Omnia Sunt Communia: On the Commons and the Transformation to Postcapitalism(In Common)

In this weaving of radical political economy, Omnia Sunt Communia sets out the steps to postcapitalism. By conceptualising the commons not just as common goods but as a set of social systems, Massimo De Angelis shows their pervasive presence in everyday life, mapping out a strategy for total social transformation. From the micro to the macro, De Angelis unveils the commons as fields of power relations – shared space, objects, subjects – that explode the limits of daily life under capitalism. He exposes attempts to co-opt the commons, through the use of code words such as 'participation' and 'governance', and reveals the potential for radical transformation rooted in the reproduction of our communities, of life, of work and of society as a whole.

Table of Contents:
Introduction Part One: Commons as systems 1. Common goods 2. Systems 3. Elements Part Two: From Elinor Ostrom to Karl Marx 4. Commons governance 5. The money nexus and the commons formula Part Three: Commoning: the source of grassroots power 6. Mobilising social labour for commoning 7. The production of autonomy, boundaries and sense Part Four: Social change 8. Boundary commoning 9. Commons and capital/state 10. Towards postcapitalism

About the Author :
Massimo De Angelis is professor of political economy at the University of East London, and founder and editor of the web journal The Commoner (www.thecommoner.org). His previous books include The Beginning of History (2007). Massimo De Angelis is professor of political economy at the University of East London, and founder and editor of the web journal The Commoner (www.thecommoner.org). His previous books include The Beginning of History (2007).

Review :
De Angelis has applied his considerable academic understanding to his practical experience of communing to advance a critical conversation on social change. An extraordinary new book. As the crises of neoliberal capitalism deepen, Massimo De Angelis offers us a sweeping framework for understanding how commons can provide practical pathways for political and social emancipation. Timely, insightful and hopeful. De Angelis does for the commons in this book what Marx did for capitalism in Capital. Omnia Sunt Communia will be indispensable to scholars and activists grappling with the most important question of our time: what system, if any, should follow the end of capitalism? Carefully argued and with a wealth of profound examples, this book is at once expansively curious and politically urgent. De Angelis does justice to the complex heat and light of the commons: our hidden past, our living present and our potential future. An ambitious and path-breaking work. While he introduces us to the main theorists of the commons, De Angelis also explores new ground. It makes for a powerful and challenging book that all educators and activists in movements for social justice should read.