The Future of Revolution: Jasper Bernes with M. E. O’Brien

Today, the revolutionary overcoming of capitalism seems at once more urgent and more distant than ever before. Even as the dominant order grows more nakedly repressive and disastrous by the day, its defeat remains progressively harder to imagine. In his recent book The Future of Revolution: Communist Prospects from the Paris Commune to the George Floyd Uprising (Verso), theorist Jasper Bernes endeavors to fill this imaginative void by laying out rigorous criteria for what a “classless, moneyless, stateless society” might look like. Bernes proposes two yardsticks by which to measure revolutionary programs: the test of value and the test of communism, the subject of his April 2025 contribution to e-flux Journal. He sketches potential futures by looking to the past—from the history of workers councils in the twentieth century to more recent appraisals of those left communist traditions—even as he stresses that revolution tomorrow is unlikely to take the form it did yesterday. Join us for a presentation by Bernes, followed by a response from M. E. O’Brien. O’Brien writes revolutionary theory and speculative fiction, and currently works as a psychoanalyst in formation. The presentations will be followed by a general discussion and Q&A.

 For more information, contact program@e-flux.com.

Accessibility                
–Two flights of stairs lead up to the building’s front entrance at 172 Classon Avenue.   
–For elevator access, please RSVP to program@e-flux.com. The building has a freight elevator which leads into the e-flux office space. Entrance to the elevator is nearest to 180 Classon Ave (a garage door). We have a ramp for the steps within the space.            
–e-flux has an ADA-compliant bathroom. There are no steps between the event space and this bathroom.