Capitalism as Robbery
Book review

Williams, Charles
http://www.solidarity-us.org/site/node/4425
Date Written:  2015-05-01
Year Published:  2015
Resource Type:  Article
Cx Number:  CX20958

Review of Peter Linebaugh's 'The Commons, Enclosures, and Resistance."

Abstract: 
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Excerpt:

While much of the analysis in Stop, Thief! similarly concerns 18th and 19th century struggles to defend the commons against expropriation in Europe (mainly the United Kingdom) and the United States, Linebaugh leaves no doubt of the connection between these historical acts of theft and resistance and our present global crisis.

As he states in the introduction, "I wrote Stop, Thief! to join the alarm against neoliberalism which steals our land, our lives, and the labor of those preceding us."

The book accordingly begins with two short chapters outlining some principles and practices of the commons and "commoning" as still vibrant possibilities to which we might return in the face of contemporary privatization. This may typically bring to mind shared land resources governed by local community customs and a spirit of mutual well-being.
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