[P2P-F] [NetworkedLabour] A note on the post-capitalist strategy of the P2P Foundation

[Kevin Carson]

The technologies I'm thinking of are the kinds of open-source
micromanufacturing machine tools, smelting furnaces etc. being developed by
groups like Open Source Ecology, and tabletop CNC machinery being developed
by the open hardware community more generally; open-source machinery like
the tractors, compressed earth block machines, sawmills and so forth also
being developed by OSE; small-scale intensive food production techniques
like Permaculture; and so on.

I don't question that there are still many bottleneck technologies that
require large scale and capital outlay -- microprocessors probably the most
significant.

Railroads are another bottleneck industry.

I don't think electrical power generation is so much -- generating
capability can be pretty well dispersed. And if photovoltaic generators
still require larger, more capital-intensive facilities to produce, other
kinds of renewable power -- wind, or using solar reflectors as heat source
for a steam-powered generator -- are producible at the local level. I may
be wrong --  I'm a layman on computer hardware issues -- but I think the
hosting capability of server farms can be pretty widely distributed among
many small facilities over a large area.

But to my mind the most important thing is that the *preponderance* of
small-scale means of production for local consumption means a much smaller
portion of the economy than in the past, and probably a much smaller
portion in the near future than at present, will be critical bottlenecks
subject to capitalist control.

And the fewer the bottlenecks, and the less time-sensitive they are (as a
result of the increasing availability of expedients like reprogrammable
micro-chips, recycling old hardware for functions where lower levels of
processing capacity are sufficient, increasing cradle-to-cradle recycling
of materials in landfills using local processing facilities like
mini-mills, and less dependance on long-distance transportation in general
thanks to economic relocalization), the more slack/insulation local
economies will have for riding out periods of impasse before they actually
have to be restocked from the remaining bottlenecks. That means the
bottlenecks, while still remaining, will provide a lot less leverage.

Not saying there won't be a final phase of violence at the last stage of
the transition as the most critical remaining centralized stuff changes
hands, but it will probably be a lot smaller in scale and with a vastly
shifted correlation of forces -- a mopping-up operation against
capitalist-state forces that have already been strategically outmaneuvered.

On Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 6:25 AM, Jakob Rigi <RigiJ at ceu.edu> wrote:

