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  • He's definitely a communist of some variety. He does good introductions to socialist thought, but that doesn't entail enough specificity to pinpoint his views. (Unless he has blatantly stated his views, maybe someone here knows.)

    • Yeah he strikes me much more as just an academic with a firm grasp of Marxism and economics, he doesn't talk much about the Leninist part of Marxist Leninism, but that's okay because that isn't really his niche, he doesn't really seem like a revolutionary but that is our job. He is certainly great for introducing libs to Marxist concepts though, especially older ones (he's a bit too dry most likely for younger crowds).

  • I think he differs from ML's in that he believes there can be an overthrow of capitalism through worker co-ops. I believe he even talked about going back and analyzing the soviet union and "where they went wrong" as in why it eventually collapsed, and it was something to do with workers not fully controlling the means of production (i may be distorting his point, so dont quote me)

    Regardless, he is a very good educator of marxism.

    • I've never heard him speak on the overthrow of capitalism through co-ops. He's spoken before about how co-ops are preferable and how many Americans have very favorable views about them when certain trigger words are avoided. He's definitely a supporter of co-ops over other models and advocates that they're a way of introducing more socialim-like elements into the economy and American consciousness. But that's all much more nuanced set of takes than "co-ops will overthrow capitalism".

      • He spoke of it in an interview, and I can't remember exactly which one atm. The blurb from his book Democracy at Work echoes this belief (the subtitle is literally "A Cure for Capitalism")

        Capitalism as a system has spawned deepening economic crisis alongside its bought-and-paid-for political establishment. Neither serves the needs of our society. Whether it is secure, well-paid, and meaningful jobs or a sustainable relationship with the natural environment that we depend on, our society is not delivering the results people need and deserve.

        One key cause for this intolerable state of affairs is the lack of genuine democracy in our economy as well as in our politics. The solution requires the institution of genuine economic democracy, starting with workers directing their own workplaces, as the basis for a genuine political democracy.

23 comments