Why "communisation" ?...

A few words about the word...

Communisation in a nutshell...

Is it a programme ?...

"The self-emancipation of the proletariat is the collapse of capitalism."

Is it a novelty ?...

Will there be a transition period ?...

What about violence & the destruction of the State ?...

Who would be the communisers ?...

Revolution of daily life...

Distant futures & "here and now"...

"Commons" ?...

Community...

No money ?...

The after-dinner critic....

Scarcity v. Abundance... Equality... Universality...

No escape from the contradiction..................................................

What is meant and what do we mean by "communisation" ? Actually, we have often dealt with this theme, for instance in our answers to the German group Revolution Times' questionnaire, published in English as What's It All About ? (2007), and in other texts, including A Contribution to the Critique of Political Autonomy (2008).

If we speak of communisation and not just communism, it is not to invent a new concept which would provide us with the ultimate solution to the revolutionary riddle. Communisation denotes no less than the content and process of a future revolution. For example, only communisation gives meaning to our critique of democracy.

In recent years, communisation has become one of the radical in-words, even outside what is known as the "communisers" (communisateurs in French).

As far as we are concerned, we do not regard ourselves any more members of this communising current than we feel close to - or far from - a number of other communist groups.

The communisation issue is further complicated by the emergence of the commons theory, according to which deep social change could come from collective usage and extension of what is already treated as common resources and activities (for instance, the open field system in still existing traditional societies, and free software access in the most modern ones). In other words, these "creative commons" would allow us a gradual and peaceful passage toward a human community.

The successive refutation of theories we regard as incomplete or wrong would have obscured our central points. As we wish to keep away from any war of the words, the following essay will try and address the communisation issue as directly as possible.