John Holloway

Creating commonwealth and cracking capitalism: a cross-reading (Part II) - John Holloway, Michael Hardt.

What follows is the latter half of a two-part exchange between the authors regarding some common themes raised in their work. For part 1 see issue 14.

Originally published in September 2012.

June 2011

Dear John,

The right to be lazy - John Holloway

At the annual Left forum in New York in March, autonomist Marxist John Holloway spoke of the need to break away from capitalist social relations in the here and now. This audio from Pacifica Radio's "Against the Grain" also includes an introduction by Sasha Lilley and other speeches by Elaine Bernard, Arun Gupta and Chris Hedges.

Listen here.

State and Capital: A Marxist Debate - John Holloway & Sol Picciotto

First published in 1979, this books contains a collection of texts from the German 'state derivation' debate, with an introductory essay by John Holloway and Sol Picciotto.

Greece shows us how to protest against a failed system - John Holloway

Submitted by Mark. on Feb 18 2012 12:15

Autonomist Marxist John Holloway writes in praise of the reaction of the working class in Greece against the imposition of austerity measures.

I do not like violence. I do not think that very much is gained by burning banks and smashing windows. And yet I feel a surge of pleasure when I see the reaction in Athens and the other cities in Greece to the acceptance by the Greek parliament of the measures imposed by the European Union.

The abyss opens: The rise and fall of Keynesianism - John Holloway

The state of the world economy is proving John Maynard Keynes right in his claim that capitalism requires significant state spending to prosper.

[b] This article, in the autonomist Marxist tradition, shows how the capitalist class were only able to implement Keynes's policies in the context of the Russian revolution and World War Two. Then, a mere 20 years later, they were forced to retreat from Keynesianism in the face of the workers' revolts of the 1960s and 1970s.

An interview with John Holloway

Shift magazine interview John Holloway, author of Crack Capitalism and Change the World Without Taking Power on the UK riots, anti-austerity stuggles, the Arab spring and more. Originally published in September 2011.

[b]You write in the tradition of autonomist Marxist thought, locating the anti-capitalist struggle at the level of every day life. How were these ideas developed? Starting with a brief outline of the state derivation debate, what was this a reaction against?

Clock time and life-time saving

Submitted by The Free Association on Nov 3 2011 00:00

The clock, not the steam engine, is the key-machine of the modern industrial age. (Lewis Mumford)

During the Paris Commune, in all corners of the city … there were people shooting at the clocks … (Walter Benjamin)

In, against and beyond labour - Interview with John Holloway

Gordon Asher, Leigh French, Neil Gray in an exchange with John Holloway for the Variant paper.

11. Holloway’s work has become well known in and beyond activist circles since Change the World Without Taking Power (2002)2 was published and widely read. This intentional popularisation has, arguably, tended to obscure Holloway’s previous work while drawing strength from it.

  • 1. This exchange with John Holloway follows on from our engagement with his most recent work, Crack Capitalism (2010)

Change the World Without Taking Power? Or Take Power to Change the World? A Debate on Strategies on How to Build Another World

In this pamphlet compiled by the international Institute for Research and Education (IIRE), critics respond to John Holloway's Change the World Without Taking Power, and Holloway responds in turn.

Crack capitalism - John Holloway

Holloway argues for change through the expansion and multiplication of 'cracks' in the capitalist system, where human activity proceeds to a different logic to that of capital.

Pluto Press, 2010.