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S03E39 - Jasper Bernes on Workers' Councils, Labor Time Calculation and the Future of Revolution
Jasper Bernes discusses worker self-organization, labor time accounting and the revolutionary potential of workers' councils.
Shownotes
Jasper’s personal website:
https://jasperbernes.net/
Jasper at UC Berkeley:
https://english.berkeley.edu/people/jasper-bernes
Commune Magazine:
https://communemag.com/
Bernes, J. (2025). The Future of Revolution: Communist Prospects from the Paris Commune to the George Floyd Uprising. Verso Books.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/977-the-future-of-revolution
Bernes, J. (2020). Planning and Anarchy. South Atlantic Quarterly, 119(1), 53–73.
https://jasperbernes.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1190053.pdf
on Worker’s councils:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_council
on Council communism:
https://libcom.org/article/council-communism-introduction
on the Paris Commune:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune
on Rosa Luxemburg and the Mass Strike:
https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/43964/rosa-luxemburg-and-the-political-mass-strike
Nunes, R. (2021). Neither Vertical nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organization. Verso Books.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/772-neither-vertical-nor-horizontal
Find the quote “the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all” at the end of Chapter 2 of the Communist Manifesto:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm
Group of International Communists (1990) [German original 1930] Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution.
https://www.marxists.org/subject/left-wing/gik/1930/index.htm
second, revised edition from 1935, published in English in 2020:
https://arbeitszeit.noblogs.org/files/2023/04/GIC-Fundamental-Principles-2.-Ed.1935-1.pdf
on Jan Appel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Appel
on Labor Time Calculation/Accounting:
https://arbeitszeit.noblogs.org/en-GB/basics/
Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Programme:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/
on Communization:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communization
Noys, B. (Ed.). (2012). Communization and its Discontents: Contestation, Critique, and Contemporary Struggles. Minor Compositions.
https://files.libcom.org/files/Communization-and-its-Discontents-Contestation-Critique-and-Contemporary-Struggles.pdf
on Gilles Dauvé:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Dauv%C3%A9
on the law of Value in Marx:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_value
on Paul Mattick:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mattick
Roth, G. (2014). Marxism in a Lost Century: A Biography of Paul Mattick. BRILL.
https://files.libcom.org/files/Gary%20Roth%20-%20Marxism%20in%20a%20Lost%20Century%20-%20A%20Biography%20of%20Paul%20Mattick.pdf
Mattick’s introduction to the 1970 reprint of the German first edition of “Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution”:
https://www.leftcommunism.org/spip.php?article359
on the Communist Party of Germany, founded in 1919:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Germany
on Amadeo Bordiga:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeo_Bordiga
Bordiga on the distinction between the city and the countryside:
https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bordiga-humansearth.pdf
Raekstad, P. R., & Gradin, S. S. (2019). Prefigurative Politics: Building Tomorrow Today. Polity.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=prefigurative-politics-building-tomorrow-today--9781509535903
the Endnotes Journal:
https://endnotes.org.uk/
on the German strand of the “Commons” debate and movement:
https://commons-institut.org/theorie/was-sind-commons/
https://keimform.de/
Gibson-Graham, J. K. (1993). Waiting for the Revolution, or How to Smash Capitalism while Working at Home in Your Spare Time. Rethinking Marxism, 6(2), 10–24.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08935699308658052
Purnell, D. (2021). Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protest, and the Pursuit of Freedom. Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2894-becoming-abolitionists
Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics
S3E04 | Tim Platenkamp on Republican Socialism, General Planning and Parametric Control
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s03/e04-tim-platenkamp-on-republican-socialism-general-planning-and-parametric-control/
S02E58 | Søren Mau on Planning and Freedom
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s02/e58-soren-mau-on-planning-and-freedom/
S02E19 | David Laibman on Multilevel Democratic Iterative Coordination
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s02/e19-david-laibman-on-multilevel-democratic-iterative-coordination/
S02E10 | Aaron Benanav on Associational Socialism and Democratic Planning
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s02/e10-aaron-benanav-on-associational-socialism-and-democratic-planning/
S01E58 | Jasper Bernes on Planning and Anarchy
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s01/e58-jasper-bernes-on-planning-and-anarchy/
---
If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help:
Democratic planning – an information website
https://www.democratic-planning.com/
Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1.
https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1
Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction
International Network for Democratic Economic Planning
https://www.indep.network/
Democratic Planning Research Platform:
https://www.planningresearch.net/
---
Future Histories Contact & Support
If you like Future Histories, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/join/FutureHistories
Contact: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FutureHpodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehpodcast/
Mastodon: https://mstdn.social/@FutureHistories
English webpage:
https://futurehistories-international.com
Episode Keywords
#JasperBernes, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #futurehistoriesinternational, #DemocraticPlanning, #DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #PoliticalEconomy, #History, #Revolution, #Revolutions, #RosaLuxemburg, #CouncilCommunism, #LaborTimeAccounting, #LaborTimeCalculation, #Capitalism, #Economics, #CouncilCommunism, #WorkersCouncils, #WorkerSelfOrganisation, #PoliceAbolition, #Communisation, #ParisCommune, #GroupOfInternationalCommunists
View all episodes
By Jan Groos
5
88 ratings
Jasper Bernes discusses worker self-organization, labor time accounting and the revolutionary potential of workers' councils.