> Firs, what are these technologies? (I am just curious and do not question
> the possibility of such technologies).
>
> Second, what do we do with satellites-we need them for communication- and
> other communication infrastructure, trains, railways, ships, ports,
> aeroplanes,   airports,  power plants that produce electricity, computing
> server farms, etc.
>
>
> For peer production becoming the dominant mode of production these
> infrastructures along the nature-earth must be transformed into universal
> commons of humanity.  Therefore we need to expropriate capitalists.
>
> Jakob
>
>
> ------------------------------
> *From:* NetworkedLabour <networkedlabour-bounces at lists.contrast.org> on
> behalf of Kevin Carson <free.market.anticapitalist at gmail.com>
> *Sent:* 17 June 2016 11:54
> *To:* Jakob Rigi
> *Cc:* networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org; p2p-foundation
> *Subject:* Re: [NetworkedLabour] A note on the post-capitalist strategy
> of the P2P Foundation
>
> The autonomist argument is that new, radically cheapening and
> ephemeral production technologies are rendering accumulation and
> capital-intensiveness increasingly irrelevant, so that human social
> relationships are replacing costly physical capital as a source of
> productivity. Technologies like small-scale open-source CNC machinery,
> Permaculture, etc., are making it possible to shift a growing share of
> production into the social or informal sphere of production for use or
> production by worker cooperatives, with radically smaller capital
> outlays than older models of production. So Exodus becomes a viable
> alternative to direct assault aimed at seizing control of the old
> hierarchies. Bypass them and let them rot instead.
>
> On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 at 10:25 AM, Michel Bauwens
> <michel at p2pfoundation.net> wrote:
> > Jakob,
> >
> > capitalism can only reproduce itself through commodity labor and workers
> as
> > consumers, this gives us powerful leverage.
> >
> > if we don't have the power, nor a social consensus to 'expropriate', the
> > building of counter-hegemonic power is essential to get there ... merely
> > mobilizing counter-power within the capitalist system, i.e. dependent
> labor,
> > has not worked for 200 years, and I see few signs that it can. The
> diverse
> > forms of property that exist, and protected by the state, can be used by
> > commoners to mutualize capital and means of production. Obviously,
> powerful
> > social movements can set rules to limit monopolistic control of
> resources,
> > but then you still have to deal with the impotence of nations to do this,
> > and they most likely will smash you, as they are doing with greece and
> > venezuela and elsewhere. This brings to the fore the other aspect of our
> > strategy, which is to built counter-hegemonic power at the global level.
> > Just screaming "I hate capitalism and I will smash you" is not going to
> do
> > it.
> >
> > The strategy we describe worked for capital and for all the previous
> > transitions (read Karatini), while the marxist strategy of taking power
> and
> > change everything once we have that power, has been a dismal failure. So
> I
> > think that continuing in that vein after 200 years of failure, that is
> the
> > wishful thinking. It hasn't worked for previous transitions, and isn't
> > working for this transition, so what is your evidence ? Our strategy is
> > based on the necessary prefigurative construction of counter-power,
> which is
> > how past transitions were successful
> >
> > Michel
> >
> >
> >
> > On Wed, Jun 15, 2016 at 8:56 PM, Jakob Rigi <RigiJ at ceu.edu> wrote:
> >>
> >> Mitchel
> >>
> >> The idea that commoners and cooperative worker can challenge capitalism
> by
> >> working for themselves and make the state their partner is a wishful
> >> fantasy- is not  realisable.
> >>
> >> Capitalism is in the first place  the private ownership in means of
> >> production. And the state is in the first place the power and
> institutions
> >> that protect the private property in means of production.
> >>
> >> No cooperative production can become the dominant mode of production
> >> unless land and other  strategic means of productions have been
> transformed
> >> into commons.
> >>
> >> Do you agree with this statement? If not what are your counter argument?
> >>
> >>
> >> If yes, then how land other strategic means of production can be
> >> transformed into commons?
> >>
> >> I argue that this require expropriating capitalists. If you disagree,
> what
> >> are your counter arguments?
> >>
> >> If you agree, then,  making the production of commons the dominant mode
> of
> >> production requires confronting the sate not becoming its partner.
> >> Capitalist did not needed  always to expropriate the feudal landowners
> since
> >> the latter started to lease their land to capitalists. But, capitalists
> >> expropriated small owners the means of production-the so called
> primitive
> >> accumulation. The emerging Feudal class did not expropriate  the slave
> >> owners since salve owners themselves became feudals. But, capitalist
> having
> >> expropriated the majority of the population and thereby have
> monopolised the
> >> strategic means of production. Transferring these means of production
> to the
> >> majority, meaning making them universal commons of humanity requires
