Resources on Cyber-Leftism?

[Colfax]

I would like to learn more about the different ways leftists have integrated computer networks into not only their organizational practice, but their theories of a transformed social world. I've heard passing reference to ideas of 'cyber-communism' and the resonance of anarchistic ideas with hackers has been well documented. That said, I'd be grateful for any citations, whether to books, articles or websites, that you could throw my way. Thanks!

[The Idler]

From Handicraft to the Cloud: Part 1 of 2 (http://www.worldsocialism.org/spgb/socialist-standard/2010s/2012/no-1291-march-2012/handicraft-cloud-part-1-2)

Cyber-Marx (1999) by Nick Dyer-Witheford.

[svenne]

Yeah, go for Cyber-Marx. It's available for free on the authors homepage, a quick search on the internet will bring you there. (It's kinda cute that the book had its part in the creation of the Piratebay...)

[Colfax]

I was unfamiliar with both the Cyber-Marx and the SPGB article. Thanks! Out of curiosity, what was the influence of Cyber-Marx on the Piratebay?

[svenne]

I was unfamiliar with both the Cyber-Marx and the SPGB article. Thanks! Out of curiosity, what was the influence of Cyber-Marx on the Piratebay?

A reading/study group, which read the book (and a lot of other operaist/autonomist litterature) started a couple of projects, one of these kind of became TPB (there's a couple of other threads involved, also).

[KurtFF8]

This article titled "A definition and criticism of cybercommunism" may be of use:

http://cnc.sagepub.com/content/33/1/159.short

[Engels]

Hacking Capitalism: The Free and Open Source Software Movement (2007) By Johan Söderberg

He analyses the FOSS movement, detailing how labour can self-organise, and the how the distinction between work and play disappears in the digital world.

[KurtFF8]

Also from my "Horizontal Democracy in the 21st Century" course last semester here are some readings for when we covered this topic if they're of interest to anyone (if you want a PDF and can't find one then perhaps PM me)


Steven Weber, “The Political Economy of Open Source Software and Why it Matters,” Latham and Sassen, eds. Digital Formations (2005), pp. 178-211.


Teaparty versus Open Source Populism
Joe Lowndes and Dorian Warren, “Open Source Populism: OWS – a 21st Century Populist Movement?” October 21st 2011


I also suggest this article by the Monthly Review titled "The Internet's Unholy Marriage to Capitalism (http://monthlyreview.org/2011/03/01/the-internets-unholy-marriage-to-capitalism)," it's not exactly about open source but it certainly does help contextualize quite a bit and is certainly worth the read either way.

[Zaphod Beeblebrox]

GNU system gnu.org
Free Software Foundation fsf.org

Also Richard Stallman the founder of gnu operating system and fsf is a big leftie him self.