I read Gar Alperovitz’s What Then Must We Do? with a level of skepticism. He set out to make an argument as to what can be done right now to demonstrate to a growing population weary of neoliberal capitalism that another world is not only necessary and possible, but that one can already see the first glimmers of that new world.

Alperovitz’s views are shaped by several assumptions. First, that actually existing capitalism is not working. Second, that socialism, as we have known it in the twentieth century did not work. Third, that people need to actually see what an alternative world would look like in order to be encouraged to fight for one. He then proceeds to identify actual examples of different struggles and projects that have been undertaken by progressives that show that a different way of organizing life and the economy is not only a great idea, but living realities.

Alperovitz spends little time critiquing twentieth-century socialism. For the most part he is interested in demonstrating that capitalist dogma, in particular neoliberal capitalist dogma, is both a myth as well as fundamentally unworkable. He suggests that there are projects that can be undertaken — like worker cooperatives — that will build power for the everyday person and actually move towards social transformation.