> >> expropriating capitalists. But, state would not allow us to do that. It
> will
> >> tell you that capitalist ownership is guaranteed by the law. And the
> law is
> >> the holiest of the holy. We-the state- will not permit anyone to break
> the
> >> law even if it will be necessary to shed blood.  Our monopoly right our
> >> violence is here to protect capitalist property in means of production .
> >>
> >> So the commoners mus confront such a state and smash at least its
> coercive
> >> and violent institutions and expropriate the expropriators for the
> benefit
> >> of the humanity as whole and transform their property int universal
> commons.
> >>
> >>
> >> Jakob
> >>
> >> Jakob
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >>
> >> ________________________________
> >> From: NetworkedLabour <networkedlabour-bounces at lists.contrast.org> on
> >> behalf of Orsan Senalp <orsan1234 at gmail.com>
> >> Sent: 15 June 2016 10:47
> >> To: Jakob Rigi; Michel Bauwens
> >> Cc: Commoning; networkedlabour at lists.contrast.org; p2p-foundation
> >> Subject: Re: [NetworkedLabour] A note on the post-capitalist strategy of
> >> the P2P Foundation
> >>
> >> There are many overlapping aspect between Cox, and Van Der Pijl's
> >> 'transnational historical materialist' analysis and what you have put
> >> together Michel.So I share the vision, I only would add a direct-action,
> >> political confrontation axe which needs to be built based on what can be
> >> imagined as 'peer to peer social network unionism'. As supportive
> element in
> >> terms of organizing power, and broader alliance building, hence
> >> collectivization of working alternatives and to defend them against
> ruling
> >> class violence and use of force. Not to precede what you suggest or to
> >> replace it but simultaneously empower the counter hegemonic
> transnational
> >> trinity (of as in Cox Institutons-material capabilities-ideas /
> >> capital-state-nation).
> >>
> >> Orsan
> >>
> >>
> >> On 15 Jun 2016, at 03:56, Michel Bauwens <michel at p2pfoundation.net>
> wrote:
> >>
> >> some of you may be interested in this short note:
> >>
> >>
> >> Post-Capitalist Strategy of the P2P Foundation
> >>
> >>
> >> Discussion[edit]
> >>
> >> Michel Bauwens:
> >>
> >> "A note on the post-capitalist strategy of the P2P Foundation
> >>
> >> Following Kojin Karatini, we agree that the present system is based on a
> >> trinity of capital-state-nation, which represents an integration of
> three
> >> modes of exchange. Capital represents a particular market form based on
> the
> >> endless accumulation of capital, the state is the entity that keeps the
> >> system together through coercion, law and redistribution (Karatini calls
> >> this function ‘rule and protect’), and the nation is the ‘imagined
> >> community’ that is the locus of the survival of community and
> reciprocity. A
> >> post-capitalist strategy must necessarily overcome all three in a new
> >> integration.
> >>
> >> Overcoming the capitalist form of the market, means interfering in
> capital
> >> accumulation. This can and must be done in two ways. First of all, the
> >> capitalist market requires labor as a commodity, and therefore,
> overcoming
> >> capitalism means refusing to work for capitalism as commodity labor.
> Hence
> >> the stress on open cooperativism, i.e. commoners work for themselves, in
> >> democratic associations and create autonomous livelihoods around our
> >> commons, protected from value capture through membranes such as
> >> reciprocity-based licenses. Measures like the basic income also
> >> substantially remove the compulsion for workers to have to sell their
> labor
> >> power, and would strengthen the capacity to create alternative economic
> >> entities. However, we must proceed with the reality that exists today,
> and
> >> create our own funding and resource allocation mechanisms. The second
> way is
> >> to withdraw from capitalism and capital accumulation is by removing our
> >> cooperation as consumers. Without workers as producers and workers as
> >> consumers, there can be no reproduction of capital. The latter means the
> >> invention and creation of new forms of consumption that are derived
> from the
> >> creation of open cooperatives. Workers mutualize their consumption in
> pooled
> >> market forms such as community-supported agriculture and the like. To
> the
> >> degree that we systematically organize new provisioning and consumption
> >> systems, outside of the sphere of capital, we undermine the
> reproduction of
> >> capital and capital accumulation. In addition, we create ‘transvestment’
> >> vehicles, which allow the acceptance of capital, as disciplined by the
> new
> >> commons and market forms that we develop through peer production, this
> >> creates a flow of value from the system of capital to the system of the
> >> commons economy. Faced with a crisis of capital accumulation, it is
> entirely
> >> realistic to expect a stream of value which seeks a place in the commons
> >> economy. Instead of the cooptation of the commons economy by capital,
> in the
> >> form of the netarchical capitalist platforms which capture value from
> the
> >> commons, we coopt capital inside the commons, and subject it to its
> rules.
> >>
> >>
> >> I believe we can achieve similar effects with the state. Our strategy
> for
> >> a ‘partner state’ is to ‘commonify’ the state. We strive to transform
