iCommunism
Capitalism promised us shiny things but only communism can deliver them in a different, more liberating, universal and sustainable form.
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Our relationship to consumption is not an easy one. Apart from being self-centred, superficial and narcissistic, the consumer is held responsible for global warming, poverty and now, by binging on easy credit, economic crisis. A straw man has many uses, including being part of the solution by reducing carbon footprints, consuming more ethically and tightening the proverbial belt. iCommunism defends the consumer against the prevailing politics of austerity. It splits the fetish from the commodity fetish by taking the shine away from the commodity now signified in the ubiquitous i of i branded products and transfers it over to communism. With ideology once again alive on the streets of Europe, iCommunism reimagines Herbert Marcuse s 1960s artistic critique of capitalism s repressive performance principle for today s consumer society. Capitalism promised us shiny things but only communism can deliver them in a different, more liberating, universal and sustainable form.
The icon-shattering publishing house, Zero books, added Colin Cremin’s iCommunism to its increasingly impressive list of titles. This is a book that updates Frankfurt School style radicalism for the web 2.0 generation. Breathlessly modernist and radical at the same time, the perfect combination. Jodi Dean’s The Communist Horizon is part of the publisher Verso’s interesting project to reinvent the entire idea of Communism. The academic references are considerable and may put off some readers, yet the purpose is faultless, a wonderful polemic full of both anger and imagination. ~ Mark Perryman, www.socialistunity.com/xmas-books-roundup/
Has neo-liberalism’s bizarre “cultural revolution” finally succeeded? Are we all now but sad facsimiles of the marketplace, the covetous corporation and the latest stupid iWhatever? Cremin’s wonderful book says “NO”, the game isn’t up just yet. If capitalism has become a nasty metaphor for human life itself, then iCommunism paves the way for a joyous rescripting of our worries and obsessions that will make David Cameron and IKEA wish you had never read this book. ~ Peter Fleming, author of Contesting the Corporation and Dead Man Working (with Zero Books).
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