Post-Scarcity Anarchism is fantastic, and very easy to read when compared with 19th century texts.
I disagree with assertions of his utopianism - he describes technologies and structures that can reasonably be used to supplant manual labour in order to free people up to perform more fulfilling, creative endeavours - the spirit of communism itself.
Moreover, he's describing these things from back in the 60s, so even if they once seemed lofty, they no longer are - renewable energy, automation, etc. are all fairly commonplace nowadays, but they could have been decades ago; we could fundamentally be living a much more liberated and environmentally friendly life today had his theories been applied.
Further, he continually relates theory back to reality and to current developments and events.
His views on Marx' theories are definitely interesting - in some cases he builds upon Marx' work and extrapolates to the modern era, and in others challenges the theoretical framework with the material experiences of society after Marx. For instance, something that Marx could not have predicted was that capitalism continued to develop in such a way that it replicated the previous system of mercantilism by entrenching itself within the state - containing class struggle by "using its technological resources to assimilate the most strategic sections of the working class."
I could go on but you'd have a much better time reading Bookchin 😄 - on the topic of it being a meme, I interpret that simply as a response to the refrain of 'read Marx', 'read Lenin' or 'read Mao' - sure, but also 'read Bookchin'.
Post-Scarcity Anarchism is fantastic, and very easy to read when compared with 19th century texts. I disagree with assertions of his utopianism - he describes technologies and structures that can reasonably be used to supplant manual labour in order to free people up to perform more fulfilling, creative endeavours - the spirit of communism itself.
Moreover, he's describing these things from back in the 60s, so even if they once seemed lofty, they no longer are - renewable energy, automation, etc. are all fairly commonplace nowadays, but they could have been decades ago; we could fundamentally be living a much more liberated and environmentally friendly life today had his theories been applied.
Further, he continually relates theory back to reality and to current developments and events.
His views on Marx' theories are definitely interesting - in some cases he builds upon Marx' work and extrapolates to the modern era, and in others challenges the theoretical framework with the material experiences of society after Marx. For instance, something that Marx could not have predicted was that capitalism continued to develop in such a way that it replicated the previous system of mercantilism by entrenching itself within the state - containing class struggle by "using its technological resources to assimilate the most strategic sections of the working class."
I could go on but you'd have a much better time reading Bookchin 😄 - on the topic of it being a meme, I interpret that simply as a response to the refrain of 'read Marx', 'read Lenin' or 'read Mao' - sure, but also 'read Bookchin'.