The Pyramid and the Common

'In this ambitious and deeply necessary book, Massimo De Angelis shows that the struggle against capitalism cannot be understood apart from the struggle over social reproduction and the commons. By mapping the pyramid of command as a totalizing system and commoning as a transformative force rooted in the reproduction of life, he gives us a powerful political language for our times.' * Silvia Federici, Hofstra University, USA *
'Massimo De Angelis takes readers on a fascinating tour, working on “hybrid theoretical terrains” to shed light on the totality of capitalism and what constitutively exceeds it: everyday practices, tensions, and struggles embodying the living power of the common and the potentiality of another world. The Pyramid and the Common is an amazing work of scholarship and a political manifesto for our times.' * Sandro Mezzadra, University of Bologna, Italy *
'This is an important book. It centres on the only question that still matters: How do we get out of here? Hope lies in the fact that capitalism, although dominant, is not the only form of social reproduction that exists: the reproduction of life also depends on the present existence of a communism, the everyday practice of sharing-and-caring on the basis of mutual recognition. How can this communism become the hegemonic form of social reproduction? Massimo’s book is an original, ambitious, stimulating, challenging and impressive contribution that will no doubt have a major impact on future discussions'. * John Holloway, Instituto de Ciencias Sociales y Humanidades in the Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Mexico *
'What an intricate and inventive trajectory towards emancipatory hopes! Massimo De Angelis tirelessly explores the possibilities of social change as they are produced within the systemic and autopoietic structure of capitalism. And he locates the transformative power of the commons not in an imaginary outside but in the autopoietic potentialities of the practices that challenge capitalist reproduction. Mapping a very complex terrain of opposing forces with the use of knowledges and aspirations developed in different fields of critical thinking De Angelis offers us nothing less than a brilliant cartography of emancipatory hopes in devastating times'. * Stavros Stavrides, The National Technical University of Athens, Greece *