Life without Money

Building Fair and Sustainable Economies

Edited by Anitra Nelson, Frans Timmerman

The money-based global economy is failing. The credit crunch undermined capitalism’s ability to ensure rising incomes and prosperity while market-led attempts to combat climate change are fought tooth and nail by business as environmental crises continue.

We urgently need to combat those who say ‘there is no alternative’ to the current system, but what would an alternative look like? The contributors to Life Without Money argue that it is time radical, non-market models were taken seriously. The book brings together diverse voices presenting strong arguments against our money-based system’s ability to improve lives and prevent environmental disaster. Crucially, it provides a direct strategy for undercutting capitalism by refusing to deal in money, and offers money-free models of governance and collective sufficiency.
 

Contents

• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• List of Boxes
• Abbreviations
1. Use Value and Exchange Value, by Anitra Nelson and Frans Timmerman
Part I: Critiques of Capitalism and Communism
2. Money v. Socialism (Anitra Nelson)
3. Work Refusal and Self-Organisation (Harry Cleaver)
4. Money, Markets and Ecology (John O’Neill)
5. The Value of a Synergistic Economy (Ariel Salleh)
6. A Gift Economy (Terry Leahy)
Part II: Activism and Experiments
7. Non-Market Socialism (Adam Buick)
8. Self-Management and Efficiency (Mihailo Markovi)
9. Labour Credit – Twin Oaks Community
(Kat Kinkade with the Twin Oaks Community)
10. The Money-Free Autonomy of Spanish Squatters (Claudio Cattaneo)
11. Global Strategy: Contract and Converge (Anitra Nelson and Frans Timmerman)
• Notes on Contributors
• Index
 

About the Authors

Anitra Nelson is an Honorary Associate Professor in the School of Global Studies, Social Science and Planning at RMIT University (Australia). She is the author of Marx’s Concept of Money: The God of Commodities (1999) and edited Steering Sustainability in an Urbanizing World: Policy Practice and Performance (2007).

Frans Timmerman has been a socialist faction leader in the Australian Labor Party and political adviser to members of parliament. He edited Free Palestine (1979–1990), published by the General Palestinian Delegation in Australia.