https://znetwork.org/author/tomwetzel/ Independent Left News, Analysis, Vision and Strategy Tue, 29 Jul 2025 13:32:32 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://znetwork.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/cropped-Z_logo_512-32x32.png https://znetwork.org/author/tomwetzel/ 32 32 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-ai-con-another-twist-in-the-saga-of-work-degradation-under-capitalism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-ai-con-another-twist-in-the-saga-of-work-degradation-under-capitalism/#respond Tue, 29 Jul 2025 16:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1286705 The book The AI Con (written by Emily Bender and Alex Hanna) is a clearly-written and fairly concise examination of the reality of “Artificial Intelligence” and its use to intensify or degrade work and eliminate jobs in various fields — from Amazon warehouse workers and delivery drivers to nurses in clinics, journalists in newsrooms and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-ai-con-another-twist-in-the-saga-of-work-degradation-under-capitalism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/green-transition-from-above-or-from-below/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/green-transition-from-above-or-from-below/#comments Thu, 27 Feb 2025 16:57:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1280308 A review of Jeremy Brecher’s Green New Deal From Below When I use the phrase green transition in this review, I’m referring to the shift of human society away from a reliance on the burning of fossil fuels — creating a new economic arrangement that can set society on a sustainable ecological path. The Green New Deal is [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/green-transition-from-above-or-from-below/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-planned-economy-with-no-central-planning-authority/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-planned-economy-with-no-central-planning-authority/#respond Thu, 24 Oct 2024 15:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1274154 In Democratic Economic Planning, Robin Hahnel says that his “most important contribution is” having “explained concretely how to reconcile comprehensive democratic planning” with worker autonomy and self-management. As Hahnel said in a Summer 2023 New Politics essay: “Early socialists, including Marx himself, were clear that instead of profit-hungry capitalists and the ‘anarchy’ of markets … the ‘associated producers’ [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-planned-economy-with-no-central-planning-authority/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-challenge-and-reality-of-the-green-energy-transition-a-reply-to-peter-gelderloos/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-challenge-and-reality-of-the-green-energy-transition-a-reply-to-peter-gelderloos/#respond Thu, 17 Oct 2024 15:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1273808 This is a reply to the recent polemic against renewable energy by Peter Gelderloos. We agree with a number of the points Gelderloos makes. But we disagree with his claims about renewable energy and we disagree with his strategy for achieving an ecologically viable future. The environmental crisis is a multi-faceted situation of growing environmental [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-challenge-and-reality-of-the-green-energy-transition-a-reply-to-peter-gelderloos/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/against-productivism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/against-productivism/#respond Fri, 19 Jul 2024 16:30:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1269504 Capitalist society has a dynamic tendency towards constant technological change — change in products, methods of production, and in the ways workers are managed in the production process. I am going to suggest that capitalism has a very distinctive way of developing technology that is inherently conflicted — it provides human benefits but is also [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/against-productivism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-history-of-class-struggle-anarchism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-history-of-class-struggle-anarchism/#respond Fri, 21 Jun 2024 15:46:18 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1268176 Zoe Baker’s book Means and Ends is a comprehensive look at the revolutionary class-struggle anarchist movement as it existed and developed in the period from the International Workingmen’s Association of 1864-78 to the defeat of the anarchist and syndicalist-inspired revolution in Spain in 1939. Although the book is not about the writings of famous anarchist [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-history-of-class-struggle-anarchism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-common-preservation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-common-preservation/#respond Thu, 18 Jan 2024 16:48:30 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1260926 This is a review of “Common Preservation” by Jeremy Brecher. This book is where Jeremy Brecher gives his theory or set of “tools” for explaining social movements. Jeremy is a significant influence at Labor Network for Sustainability and his “Green New Deal from Below” is an approach that is having some influence. So I wanted [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/review-of-common-preservation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/socialize-the-railways/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/socialize-the-railways/#respond