Reviews for Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today

The average rating for Change the World Without Taking Power: The Meaning of Revolution Today based on 2 reviews is 5 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2012-04-19 00:00:00 Frank Schuncke John Holloway's book for me has joined Silvia Federici's "Caliban and the Witch" and Gabor Mate's "In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts" as the three most ideologically clarifying books i've yet encountered. I led a reading group on this book, and I think it impacted all of us. It's a work of philosophy, for sure, so at times it can be hard to follow (the chapters on "fetishisation" especially). But in essence, Holloway is searching for a theory of social change, and in dissecting the Leninist/state socialist approach, he realizes he must propose an alternative. Before he can do that, he first needs to probe into the deepest questions that most of us try to ignore, about the nature of humanity, the nature of work, capitalism, organization, resistance, etc. In the end, he doesn't come up with any grand new strategy for changing the world, but in asking the right, deep questions, he clears away the cobwebs of revolutionary socialism and gives us tools for creating new strategies in the future. It's a thought-experiment in the true nature and meaning of the world, and if you approach it from that perspective, there's a tremendous amount to be gained.

Review # 2 was written on 2008-11-23 00:00:00 Louie Garza Although the paperback art (featured on this page) is hardly betrays it, this book is a powerful contribution to the discussion of power and social change. Although certainly not removed from the Marxist intellectual lineage, Holloway allows for more time with the more difficult concepts and provides an extensive bibliography to orient the reader towards the origin of his own academic frameworks. If you have a basic understanding of historical /dialectical materialism, class consciousness, and historical actor, you'll be able to certainly work through the text. A deeper knowledge of Adorno&Horkheimer's negative dialectics, the concept of Totality, and various Marxist contemporaries (Gramsci, etc.) will lend itself to less re-reading. The charges of jargon and opacity by other reviewers are certainly not unfounded, however, it has never appeared to me that Holloway has opted to use an intellectually inaccessible description when a simple explanations would suffice and the clarity granted to the reader is well worth opening up a book or two for further comprehension. With all of this said, very few books have confronted my preconceptions about a topic so completely. In all honesty, this book changed my life. The conceptual frameworks I've drawn from the text has provided for a more thorough examination of questions of revolution, structure, capitalism, and violence. I strongly recommends this book to anyone who interested in social change, by reform or revolt. (If you have any questions while reading this text or would just like to speak with someone who has also read the book, feel free to message me!)