Economics for the people In a world gripped by endless crisis and climate breakdown, the demand to reshape our economic system has never been more urgent. Reclaiming the Future by Simon Hannah is a beginner's guide to planning the economy, taking readers on a transformative journey towards a radically democratic society, where the power and control over our lives are firmly in our hands. Decades of right-wing scaremongering has tried to consign economic planning to the dustbin, but the need for it is greater than ever - it might be the only thing that can save us from climate catastrophe. In this myth-busting and accessible guide, Hannah lays the building blocks for a grassroots economy that aligns our economy within human needs and environmental limits. About the Author Simon Hannah is a writer, activist, and trade unionist living in South London. He is an assistant branch secretary in UNISON and has written several books, including A Party With Socialists In It: A History of the Labour Left, which was a Guardian Book of the Day. John McDonnell (Foreword) is a British Labour Party politician first elected in 1997, who served as Shadow Chancellor of the Exchequer from 2015 to 2020, in the later years under the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. Sitting on the left of the party, he served as chair of the Socialist Campaign Group in Parliament and the Labour Representation Committee as well as the Public Services Not Private Profit Group. In 2024 he was suspended from the party as a result of voting to scrap the two child benefit cap. What People Are Saying "A convincing case for socialist democratic planning as the only way to meet the needs of billions of humans without destroying the planet and other species. And it offers a political strategy for how you can fight for such a world." Michael Roberts, economist and author of Capitalism in the 21st Century "A sober and engaging assessment of the most urgent problem of our generation: how to transcend capitalism in order to build a real democracy, peace, environmental sustainability, and social justice in an ecosocialist society based on the principle of solidarity, rather than inequality and exploitation. Hannah dissects on the drawbacks of capitalism, and outlines how to build an actual, functioning socialist society on that basis. An excellent book that deserves to be read widely." Alfredo Saad-Filho, University of Johannesburg "Simon Hannah emphasises the urgent need for a vision of a utopia that reclaims ecosocialist and democratic futures, through critical analysis of past socialist experiences that failed to achieve this. Drawing on real struggles for environmental and social justice, Reclaiming the Future is a radical theoretical and concrete criticism of the capitalist short-term profit-oriented logics, offering a major contribution to the growing debates on post-capitalism." Catherine Samary, researcher in political economy, co-editor of Decolonial Communism, Democracy and the Commons "With a crescendo of catastrophic developments – political, environmental, and more – it is becoming increasingly urgent to recompose a revolutionary Left that has the capacity to fight effectively and build intelligently for a genuine alternative. This requires the hard work of committed activists united by an understanding of the political-economic dynamics of global capitalism, with a clear-minded strategic orientation of how to overcome it, and a sound approach to creating a practical alternative. A vibrant resource for all of this is Simon Hannah’s challenging and readable Reclaiming the Future: A Beginner’s Guide to Planning the Economy." Paul Le Blanc, author of Lenin: Responding to Catastrophe, Forging Revolution Table of Contents Introduction PART I - THE FIGHT FOR AN ECOSOCIALIST PLAN1. How Does Capitalism Work?2. A Living Movement for Socialism3. The Post-capitalist Society PART II - DEBATES4. Arguments Against Socialism: Human Nature and Knowledge5. Debates within Socialism; Automation, UBI and Market Socialism6. Green New Deal, Ecosocialism and DegrowthConclusion
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