Back to All Events

Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072

  • Making Worlds Bookstore & Social Center 210 South 45th Street Philadelphia, PA, 19104 United States (map)

Making Worlds Book Reading and Discussion: Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 [Philadelphia launch]

By the middle of the twenty-first century, war, famine, economic collapse, and climate catastrophe had toppled the world's governments. In the 2050s, the insurrections reached the nerve center of global capitalism—New York City. This book, a collection of interviews with the people who made the revolution, was published to mark the twentieth anniversary of the New York Commune, a radically new social order forged in the ashes of capitalist collapse.

Here is the insurrection in the words of the people who made it, a cast as diverse as the city itself. Nurses, sex workers, antifascist militants, and survivors of all stripes recall the collapse of life as they knew it and the emergence of a collective alternative. Their stories, delivered in deeply human fashion, together outline how ordinary people's efforts to survive in the face of crisis contain the seeds of a new world.

Registration required, click here.

About the Author & Discussants

M. E. O'Brien writes and speaks on gender freedom and capitalism. She coedits two magazines, Pinko, on gay communism, and Parapraxis, on psychoanalytic theory and politics. Her work on family abolition has been translated into Chinese, German, Greek, French, Spanish, and Turkish. Previously, she coordinated the New York City Trans Oral History Project, and worked in HIV and AIDS activism and services. She completed a PhD at NYU, where she wrote on how capitalism shaped New York City LGBTQ social movements. You can support her writing through patreon.com/meobrien, and find her on twitter @genderhorizon. Everything for Everyone: An Oral History of the New York Commune, 2052–2072 is her first book.

Alex Smith is a sci-fi writer (The Resistance web-series; Black Vans comic book), artist, musician (art-punk bands Solarized, Rainbow Crimes), activist (Metropolarity queer sci-fi collective) and cultural/arts critic (Pitchfork, The Key, Bandcamp, Philly Gay News). He is a recipient of the Pew Fellowship in the Arts and soon to be published author of the sci-fi/cyberpunk/super-hero/Afrofuturist short story collection ARKDUST, forthcoming from Rosarium Publishing. @Alexoteric 

Sophie Lewis is a writer and independent scholar living in Philadelphia. She is currently at work on a third book manuscript entitle The Feminism of Fools: How Some Feminisms Hinder Feminist Liberation. Her first two books, both published by Verso Books, are Full Surrogacy Now: Feminism Against Family(2019) and Abolish the Family: A Manifesto for Care and Liberation. Sophie’s essays and articles appear in peer-reviewed journals like Feminist Theory as well as literary journals like n+1, Harper’s, and the London Review of Books. You can find her lectures and writings at lasophielle.org, and become a subscriber at patreon.com/reproutopia. She tweets at @reproutopia.

* * * 

IN-PERSON EVENT

Please note, out of concern for everyone’s well-being during the COVID-19 pandemic, we require proof of vaccination for entry to all in-person events. Attendees are asked to wear masks at all times. Advance registration via eventbrite is required for all events, so we can plan for attendance and gather safely. 

Event registrations will be honored until 15 mins after start time of the event; afterwards, availability will be on a first-come basis. 

Note: there are ample opportunities to receive a free COVID-19 test, vaccine, or booster in most neighborhoods, at walk-in clinics or by appointment. All of the COVID-19 vaccines are free. They are available to anyone in the United States. You do not need to provide identification to receive a vaccine. Visit phila.gov for latest info and please support the work of the Black Doctors’ COVID Consortium.