Keti Chukhrov, “From Basic Need to the Cosmology of the Commons”

Join us at e-flux on Tuesday, December 5 at 7pm for a talk with Keti Chukhrov, presented by e-flux journal.

The talk will revisit the  paradoxes of non-capitalist economics in its historical as well as futurological context. Many researchers have claimed—with surprise—that the socialist non-libidinal political economy was an enigma. If in capitalist society there is an abundance of commodities and an insufficiency of means for some layers of society to access them, in socialism, conversely, even minimum wage exceeds the supply of goods available for access: There is money, but there is very little to buy. 

Some economists say that it was an error of planning; others insist that the essence of any economics which should be to dispense with surplus value in production and market. 

If prices are not formed at the intersection of the supply and demand curve, i.e. the price is underpriced, there is scarcity. Such logic of basic need was often criticized as one of the reasons of the collapse of historical socialism.

However, during the pandemic, discussions about the necessity of slowing down, de-growth, basic need, or even exit from capitalist over-production—towards the post-capitalist condition—emerged again. As Evald  Ilyenkov, Bernard Stiegler, and Boris Groys showed in their analysis of Marx’s political economy, abolition of surplus value would not only transform production and sociality, but can even change the approach to material objects, endowing them with a noumenal (conceptual) dimension. Our question therefore is: What are the differences and affinities between contemporary theories of post-capitalism—vectoralism,  platform capitalism,  rentierism—and socialist ones in their treatment of surplus value?

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.