Tue, 14 Nov 2023 17:45:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1257471 The downward slide of the major (Class 1) American freight railroads in recent years shows how capitalist ownership of the railway system is dangerous and inefficient — and fails to make use of the potential of the railways as a solution to the global warming crisis. Downward slide has been accelerated over the past decade [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/socialize-the-railways/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/strategy-for-overcoming-capitlism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/strategy-for-overcoming-capitlism/#respond Fri, 10 Nov 2023 16:53:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1257240 Talk at Los Angeles Anarchist Book Fair Strategy To start off this discussion, I’m going to talk about strategy. In this case the subject is “grand strategy” — strategy that would enable the oppressed and exploited majority to liberate themselves, replacing capitalism with some form of self-managed eco-socialism. A strategy is a “line of march” [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/strategy-for-overcoming-capitlism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-working-class-stake-in-the-fight-against-global-warming/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-working-class-stake-in-the-fight-against-global-warming/#respond Fri, 25 Aug 2023 15:59:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1252558 I’m going to suggest here that the working class has a unique role to play in the fight against global warming because the owning and managing classes have interests that are tied to an economic system that has an inherent tendency towards ecological devastation whereas the working class does not. In its “Code Red for [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-working-class-stake-in-the-fight-against-global-warming/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-future-is-degrowth-a-review/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-future-is-degrowth-a-review/#respond Wed, 31 May 2023 15:00:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1246861 The politics of “degrowth” are an important present-day trend in ecosocialism. The authors of The Future Is Degrowth: A Guide to a World beyond Capitalism try to explain this approach and its strategy for change. The politics of “degrowth” are often misunderstood and this book’s preference for vague and murky abstractions is not helpful.  A [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-future-is-degrowth-a-review/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-class-consciousness-a-reply-to-john-holloway/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-class-consciousness-a-reply-to-john-holloway/#respond Thu, 16 Feb 2023 14:19:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1239497 A crucial concept for understanding the potential for getting rid of the capitalist mode of production and replacing with a labor-managed mode of production is the concept of class formation. The idea is that a working class that has actually developed the “class consciousness”, cohesion, solidarity, confidence, organizational strength, and aspirations for control over their [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-class-consciousness-a-reply-to-john-holloway/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/libertarian-syndicalism-with-tom-wetzel/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/libertarian-syndicalism-with-tom-wetzel/#respond Thu, 02 Feb 2023 13:47:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1238503 This week, we share our chat with Tom Wetzel on his recently published book Overcoming Capitalism: Strategy for the Working Class in the 21st Century (AK Press, 2022). Tom is an organizer with Worker’s Solidarity Alliance, an anarcho-syndicalist group relaunching in the SF Bay Area, which publishes to Ideas & Action journal online and is [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/libertarian-syndicalism-with-tom-wetzel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/climate-change-as-class-war-a-review/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/climate-change-as-class-war-a-review/#respond Thu, 15 Dec 2022 13:32:00 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1234604 From ideas & action. As the burning of fossil fuels continues to pump up the size of the carbon dioxide layer in the atmosphere, the global warming crisis becomes ever more acute. In its “Code Red for Humanity” warning in 2021, the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said: “The alarm bells are deafening, and [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/climate-change-as-class-war-a-review/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-do-we-overcome-capitalism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-do-we-overcome-capitalism/#respond Wed, 12 Oct 2022 14:40:10 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1222689 Tom Wetzel’s book Overcoming Capitalism: Strategy for the Working Class in the 21st Century is both a primer on the basic left critiques of capitalism and a handbook for creating a new economic system. Wetzel explains in clear, accessible language why exploitation, waste, and environmental destruction are built into the capitalist model and then explores possible alternative [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/how-do-we-overcome-capitalism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/united-auto-workers-union-a-case-study-in-bureaucratic-unionism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/united-auto-workers-union-a-case-study-in-bureaucratic-unionism/#respond