Abstract
Mark Fisher and Judy Thorne explore the idea of luxury communism as a slogan for a more libidinal left.
Luxury communism is a gesture out of the fug of the present and towards a utopian horizon. Luxury communism says that we are communists because we are in love with beauty and joy. We are communists because we insist on a world of universal abundance. All the things which capitalism promises can be everyone's, and more - communist luxury means art for all. It means social housing with stained glass windows. It means public swimming baths with frescoed ceilings. It means the abolition of second class. It means the reduction towards zero of alienated work. It means the delinking of work from the wage, and the queer decoupling of sex from procreation. It means sensuousness, sensitivity, luxuriation. It means nothing is too good for the working class. Luxury communism gestures at utopia and says: this is ours, now, let's have it.
Luxury communism is a gesture out of the fug of the present and towards a utopian horizon. Luxury communism says that we are communists because we are in love with beauty and joy. We are communists because we insist on a world of universal abundance. All the things which capitalism promises can be everyone's, and more - communist luxury means art for all. It means social housing with stained glass windows. It means public swimming baths with frescoed ceilings. It means the abolition of second class. It means the reduction towards zero of alienated work. It means the delinking of work from the wage, and the queer decoupling of sex from procreation. It means sensuousness, sensitivity, luxuriation. It means nothing is too good for the working class. Luxury communism gestures at utopia and says: this is ours, now, let's have it.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Title of host publication | Futures and Fictions |
| Editors | Henriette Gunkel, Ayesha Hameed, Simon O'Sullivan |
| Place of Publication | London |
| Publisher | Repeater Books |
| Chapter | 7 |
| Pages | 145-169 |
| Number of pages | 25 |
| ISBN (Electronic) | 9781910924648 |
| ISBN (Print) | 9781910924631 |
| Publication status | Published - 2017 |