New Books in Critical Theory Jasper Bernes, "The Future of Revolution: Communist Prospects from the Paris Commune to the George Floyd Uprising" (Verso Books, 2025)
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Apr 12, 2026 Jasper Bernes, a UC Berkeley English teacher and author of books on art and deindustrialization, discusses revolutionary history from the Paris Commune to the George Floyd uprising. He maps the commune form, workers’ councils, and communization theory. He also examines modern organizing, practical data work for collective power, and how 21st-century councils might look.
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Paris Commune Introduced The Commune Form
- The Paris Commune introduced a durable political form based on revocable delegation and supervision from below.
- Jasper Bernes emphasizes the Commune as both an event and a reusable 'commune form' that inspired later workers' councils as more workplace-rooted adaptations.
Workers Councils Rooted Delegation In The Workplace
- Workers' councils refined the commune idea by tying inclusion to proletarian relations in the workplace.
- Bernes traces councils' rise from mass strikes and wartime mutinies, noting stricter councils required proof of worker status like work cards in 1918–1923 Germany.
Four Core Conditions For Revolutionary Success
- Successful revolutions require suspension of state armed power, mass inclusion, delegated coordination, and immediate communist social relations.
- Bernes argues substituting negotiation with employers/state for immediate expropriation undermines a true communist transition.