Thu, 08 Sep 2022 15:02:57 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1219367 The trajectory of the United Auto Workers union illustrates the consolidation of top-down control in national unions in the USA in the decades after World War 2. A vast movement of hundreds of thousands of workers forming new independent unions unfolded in 1933–34. Another expression of this drive for self-organization from below was the creation [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/united-auto-workers-union-a-case-study-in-bureaucratic-unionism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/class-struggle-unionism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/class-struggle-unionism/#respond Tue, 16 Aug 2022 18:09:27 +0000 https://znetwork.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1199450 “The labor movement today is in miserable shape, probably worse than in any period of labor history,” writes Joe Burns. To get out of this situation and rebuild unionism as an effective fighting force, Burns proposes a revival of “class struggle unionism” where unions are seen as a vehicle of direct, worker-led struggle against the [...]]]> https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/class-struggle-unionism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/against-leninism/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/against-leninism/#respond Wed, 25 Aug 2021 09:02:14 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1049601 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/against-leninism/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/political-and-economic-power-in-a-period-of-social-transformation/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/political-and-economic-power-in-a-period-of-social-transformation/#respond Fri, 26 Mar 2021 09:03:59 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1044905 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/political-and-economic-power-in-a-period-of-social-transformation/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-rank-and-file-strategy-a-syndicalist-view/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-rank-and-file-strategy-a-syndicalist-view/#respond Fri, 01 Jan 2021 09:02:52 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1041752 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-rank-and-file-strategy-a-syndicalist-view/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-case-for-building-new-unions/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-case-for-building-new-unions/#respond Mon, 23 Mar 2020 09:02:01 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1031057 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-case-for-building-new-unions/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-green-new-deal-the-eco-syndicalist-alternative/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-green-new-deal-the-eco-syndicalist-alternative/#comments Tue, 16 Apr 2019 09:02:33 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=1019169 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/a-green-new-deal-the-eco-syndicalist-alternative/feed/ 1 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-class-oppression/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-class-oppression/#respond Wed, 26 Nov 2014 09:03:22 +0000 https://zcomm.org/?post_type=znetarticle&p=965751 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/what-is-class-oppression/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zblogs/why-revolutionary-syndicalism-by-tom-wetzel/ https://znetwork.org/zblogs/why-revolutionary-syndicalism-by-tom-wetzel/#respond https://znetwork.org/zblogs/why-revolutionary-syndicalism-by-tom-wetzel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-origins-of-the-union-shop-by-tom-wetzel/ https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-origins-of-the-union-shop-by-tom-wetzel/#respond Fri, 13 Jan 2012 21:39:32 +0000 https://znetwork.org/znetarticle/the-origins-of-the-union-shop-by-tom-wetzel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zblogs/venezuela-from-below-by-tom-wetzel/ https://znetwork.org/zblogs/venezuela-from-below-by-tom-wetzel/#respond https://znetwork.org/zblogs/venezuela-from-below-by-tom-wetzel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zblogs/debate-with-the-international-socialist-organization-by-tom-wetzel/ https://znetwork.org/zblogs/debate-with-the-international-socialist-organization-by-tom-wetzel/#respond https://znetwork.org/zblogs/debate-with-the-international-socialist-organization-by-tom-wetzel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zblogs/challenges-in-a-time-of-austerity-by-tom-wetzel/ https://znetwork.org/zblogs/challenges-in-a-time-of-austerity-by-tom-wetzel/#respond Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:47:08 +0000 https://znetwork.org/zblogs/challenges-in-a-time-of-austerity-by-tom-wetzel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zblogs/fight-for-union-freedom-in-germany-by-tom-wetzel/ https://znetwork.org/zblogs/fight-for-union-freedom-in-germany-by-tom-wetzel/#respond Thu, 17 Dec 2009 19:38:28 +0000 https://znetwork.org/zblogs/fight-for-union-freedom-in-germany-by-tom-wetzel/feed/ 0 https://znetwork.org/zblogs/my-reimaging-society-interview-by-tom-wetzel/ https://znetwork.org/zblogs/my-reimaging-society-interview-by-tom-wetzel/#respond Fri, 04 Dec 2009 16:47:01 +0000 https://znetwork.org/zblogs/my-reimaging-society-interview-by-tom-wetzel/feed/ 0