Radical Abundance

A blueprint for escaping capitalism and creating a world of true abundance.

Autorentext

Kai Heron is a political organiser, trade unionist, and Lecturer in Political Ecology at Lancaster University. He is the co-editor of the De Gruyter Degrowth Handbook (2024) and has published widely on the politics of green transitions, political theory, and political economy in academic journals and in popular outlets including New Statesman, Sidecar, Jacobin, e-flux, Rupture, and Spectre. He is a co-director of the action-research organisation Abundance.

Keir Milburn is a writer, researcher, and activist. He has a background as an academic in political economy and organisational theory. He has written over a hundred articles and book chapters in venues ranging from academic journals, such as Urban Studies, to media commentary in outlets such as The Guardian, The Independent, and The Nation. His book Generation Left provoked debate across several countries on generational political divides driven, in part, by generational imbalances in asset ownership. He is co-director of the action-research organisation Abundance.

Bertie Russell is a Research Fellow at the Autonomous University of Barcelona. He is an activist-researcher with a focus on radical municipalism, urban commons, economic democracy, public-common partnerships and co-production. He is co-editor of the forthcoming book Radical Municipalism: The Politics of the Common and the Democratization of Public Services (2026), and co-director of the action-research organisation Abundance.

Klappentext

'Degrowth or ecomodernism? This book offers a compelling alternative. More than a utopian ideal, radical abundance is the guiding principle of a socialist revolution already in action' Kohei Saito, author of Slow Down

'If you're looking for practical steps to a post-capitalist future, don't miss this book' Jason Hickel, author of Less is More

'Rigorously argued and radically hopeful' Grace Blakeley, author of Vulture Capitalism

'Indispensable ... resets the terms of left debate' Jodi Dean, author of Capital's Grave

Capitalism has created a world of bullshit abundance, where we have too much of what we don't need and too little of what we do. Through this system's pursuit of profits, we have been put on a collision course with social and ecological limits that can no longer be ignored.

We need an alternative. We need radical abundance. A world of human and non-human flourishing made possible by democratically planned production. But radical abundance can't just be voted into existence through parliamentary means, it must be made by taking control of our collective reproduction in the here and now. Packed with fascinating research and real-life examples of communal planning and resistance, this book will convince you that a better future is possible, if we want it.

Kai Heron is a political organiser and Lecturer at Lancaster University. He is co-editor of the De Gruyter Degrowth Handbook. Keir Milburn is a writer and activist, the author of Generation Left, and co-presenter of the ACFM podcast for Novara media. Bertie Russell is a Senior Research Fellow at ICTA-UAB. He is co-editor of Radical Municipalism. They are all co-directors of Abundance (in-abundance.org).

Inhalt

List of Figures
Acknowledgements

1. Introduction: From Bullshit Abundance to Radical Abundance
   Part I
2. The Necessity of Transition
3. Instituting Popular Protagonism
4. Denial and Derisking
   Part II
5. Public-Common Partnerships
6. Urban Development
7. Pharmaceuticals
8. Food Systems
9. Conclusion: Futures
   Notes
   Bibliography