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A review by cpbindel
Everything for Everyone: The Radical Tradition That Is Shaping the Next Economy by Nathan Schneider
5.0
If you’re looking for a how to manual, this book may disappoint. If you’re seeking clear chapters that break down specific categories of co-ops, it may also slip away from you. (Many parts of chapters were reconfigured from the author’s previous essays). Also, if you’re looking for a formula or model to save you from late capitalism, keep praying.
This book becomes more valuable the deeper you’re willing to go into the work and relationships of cooperatives yourself.
Its strength is in cataloguing the many far flung iterations of cooperative thought at this moment, from New Zealand tech companies sharing governance and income, to Catalonian anarchists using their own cryptocurrency, from surprise political wins in Jackson and Boulder, in anarcho-communalist insurgents in Syria, to conservatively maintained power grids in rural America, to pragmatic social philosophers in Bologna.
This is a vibrant photo album, a yearbook for the co-op now. It opens many conversations about power, data and equity, yet offers few prescriptions.
The overall thrust? There are many alternatives to the dominant economy. Realizing them is an act of love and devotion, always iterative, never complete. To outsiders, it might border on religious behavior—a different way of life, seemingly more difficult. To those engaged in the projects, they feel alive, pulsing, new.
There’s another thread of co-ops learning from other co-ops or sectors thinking/acting laterally. The book doesn’t explore how this might happen in detail, but it does provide many entry points into the cooperative world, for those willing to put in the work.
This book becomes more valuable the deeper you’re willing to go into the work and relationships of cooperatives yourself.
Its strength is in cataloguing the many far flung iterations of cooperative thought at this moment, from New Zealand tech companies sharing governance and income, to Catalonian anarchists using their own cryptocurrency, from surprise political wins in Jackson and Boulder, in anarcho-communalist insurgents in Syria, to conservatively maintained power grids in rural America, to pragmatic social philosophers in Bologna.
This is a vibrant photo album, a yearbook for the co-op now. It opens many conversations about power, data and equity, yet offers few prescriptions.
The overall thrust? There are many alternatives to the dominant economy. Realizing them is an act of love and devotion, always iterative, never complete. To outsiders, it might border on religious behavior—a different way of life, seemingly more difficult. To those engaged in the projects, they feel alive, pulsing, new.
There’s another thread of co-ops learning from other co-ops or sectors thinking/acting laterally. The book doesn’t explore how this might happen in detail, but it does provide many entry points into the cooperative world, for those willing to put in the work.