> state
> >> functions so that they actually empower and enable the autonomy of the
> >> citizens as individuals and groups, to create common resources, instead
> of
> >> being ‘consumers’ of state services. We abolish the separation of the
> state
> >> from the population by increasing democratic and participatory
> >> decision-making. We consider the public service as a commons, giving
> every
> >> citizen and resident the right to work in the commonified public
> services.
> >> But we don’t ‘withdraw’ completely from the state because we need common
> >> good institutions for everyone in a given territory, which creates equal
> >> capacities for every citizen to contribute to the commons and the
> ethical
> >> market organizations.
> >>
> >>
> >> In another article we have argued that the capital-state-nation trinity
> is
> >> no longer able to balance global capitalism, because it has created a
> very
> >> powerful transnational financial class, which is able to move resources
> >> globally and discipline the state and the nations that dare rebalance
> it.
> >> Our answer is to create trans-local and trans-national civic and
> economic
> >> entities that can eventually rebalance and counter the power of the
> >> transnational capitalist class. This is realistic because peer
> production
> >> technologies create global open design communities that mutualize
> knowledge
> >> on a global scale, and because we can create global and ethical market
> >> organizations around them. Even as we produce locally, we organize
> >> trans-local productive communities. These trans-local productive
> communities
> >> are no longer bound by the nation-state and project and require forms of
> >> governance that can operate on the global scale. In this way, they also
> >> transcend the power of the nation-state. As we explained in our strategy
> >> regarding the global capitalist market, these forces can operate
> against the
> >> accumulation of capital at the global level, and create global
> >> counter-hegemonic power. In all likelihood, this will create global
> >> governance mechanisms and institutions that are no longer
> inter-national,
> >> but trans-national, but are not transnational capitalism.
> >>
> >> In conclusion, our aim is to replace the capital-state-nation trinity,
> >> which is no longer functioning, and to avoid global domination of
> private
> >> capital, by creating a new integrative trinity, Commons-Ethical Market-
> >> Partner State, that is not confined to the nation-state level, but can
> >> operate trans-nationally and transcend the older and dysfunctional
> trinity.
> >> Through these processes, citizens develop cosmopolitan subjectivities
> but
> >> also allegiance to local and trans-national commons-oriented
> communities of
> >> value creation and value distribution."
> >>
> >>
> >> --
> >> Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at:
> >> http://commonstransition.org
> Commons Transition - Commons TransitionCommons Transition
> <http://commonstransition.org/>
> commonstransition.org
> Commons Transition showcases practical experiences and policy proposals
> for a more humane and environmentally grounded mode of societal
> organization.
>
>
> >>
> >> P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  -
> http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
> >>
> >> Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
> >>
> >> #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
> >>
> >> _______________________________________________
> >> NetworkedLabour mailing list
> >> NetworkedLabour at lists.contrast.org
> >> http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour
> >
> >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at:
> http://commonstransition.org
> >
> > P2P Foundation: http://p2pfoundation.net  -
> http://blog.p2pfoundation.net
> >
> > Updates: http://twitter.com/mbauwens; http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens
> >
> > #82 on the (En)Rich list: http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > NetworkedLabour mailing list
> > NetworkedLabour at lists.contrast.org
> > http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour
> >
>
>
>
> --
> Kevin Carson
> Senior Fellow, Karl Hess Scholar in Social Theory
> Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org
>
> "You have no authority that we are bound to respect" -- John Perry Barlow
> "We are legion. We never forgive. We never forget. Expect us" -- Anonymous
>
> Homebrew Industrial Revolution:  A Low-Overhead Manifesto
> http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com
> Desktop Regulatory State http://desktopregulatorystate.wordpress.com
> _______________________________________________
> NetworkedLabour mailing list
> NetworkedLabour at lists.contrast.org
> http://lists.contrast.org/mailman/listinfo/networkedlabour
>



-- 
Kevin Carson
Senior Fellow, Karl Hess Scholar in Social Theory
Center for a Stateless Society http://c4ss.org

"You have no authority that we are bound to respect" -- John Perry Barlow
"We are legion. We never forgive. We never forget. Expect us" -- Anonymous

Homebrew Industrial Revolution:  A Low-Overhead Manifesto
http://homebrewindustrialrevolution.wordpress.com
Desktop Regulatory State http://desktopregulatorystate.wordpress.com
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