Capitalism and Its Alternatives 

by Chris Rogers

(Zed Press, £14.99)

IN THIS book Chris Rogers attempts to describe how contemporary capitalism is inevitably crisis-ridden and advocates alternatives. As such it provides a good introduction to political economy and Rogers summarises much interesting material, some of which will be new to readers.

Yet the book’s concision — it’s a mere 170 pages — means that many important topics, such as the ecological ill-effects of capitalism, are ignored and the discussion of Marx’s conception of crisis is far from exhaustive. 

While Rogers is clear in his wish to end capitalism, his perspective — via the autonomist Marxism of John Holloway — seems inadequate for the task.

He does however provide a very solid critique of attempts to build a reformist anti-capitalism using the state and revolutionary Leninism and I’d concur that an alternative to capitalism must be a process not an outcome or a utopia. 

We will have to create something that works without crisis, yet the alternative of a bottom-up and apparently spontaneous movement is not without flaws. 

Rogers is inspired, like Holloway, by the Mexican Zapatistas who built their own self-organised community rather than seeking to become an electoral alternative in taking over the Mexican state. 

Yet one thinks of Venezuela, Bolivia and Cuba as other alternatives in taking state power and using it to effect change. Those experiences seem to have had more material effect than the Zapatistas, who have become somewhat sidelined and repressed. 

And, thus far, political alternatives seeking to overcome capitalism in a capitalist world where the rich and the powerful retain power have either been marginalised or deformed. Rogers’s criticisms are relevant but his alternative conception, while attractive, seems far too vague.

A more sustained discussion of the weaknesses and strengths of the Latin American left would have been valuable. The sometimes antagonistic relationship between states and social movements should be acknowledged yet Latin American left governments have generally been both propelled by social and indigenous movements providing more space to create communities and experiments.

Anti-capitalism demands communal ownership — the idea that property is either private or state can safely be discarded — and Elinor Ostrom, in Governing the Commons, examined where communal ownership worked and where it failed. 

Far from creating a blueprint, she came up with research that might be used to help the commons work better. While Rogers briefly mentions the latter, he might have benefitted by looking at her work.

Nonetheless, despite these criticisms, few have clear answers to the question of growing alternatives to capitalism. In his clear and cogent book, Rogers makes us think more deeply on how to bring about change. 

In showing that capitalism is a human construct and we humans can build something better, he should be applauded.

Derek Wall