Guerrillas of Desire: Notes on Everyday Resistance and Organizing to Make a Revolution Possible

Description

Behind the smiling faces of cashiers, wait staff, and workers of all sorts, a war is going on, usually without the knowledge of official political and labor organizations. Guerrillas of Desire begins with a provocation: The Left is wrong. Its historical and current strategies are too-often based on the assumption that working and poor people are unorganized, acquiescent to systems of domination, or simply uninterested in building a new world. The fact is, as C.L.R. James has noted, they “are rebelling every day in ways of their own invention”: pilfering, sabotaging, faking illnesses, squatting, fleeing, and counter-strategizing. Kevin Van Meter maps these undercurrents, documenting the history of everyday resistance under slavery, in peasant life, and throughout modern capitalism, while showing that it remains an important factor in revolution and something radicals of all stripes must understand. Dedication Preface and Acknowledgements Part I 1. Introduction: Guerrillas of Desire 2. Recognizing the New Society… 3. From Concept to Metaphor Part II 4. Under Slavery 5. In Peasant Politics 6. Throughout the Industrial and Social Factory Part III 7. On Organizing 8. Conclusion: To Make a Revolution Possible Notes Index