Oakland, Edinburgh & Baltimore: AK Press, 2012, 320pp. ISBN 978-1-84935-094-5

At the end of his contribution to this volume Uri Gordon reminds us that although various anarchist economic practices have been present in Western societies for at least forty years, they have not produced the large-scale social transformation intended. According to Gordon the anarchist movement and its efforts still seem a drop in the ocean and the political elites have been too effective in countering anarchist initiatives. This is a sobering reminder for anyone who thinks that the present crisis of capitalism will easily open the door to libertarian transformations. 'The now more-than obvious unsustainability of capitalism', as Abbey Volcano and Deric Shannon call it in another contribution, does not lead automatically to the introduction of anarchist economics. Gordon's reminder also puts a question mark over the hopes and enthusiasms of all those local initiatives dealt with in this book.

Gordon's explanation of the impotence of anarchist economics fails to address other factors, such as the reluctance of anarchists to draw blueprints. One factor seems to me to be very important, namely that anarchist economic thought is still not developed enough either to give local initiatives a viable perspective which transcends the purely local or to play an important role in the public debate about economics. The Accumulation of Freedom makes this quite clear and is an exciting invitation for further discussions.

This book is well suited for this task. Most of the collected essays are at an introductory level and in their totality they address many facets of anarchist economic thought and practice. Gordon gives a good review of various local direct action initiatives and Caroline Kaltefleiter shares her enthusiasm for local exchanges and local currencies such as Ithaca HOURS....