Fully Automated Luxury Communism: A Manifesto

288 Pages·2019·0.85 MB·English

by  Aaron Bastani

Fully Automated
Luxury Communism

Fully Automated
Luxury Communism
A Manifesto
Aaron Bastani

London • New York
First published by Verso 2019
© Aaron Bastani 2019
All rights reserved
The moral rights of the author have been asserted
1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2
Verso
UK: 6 Meard Street, London W1F 0EG
US: 20 Jay Street, Suite 1010, Brooklyn, NY 11201
versobooks.com
Verso is the imprint of New Left Books
ISBN-13: 978-1-78663-262-3
ISBN-13:978-1-78873-246-8 (EXPORT)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78663-265-4 (US EBK)
ISBN-13: 978-1-78663-264-7 (UK EBK)
British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress
Typeset in Fournier by MJ & N Gavan, Truro, Cornwall
Printed and bound by CPI Group (UK) Ltd, Croydon CR0 4YY
To Charlotte. This would have been
impossible without you.
Man is a living creature of varied, multiform and ever-changing nature.
Giovanni Pico della Mirandola
In bad times, I did not abandon the city; in good times, I had no private
interests; in desperate times, I feared nothing.
Cardinal De Retz
Contents
Acknowledgements ix
Introduction: Six Characters in Search of a Future 1
I. Chaos under Heaven
1. The Great Disorder 15
2. The Three Disruptions 31
3. What Is Fully Automated Luxury
 Communism? 50
II. New Travellers
4. Full Automation: Post-Scarcity in Labour 69
5. Limitless Power: Post-Scarcity in Energy 94
6. Mining the Sky: Post-Scarcity in Resources 117
7. Editing Destiny: Age and Post-Scarcity in
 Health 138
8. Food without Animals: Post-Scarcity in
 Sustenance 159
viii contents
III. Paradise Found
9. Popular Support: Luxury Populism 185
10. Fundamental Principles: The Break with
Neoliberalism 201
11. Reforging the Capitalist State 224
12. FALC: A New Beginning 237
Bibliography 245
Index 269
Acknowledgements
Special thanks are due to Leo Hollis, my editor at Verso. A
congenial yet critical voice, you have made this an infinitely
better book than it otherwise would have been. Thanks also to
the rest of the Verso team who have assisted in making FALC
a reality, at least in print. Your work is invaluable in taking
radical ideas to as broad an audience as possible. Long may
it continue.
I would like to extend my appreciation to the whole team
at Novara Media. We started a strange journey five years
ago, which has taken an interesting turn. I am particularly
indebted to James Butler and Ash Sarkar, whose initial
scepticism has made the arguments which follow far more
robust.
Thanks also to Andrew Chadwick for giving me the space
to find my own voice while writing my doctorate. Above all
else you demonstrated the importance of terse prose and clear
argument – two things I lacked prior to our working together.
Finally, I am indebted to the many people who fought for a
political settlement which gave me free healthcare and cheap
x fully automated luxury communism
education. Without you I would not be alive, let alone writing
a book. There is no greater source of inspiration for the
struggles that lie ahead than your accomplishments, which,
although in the past, abide in the present.