Exodus: General Idea of the Revolution in the XXI Century by Kevin Carson, 2021

Intro: On the whole, this is a typical Carson book. Like all my books since Studies in Mutualist Political Economy, it’s to a large extent a direct outgrowth of my earlier books insofar as it addresses in depth issues which I was limited to treating on only in passing in the previous books. In this case, Exodus applies the findings of The Homebrew Industrial Revolution regarding micromanufacturing technology and ephemeralization, and those concerning networked communications and stigmergic organization in The Desktop Regulatory State, to the questions of political organization entailed in post-capitalist transition (post-capitalism).

Table of Contents

Part One: Background

Chapter One: The Age of Mass and Maneuver

• I. A Conflict of Visions
• II. The Triumph of Mass in the Old Left
• III. The Assault on Working Class Agency
• IV. Workerism/Laborism

Chapter Two: Transition

• I. Drastic Reductions in Necessary Outlays for the Means of Production
• II. The Network Revolution and the Imploding Cost of Coordination
• III. The Impotence of Enforcement, and Superiority of Circumvention (Route-Around) to Resistance
• IV. Superior General Efficiency and Low Overhead
• V. Conclusion

Part Two. The Age of Exodus

Chapter Three: Horizontalism and Self-Activity Over Vanguard Institutions

• Introduction
• I. The New Left
• II. Autonomism
• III. The 1968 Movements and the Transition to Horizontalist Praxis
• IV. The Post-1994 Movements

Chapter Four: The Abandonment of Workerism

• I. The Limited Relevance of Proletarianism in the Mass Production Age
• II. Technology and the Declining Relevance of Proletarianism
• III The Abandonment of Proletarianism by the New Left
• IV. The Abandonment of Workerism in Praxis

Chapter Five: Evolutionary Transition Models

• Introduction and Note on Terminology
• I. Comparison to Previous Systemic Transitions
• II. The Nature of Post-Capitalist Transition

Chapter Six: Interstitial Development and Exodus over Insurrection

• Introduction
• I. The Split Within Autonomism
• II. The Shift From the Factory to Society as the Main Locus of Productivity
• III. Negri et al vs. the Commons (Antonio Negri)
• IV. Theoretical Implications

Chapter Seven: Interstitial Development: Practical Issues

• I. Post-1968 (-1994?) Movements
• II. Strategy

Chapter Eight: Interstitial Development: Engagement With the State

Part Three. Seeds beneath the Snow

Chapter Nine: The Commons Sector and the Theory of Municipalism

• Introduction
• I. The Growth of the Commons Sector As a Lifeline
• II. Municipalism: The City as Commons and Platform

Chapter Ten: Municipalism: Local Case Studies

• I. North America
• II. Europe

Chapter Eleven: Municipalism: Building Blocks

Chapter Twelve: The Global South and Federation

• I. Commons-Based Economies in the Global South
• II. Federation

Backmatter

Bibliography

About the Author