Kristin Ross’s book, The Commune Form, explores a political tradition that reimagines class relations, extending from the 1871 uprising to present-day struggles like those of the ZAD. A central focus is on the pervasive presence of class society in everyday life, with minor yet telling encounters with societal cracks and frictions, such as union-busting corporate practices affecting daily activities, budget cuts impacting public services, and gentrification-driven rising rents. What initially may seem to be isolated issues gradually reveal deeper power asymmetries.
Ross emphasizes that these everyday grievances serve as entry points into class politics, highlighting the potential to ponder and challenge the power dynamics in daily life. This perspective encourages the imagination and creation of revolutionary practices through collective political struggle, echoing Theodor Adorno’s idea that a "wrong life cannot be lived rightly." By re-envisioning daily life, it becomes possible to build new worlds in the present, preparing for the future through communal efforts.
Ross, a prominent thinker in the critique of everyday life, argues that transforming society lies in embracing the anarchistic and communistic tradition referred to as "the commune form." She begins with an analysis of Karl Marx’s observations on the Paris Commune of 1871, a significant moment where the Communards experimented with independent social and political organization. According to Ross, the Commune demonstrated how workers, free from wage dependencies, could autonomously manage their lives through direct cooperation, emphasizing experiential freedom over legislated achievements.
Ross’s earlier work, Communal Luxury: The Political Imagination of the Paris Commune, explored how the Communards fostered new value systems separate from capitalism, calling for criteria of wealth distinct from quantitative growth. In The Commune Form, she complements Marx’s analysis with Pyotr Kropotkin’s views, linking the Commune to earlier peasant revolts aiming to restore feudal lands to the peasantry. These historical struggles resonate with contemporary issues like climate breakdown and corporate monopolies, aligning with efforts to reclaim communal lands.
Ross underscores the adaptability of the "commune form," highlighting how it emerges within social movements resisting capitalist conditions, tailoring itself to the participants’ immediate needs. For instance, during the May 1968 Nantes Commune in France, workers, farmers, and students collaborated to meet community needs amid general strikes, demonstrating the potential of urban-rural cooperation. This event exemplified how societal roles could be redefined through collective action.
The heart of Ross’s new book lies in the ZAD (Zone to Defend) at Notre-Dame-des-Landes, where activists, from 1974 until 2018, resisted the construction of an international airport, successfully defending the land. This example, along with similar movements like those against developments in Tokyo’s Chiba Prefecture, France’s Larzac, Standing Rock, and Atlanta’s Weelaunee Forest, highlights the resilience and legacy of the commune form in land defense and community building.
According to Ross, defending land is crucial for producing alternative living conditions opposing capitalism, fostering a social life enriched by cooperation and association, devoid of dominant economic rationality. She contends that focus should shift from urban centers to rural areas and everyday life, challenging the capitalist enclosure of commons. Her narrative advocates for reclaiming land as a means to confront capitalism’s foundational alienation, emphasizing the potential of collective land management for sustaining life and political struggle.
In her experiences at the ZAD, Ross illustrates that time, much like land, can be reclaimed for communal living. Anticipating critiques of her focus on land reclamation, Ross argues it is a practical response to current economic challenges, insisting on managing resources as common property. The Commune Form offers a blueprint for reclaiming communal resources, steering away from destructive economic patterns.
