Category Archives: Book reviews

written in 1962 and published in English in 2019 by Versonotes written in 2017 for a grad school comprehensive paper on autonomy Beginning from the premise of labor’s primacy over capital, Tronti analyzes the labor process, class struggle, and wider society through this lens. It culminates in the strategy of refusal, to be organized byContinue reading “Workers and Capital by Mario Tronti”

published in 1981, in English in 1995 by Autonomedianotes written in 2017 for a grad school comprehensive paper on autonomy Fortunati adds a gendered analysis of reproduction to the Marxist understanding of capitalism. She re-formulates the concepts of production, use and exchange value, and variable capital/labor-power, observing them from the perspective of reproduction, and sheContinue reading “The Arcane of Reproduction: Housework, Prostitution, Labor and Capital by Leopoldina Fortunati”

published in 2016 by Oxford University Pressnotes written in 2017 in preparation for a grad school comprehensive paper on social movements McAlevey makes the argument that labor has been on the decline because it has chosen mobilizing over organizing, thereby separating labor from community and social movement organizations. She takes us through a union history,Continue reading “No Shortcuts: Organizing for Power in the New Gilded Age by Jane McAlevey”

published in 1975 by Pluto Pressnotes written in 2017 for a grad school comprehensive paper on social movements Dunayevskaya argues for the primacy of ‘the self-activity of the masses,’ making this the root of her humanist philosophy, her understanding of key Marxist concepts (and the method by which these key concepts were elaborated), and herContinue reading “Marxism and Freedom from 1776 until Today by Raya Dunayevskaya”

published in 2014 by Estampanotes written in 2017 for a grad school comprehensive paper on autonomy Using extensive quotations from primary source interviews, Fernandez explains Zapatista justice in its widest sense, as a practice fundamentally rooted in the collective ownership and work on the land and a practice that is tied to all aspects ofContinue reading “Justicia Autonoma Zapatista by Paula Fernandez”

published in 1980 by St. Martin’s Pressnotes written for a grad school comprehensive paper on social movements Sassoon carries out a close analysis of Gramsci’s notebooks to synthesize his thinking on the party, the nature of the hegemony it’s up against, what revolution should look like, and how the party can be a tool toContinue reading “Gramsci’s Politics, by Anne Showstack Sassoon”

published in 1995 by Women’s Pressnotes written for a grad school comprehensive paper on social movements This is bound to be your definitive reference on questions of revolutionary subjectivity, identity, and the praxis of thinking about these things to make social change. It’s extremely theoretically rich, as she re-orients the identity discussion towards concepts ofContinue reading “Thinking Through: Essays on Feminism, Marxism, and Anti-Racism by Himani Bannerji”

published in 2012 by PM Pressgrad school notes in preparation for a comprehensive paper on autonomy The key concepts Federici elaborates are wages (and their ordering function), reproduction, dispossession, neoliberal globalization, and the commons. Her analysis of globalization and accumulation by dispossession are particularly pertinent, as she shows we can’t understand these without seeing thatContinue reading “Revolution at Point Zero: Housework, Reproduction, and Feminist Struggle, by Silvia Federici”