barreling along through wars, revolutions, epidemics, and crises of all sorts, working people in their millions have consistently dumfounded and dismayed the left, by their refusal to countenance any alternative to the capitalist mode of life. We have to Is it possible to reverse this reality, and once again talk of the necessity of communism?
- GenresPolitics
192 pages, Paperback
Published May 1, 2022
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Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review
March 2, 2024
If you're a leftist who loves a fun left-on-left critique, this book is a nice quick read. The author attempts to diagnose why leftist politics (particularly socialism/communism) are so unpopular with the actual working people that said political paradigms ostensibly empower. How come workers aren't all flocking to socialist rallies? Why do they keep buying stupid consumer goods? Why do they approve of the police, that ruthless tool of state-sanctioned violence? Why don't they want to take over their workplaces, or at least form unions? Are working people just brainwashed or stupid?
The Embrace of Capitalism attempts to (briefly) answer these questions and articulate a vision for why, despite all the bullshit, capitalism is still so tenaciously appealing to most people. I enjoyed the experience of reading this book: the tone is approachable, lively, and conversational. And the author does a decent job of spelling out why leftists come off as scolding and elitist, why the typical Marxist framework of class struggle and exploitation is the wrong lens through which to look at the world, and working people are generally indifferent to left politics.
That said, as I was reading this book, I kept wanting to ask the author "Okay, then why exactly are you a leftist then?" He critiques the left so relentlessly that I began to wonder if he had any faith in the left's vision for a better world at all. This book is meant as a criticism of the left, but it lacks any compelling vision for where the left should go from here, or what it should do about the fact that socialism, communism, and anarchism are deeply unpopular with most people.
I would have liked the author to provide a prescriptive vision of what leftists should do in the future, not just a snarky diagnosis of problems. This is especially ironic because the book's central thesis is that the left lacks a coherent vision of both present problems and a positive future that actually resonates with working people. Okay, Don, fair enough, but it seems like you don't have one either. If the author does have such a vision, it would have been nice to read about it.
I like this author's writing style a lot, and I respect his willingness to hold a mirror up to his own beliefs and political assumptions. This book definitely made me take a hard look at what I believe and why. But it felt like only half a book, and I'd very much like to read a fuller account of how the left should move forward.
The Embrace of Capitalism attempts to (briefly) answer these questions and articulate a vision for why, despite all the bullshit, capitalism is still so tenaciously appealing to most people. I enjoyed the experience of reading this book: the tone is approachable, lively, and conversational. And the author does a decent job of spelling out why leftists come off as scolding and elitist, why the typical Marxist framework of class struggle and exploitation is the wrong lens through which to look at the world, and working people are generally indifferent to left politics.
That said, as I was reading this book, I kept wanting to ask the author "Okay, then why exactly are you a leftist then?" He critiques the left so relentlessly that I began to wonder if he had any faith in the left's vision for a better world at all. This book is meant as a criticism of the left, but it lacks any compelling vision for where the left should go from here, or what it should do about the fact that socialism, communism, and anarchism are deeply unpopular with most people.
I would have liked the author to provide a prescriptive vision of what leftists should do in the future, not just a snarky diagnosis of problems. This is especially ironic because the book's central thesis is that the left lacks a coherent vision of both present problems and a positive future that actually resonates with working people. Okay, Don, fair enough, but it seems like you don't have one either. If the author does have such a vision, it would have been nice to read about it.
I like this author's writing style a lot, and I respect his willingness to hold a mirror up to his own beliefs and political assumptions. This book definitely made me take a hard look at what I believe and why. But it felt like only half a book, and I'd very much like to read a fuller account of how the left should move forward.
Displaying 1 - 1 of 1 review