Paths to Paradise

Book excerpt: We are moving into a world where a power elite allocates jobs: where commodities buy consumers: where socialist as well as capitalist dogma is an obstacle to comprehension.In this book, Andre Gorz returns to Marx's Grundrisse and the prophecy of early nineteenth century socialists and rediscovers a vision of post-capitalist society founded on the automation of work and the transcending of the exchange economy. He argues that we have reached the precise stage where these utopian insights become a reality. If the socialist movement is to have something to say to a generation whose identity is no longer shaped at work, it must grasp these insights.