Coming Revolution, The
by Ben Reynolds

A technological revolution is driving capitalism toward crisis and collapse – can our society evolve in time to rescue the future?

A technological revolution is driving capitalism toward crisis and collapse. Can our society evolve in time to rescue the future?

Radical advances in automation, robotics, and computer technology have thrown millions out of work and will only continue to do so in the years to come. At the same time, cheap, individually-accessible machines will wrestle for primacy with both gleaming highly-automated factories and sweatshops alike, ultimately eroding the dominance of industrial production. Economic growth is slowing down, and it is not going to speed up again. The pressures fueling today's global unrest will not go away and are only going to get worse as wages stagnate in many countries, solid employment becomes harder to find, and cuts to social benefits continue. Competing radical and reactionary ideologies will clash as political consensus crumbles and the world's peoples search for answers to these challenges. In its opening decades, the 21st will be a century of war and revolution. By the end of the 21st century, capitalism will be consigned to the history books. Despite the seeming darkness of our era, our future is filled with incredible possibility. If working people join together, we can create a world of freedom, beauty, and abundance, where poverty and tyranny are merely distant memories for our grandchildren. This is the story of The Coming Revolution.

Reviews:
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. Thorough and detailed history of capitalism and predictions for its (lack of a) future. Convincing and compelling, particularly in its discussions of the impact of technology. Worth your time. ~ Michael J (Educator) , NetGalley

What is encouraging about books such as Reynolds’ is that they represent a return to discussing a society without production for sale, measurement by labour time, and value, as a practical possibility opened up by the continuing development and application of science and technology to production. ~ Adam Buick, https://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2019/no-1376-april-2019/is-capitalism-collapsing/

Reynolds offers the first complete hypothesis for the malady of inflation that swept post-World War II capitalism, based solely on the premises of Marx’s labor theory of value. This is a remarkable achievement in its own right and one deserving of praise for Reynolds work... Reynolds' book thus calls for a complete re-evaluation of the role of the state in post-war capitalism. ~ Jehu Eaves, https://therealmovement.wordpress.com/2018/07/20/the-coming-apocalypse-ben-reynolds-explains-why-wage-labor-has-no-future/

The social and economic explanations of how we got here especially regarding the industrial revolution and the Great Recession are great. ~ Diane Hernandez , dianereviewsbooks.com

A well-written history and projection of capitalism and hope for the future without revolution. ~ Joseph Spuckler, https://evilcyclist.wordpress.com/2018/05/27/book-review-the-coming-revolution-capitalism-in-the-21st-century/

This release from Zero Books has an impressively large scope despite the time-specific title. In this sense, it is a remarkable exercise in Marxist methodology. Over thirteen relatively short chapters, Reynolds manages to cover the way the early printing press transformed the European production model, how twentieth-century automation affected labour around the world, outline a radical socialist ecology, concisely analyse the strengths and weakness of ‘really existing socialist’ projects, propose a model for a revolutionary future, and more.

In many ways, this book reveals itself to be a handbook for Marxists in the twenty-first century in the way it integrates an understanding of the economic forces of the past with an analysis of the present situation and a rallying call for a truly revolutionary approach to the future. ~ Counterfire, https://www.counterfire.org/articles/book-reviews/20746-the-coming-revolution-book-review

Tracing developments and revolutions through time, author Ben Reynolds shows he has done his citational homework. I recommended pairing this book with Kuhn’s work on paradigms. ~ JD De hart, NetGalley