The Joy of Revolution

Chapter 1: Some Facts of Life
Utopia or bust
Stalinist “communism” and reformist “socialism” are merely variants of capitalism
Representative democracy versus delegate democracy
Irrationalities of capitalism
Some exemplary modern revolts
Some common objections
Increasing dominance of the spectacle  

Chapter 2: Foreplay
Personal breakthroughs
Critical interventions
Theory versus ideology
Avoiding false choices and elucidating real ones
The insurrectionary style
Radical film
Oppressionism versus playfulness
The Strasbourg scandal
The poverty of electoral politics
Reforms and alternative institutions
Political correctness, or equal opportunity alienation
Drawbacks of moralism and simplistic extremism
Advantages of boldness
Advantages and limits of nonviolence  

Chapter 3: Climaxes
Causes of social breakthroughs
Postwar upheavals
Effervescence of radical situations
Popular self-organization
The situationists in May 1968
Workerism is obsolete, but workers’ position remains pivotal
Wildcats and sitdowns
Consumer strikes
What could have happened in May 1968
Methods of confusion and cooption
Terrorism reinforces the state
The ultimate showdown
Internationalism  

Chapter 4: Rebirth
Utopians fail to envision postrevolutionary diversity
Decentralization and coordination
Safeguards against abuses
Consensus, majority rule and unavoidable hierarchies
Eliminating the roots of war and crime
Abolishing money
Absurdity of most present-day labor
Transforming work into play
Technophobic objections
Ecological issues
The blossoming of free communities
More interesting problems

Table of  contents of “The Joy of Revolution,” first published in Public Secrets: Collected Skirmishes of Ken Knabb (1997).

No copyright.