It is succinct and to the point--making it an excellent resource for activists, theorists, and academics--but its threshold of foreknowledge keep it from being what I would classify as "pop politics" and widely accessible to the general public. Readable and filled with concise histories and clear examples to illustrate nuanced analysis, it will no doubt become required reading among those struggling against the death cult that is racial capitalism. It makes a direct assault on the idea that health can survive under capitalism, where the sick are simply disposable, while the system making a killing along the way. Health Communism illustrates how people are viewed as fuel from which to extract profits through the medicalization and financialization of health outputs.

It’s an interesting history, but after the broad, internationalist lens of the first two-thirds, it feels out of place. To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. You can change your choices at any time by visiting Cookie preferences, as described in the Cookie notice. The examination of the commodification of ill health is interesting as it shines a light on the need to divide the proletariat into ‘workers’ and ‘surplus population’.Facebook sets this cookie to show relevant advertisements to users by tracking user behaviour across the web, on sites that have Facebook pixel or Facebook social plugin. Heath Communism is not “well-behaved”: It is not interested in sober consideration, dry pontifications. The biggest industry is no longer that which produces weapons, computers, cars or interspace crafts. But capital cannot kill its host body, or it would have nowhere to reside, nothing to exploit, a barren universe.

Aquest llibre reprèn el fonaments d'una crítica marxista a la salut/malaltia iniciada pel Col·lectiu Socialista de Pacients els anys 70s. The part that hit the least for me was the history of SPK - because while the theory is solid and so recognizably true, everyone quoted from and involved with SPK just seemed annoying and/or unhinged, but that's how I tend to feel about most super lefty ~praxis groups~ lol. They see the export of American-style private health provision and insurance through forced trade deals as a form of imperialism that undermines social-welfare systems globally. Heath Communism is not "well-behaved": It is not interested in sober consideration, dry pontifications. I almost NEVER complain about jargon/book density but this one hit hard, I think bc even though I was familiar with the ideas and the people they cited (bc of the podcast) I still had a rough time.The things that were most interesting about this book were unfortunately the things that were not even in this book - the bibliography and notes, the topics raised, and all-too-quickly dealt with. I am a massive fan of the Verso Books imprint, and this is easily one of their most accessible and most aggressively anti-capitalist publications to date. Written by co-hosts of the hit Death Panel podcast and longtime disability justice and healthcare activists Adler-Bolton and Vierkant, Health Communism first examines how capital has instrumentalized health, disability, madness, and illness to create a class seen as “surplus,” regarded as a fiscal and social burden. Since capitalism inherently produces mass death as part of its endless drive for maximum profit generation and concentration in private hands, nothing short of the end of capitalism and its replacement by a socialist society built by and for the most oppressed can be truly based around affirming life for all. Overall, Health Communism is an interesting if at times flawed read that presents some fascinating insights into the links between capitalism, health and control.

And that have a more nuanced analysis of what has constituted this surplus in settler colonial capitalist nation states? Written by co-hosts of the hit “Death Panel” podcast and longtime disability justice and healthcare activists Adler-Bolton and Vierkant, Health Communism first examines how capital has instrumentalized health, disability, madness, and illness to create a class seen as “surplus,” regarded as a fiscal and social burden. This theme, as well as mention of the actions and failures of American AIDS activist groups in the 1980s, is explored throughout, and the authors’ admiration for the SPK is clearly stated. While it is not discussed in the book, I think we can see this struggle playing out especially in Cuba, where the revolution has produced the world's most egalitarian and liberatory healthcare system. This has not only justified organized state abandonment and enforced the poverty of the poor, sick, elderly, working class, and disabled; it has tied the fundamental idea of the safety and survival of humanity to exploitation.

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