Shownotes
Jasper’s personal website:
https://jasperbernes.net/
Jasper at UC Berkeley:
https://english.berkeley.edu/people/jasper-bernes
Commune Magazine:
https://communemag.com/
Bernes, J. (2025). The Future of Revolution: Communist Prospects from the Paris Commune to the George Floyd Uprising. Verso Books.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/977-the-future-of-revolution
Bernes, J. (2020). Planning and Anarchy. South Atlantic Quarterly, 119(1), 53–73.
https://jasperbernes.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/1190053.pdf
on Worker’s councils:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Workers%27_council
on Council communism:
https://libcom.org/article/council-communism-introduction
on the Paris Commune:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paris_Commune
on Rosa Luxemburg and the Mass Strike:
https://www.rosalux.de/en/news/id/43964/rosa-luxemburg-and-the-political-mass-strike
Nunes, R. (2021). Neither Vertical nor Horizontal: A Theory of Political Organization. Verso Books.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/772-neither-vertical-nor-horizontal
Find the quote “the free development of each is the condition for the free development of all” at the end of Chapter 2 of the Communist Manifesto:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/ch02.htm
Group of International Communists (1990) [German original 1930] Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution.
https://www.marxists.org/subject/left-wing/gik/1930/index.htm
second, revised edition from 1935, published in English in 2020:
https://arbeitszeit.noblogs.org/files/2023/04/GIC-Fundamental-Principles-2.-Ed.1935-1.pdf
on Jan Appel:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jan_Appel
on Labor Time Calculation/Accounting:
https://arbeitszeit.noblogs.org/en-GB/basics/
Marx’s Critique of the Gotha Programme:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1875/gotha/
on Communization:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communization
Noys, B. (Ed.). (2012). Communization and its Discontents: Contestation, Critique, and Contemporary Struggles. Minor Compositions.
https://files.libcom.org/files/Communization-and-its-Discontents-Contestation-Critique-and-Contemporary-Struggles.pdf
on Gilles Dauvé:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gilles_Dauv%C3%A9
on the law of Value in Marx:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_value
on Paul Mattick:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Mattick
Roth, G. (2014). Marxism in a Lost Century: A Biography of Paul Mattick. BRILL.
https://files.libcom.org/files/Gary%20Roth%20-%20Marxism%20in%20a%20Lost%20Century%20-%20A%20Biography%20of%20Paul%20Mattick.pdf
Mattick’s introduction to the 1970 reprint of the German first edition of “Fundamental Principles of Communist Production and Distribution”:
https://www.leftcommunism.org/spip.php?article359
on the Communist Party of Germany, founded in 1919:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Communist_Party_of_Germany
on Amadeo Bordiga:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amadeo_Bordiga
Bordiga on the distinction between the city and the countryside:
https://peopleandnature.wordpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/bordiga-humansearth.pdf
Raekstad, P. R., & Gradin, S. S. (2019). Prefigurative Politics: Building Tomorrow Today. Polity.
https://www.politybooks.com/bookdetail?book_slug=prefigurative-politics-building-tomorrow-today--9781509535903
the Endnotes Journal:
https://endnotes.org.uk/
on the German strand of the “Commons” debate and movement:
https://commons-institut.org/theorie/was-sind-commons/
https://keimform.de/
Gibson-Graham, J. K. (1993). Waiting for the Revolution, or How to Smash Capitalism while Working at Home in Your Spare Time. Rethinking Marxism, 6(2), 10–24.
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/08935699308658052
Purnell, D. (2021). Becoming Abolitionists: Police, Protest, and the Pursuit of Freedom. Verso.
https://www.versobooks.com/products/2894-becoming-abolitionists
Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics
S3E04 | Tim Platenkamp on Republican Socialism, General Planning and Parametric Control
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s03/e04-tim-platenkamp-on-republican-socialism-general-planning-and-parametric-control/
S02E58 | Søren Mau on Planning and Freedom
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s02/e58-soren-mau-on-planning-and-freedom/
S02E19 | David Laibman on Multilevel Democratic Iterative Coordination
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s02/e19-david-laibman-on-multilevel-democratic-iterative-coordination/
S02E10 | Aaron Benanav on Associational Socialism and Democratic Planning
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s02/e10-aaron-benanav-on-associational-socialism-and-democratic-planning/
S01E58 | Jasper Bernes on Planning and Anarchy
https://futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s01/e58-jasper-bernes-on-planning-and-anarchy/
---
If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help:
Democratic planning – an information website
https://www.democratic-planning.com/
Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1.
https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1
Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction
International Network for Democratic Economic Planning
https://www.indep.network/
Democratic Planning Research Platform:
https://www.planningresearch.net/
---
Future Histories Contact & Support
If you like Future Histories, please consider supporting us on Patreon:
https://www.patreon.com/join/FutureHistories
Contact: [email protected]
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FutureHpodcast
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/futurehpodcast/
Mastodon: https://mstdn.social/@FutureHistories
English webpage:
https://futurehistories-international.com
Episode Keywords
#JasperBernes, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #futurehistoriesinternational, #DemocraticPlanning, #DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #PoliticalEconomy, #History, #Revolution, #Revolutions, #RosaLuxemburg, #CouncilCommunism, #LaborTimeAccounting, #LaborTimeCalculation, #Capitalism, #Economics, #CouncilCommunism, #WorkersCouncils, #WorkerSelfOrganisation, #PoliceAbolition, #Communisation, #ParisCommune, #GroupOfInternationalCommunists
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