This is an important
and interesting book that covers a lot of ground in a succinct and
clear way. It explains a lot about how the world of finance works and
suggests some ways in which activists can take it on. If you know
nothing about finance and financial markets you should definitely
read it.
If you are looking for
a rant about the iniquities of global finance then look elsewhere.
Scott has set out to do something different in this book. As well as
an account of how finance works (rather than a critique of how it
doesn't), it is also an exploration of the possibilities to act on
the financial system – both through disruption and also through the
creation of positive alternatives and exploitation of those spaces
that do exist for creativity.
For me, I'd have
preferred a little more of the critique, although I accept that this
would have been hard in a short, focused book – and I acknowledge
that there are plenty of other books that cover this ground. Scott is
strong on the rationale for the whole edifice of derivatives, hedge
funds and so on, and I'd have liked him to apply his strong facility
for clear explanation to the irrationality – the short-termism, the
way it necessarily drives projects which wreck the planet, the
corruption...(I'd have preferred if he'd dropped the references to
'gonzo' engagement, which didn't really work for me).
A more serious issue is
about the whole notion of 'engagement' with the world of finance.
'Engagement' has two separate, almost opposite meanings; you engage
with the enemy by fighting against it, and you engage with something
else as an alternative to fighting against it – 'constructive
engagement', in the language of the diplomats. There is a sense in
which Scott obfuscates the difference between the two meanings; are
we engaging with the world of finance to educate our side as to how
it works and what's wrong with it, or because we think it is actually
susceptible to influence and capable of change so as to not be evil?
There is a similar
issue at the heart of the alternative financial models and entities
that he discusses, in what for me was easily the best and most useful
part of the book. Unlike the Bolshevik tradition, which argues that
nothing much useful can be done until capitalism has been overthrown,
and unlike the social democratic tradition which argues that
capitalism can be reformed bit by bit until it will no longer be
capitalism, the anarchist and syndicalist traditions thought that it
was worth creating pre-figurative institutions so as to 'build the
new world within the shell of the old'. It's a lovely image, and it's
hard to resist the appeal of the idea; why not make things now that
are harbingers of the world we want to make, and at the same time
create something that is worthwhile in itself? The book has lots of
examples of projects in this spirit, and Scott's blog (Suitpossum)
has even more. They are inspirations and models, and they deserve the
attention he gives them.
That said, it's
important to realise that this path, as much as the other two, is
strewn with the corpses of failures – the co-ops that went bust
through incompetence, the union-owned enterprises that turned out to
be no better as employers than their capitalist counterparts, and so
on. Each of these failures affects not only the people involved, but
all those who were inspired and believed, and who learned that
nothing can be changed. For some people – especially those who work
in start-ups – failures are as valuable as successes, because you
learn so much from them. But social movements are not venture
capitalists, and they can't afford so many failures if they are going
to keep activists and others involved. Campaigners need a string of
little victories, no matter how small, to keep the troops motivated.
But this is
nevertheless a great book, with a great set of references and further
reading. More people on the anti-capitalist left need to involve
themselves in what finance is like, if only to answer the argument
that this is the only way that a complex technological and economic
system can be organised.
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