The People's Republic of Walmart cover art

The People's Republic of Walmart

How the World's Biggest Corporations are Laying the Foundation for Socialism

Preview

£0.00 for first 30 days

Try for £0.00
Thousands of incredible audiobooks and podcasts to take wherever you go.
Immerse yourself in a world of storytelling with the Plus Catalogue - unlimited listening to thousands of select audiobooks, podcasts and Audible Originals.
£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically. See here for eligibility.

The People's Republic of Walmart

By: Leigh Phillips, Michal Rozworski
Narrated by: Eric Jason Martin
Try for £0.00

£7.99/month after 30 days. Renews automatically.

Buy Now for £12.99

Buy Now for £12.99

Confirm Purchase
Pay using card ending in
By completing your purchase, you agree to Audible's Conditions of Use and authorise Audible to charge your designated card or any other card on file. Please see our Privacy Notice, Cookies Notice and Interest-based Ads Notice.
Cancel

About this listen

Since the demise of the USSR, the mantle of the largest planned economies in the world has been taken up by the likes of Walmart, Amazon, and other multinational corporations.

For the left and the right, major multinational companies are held up as the ultimate expressions of free-market capitalism. Their remarkable success appears to vindicate the old idea that modern society is too complex to be subjected to a plan. And yet, as Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski argue, much of the economy of the West is centrally planned at present. Not only is planning on vast scales possible, we already have it and it works. The real question is whether planning can be democratic. Can it be transformed to work for us?

An engaging, polemical romp through economic theory, computational complexity, and the history of planning, The People's Republic of Walmart revives the conversation about how society can extend democratic decision-making to all economic matters. With the advances in information technology in recent decades and the emergence of globe-straddling collective enterprises, democratic planning in the interest of all humanity is more important and closer to attainment than ever before.

©2019 Leigh Phillips and Michal Rozworski (P)2019 Tantor
Political Science Politics & Government Social Classes & Economic Disparity Social Sciences Economic disparity Economic inequality
activate_Holiday_promo_in_buybox_DT_T2

Listeners also enjoyed...

Blackshirts and Reds cover art
The World Turned Upside Down cover art
Debt - Updated and Expanded cover art
State and Revolution cover art
The Vladimir Lenin Collection: State and Revolution, What Is to Be Done?, & Imperialism: The Final Stage of Capitalism cover art
A Brief History of Equality cover art
On Anarchism cover art
Seventeen Contradictions and the End of Capitalism cover art
The Locust and the Bee cover art
The Sublime Object of Ideology cover art
The Ethics of Anarcho-Capitalism cover art
Postcapitalist Desire cover art
Fully Automated Luxury Communism cover art
Washington Bullets cover art
Intellectuals and Society cover art
The Wages of Destruction cover art

What listeners say about The People's Republic of Walmart

Average customer ratings
Overall
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    35
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    1
  • 1 Stars
    0
Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    27
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    2
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    1
Story
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    29
  • 4 Stars
    9
  • 3 Stars
    1
  • 2 Stars
    0
  • 1 Stars
    0

Reviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.

Sort by:
Filter by:
  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Very Informative

This is an excellent insight into the nature and history of economic planning and into why it is superior to market allocation and how we could hope to replace markets with planning in the future. A very useful book for any socialist.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A comprehensive destruction of anti-planning

I would've added some reasons for USSR's authoritarianism tho like sabotage etc, since it's the main vehicle for asserting that planning doesn't work it's important to explain not only that planning was compromised but also why - otherwise it will be said that communists inherent evil stops them from using planning for good and it should be kept to the capitalists.

But otherwise book demonstrated superiority of planning over markets beautifully.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

A fascinating argument for Socialist planning

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, wrong structured arguments for imagining a socialism that can meet the needs of planning and I always appreciate the dispelling of capitalist myths. I’ll. recommend to friends.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Some interesting points hidden in the partisan nonsense

I enjoyed this book as it had some interesting ideas I had not heard expressed elsewhere. However, even as someone well to the left of the average person, I could certainly have done without the clear left wing tone. Tribalism has no place in academic idea exploration- it probably serves to put off half the audience before they consider the broad point that planning is more effective than generally considered.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Narrator sounds like comic book guy from the Simpsons

Interesting book written on a decent premise. But the narrator seems to think the material isn’t engaging enough and that it’s up to him to exaggerate his performance in a order to make up for it.
Will buy the book instead.

Something went wrong. Please try again in a few minutes.

You voted on this review!

You reported this review!