2017 is closing its wings. This year some people and some newspapers remembered but none celebrated the hundred years anniversary of the October Revolution. Even Russia did not celebrate it officially. Before the collapse of the Communist Bloc, every year on 7^th November the world watched celebrations of October Revolution in Kremlin and listened to the statements of Soviet leaders which had impact on world’s politics.

But the events associated with a wind of change in 1991 heralded the undisputed victory of Capitalism. But it appears strange that after a quarter of century many intellectuals and authors are questioning the future of Capitalism. Paul Mason, writer of Post-Capitalism; A Guide to our Future, though having faith in the virtues of Capitalism is looking beyond the present stage of Capitalism. However, he is not among those who following Lenin thought that the history has reached at the last stage of Capitalism and beyond that is demise of Capitalism. He still believes that Capitalism has the capacity to overcome the challenges.

Mason considers the shockwaves felt after the 2008 economic crisis as an indicator of a long-term turbulence. He points out that in the hour of crisis, the solution found was to inject money in the financial system. As a result the global elite had only recourse to impose the cost of economic and social crises on workers and pensioners. But people refused and are still refusing to pay the price of austerity and the higher cost of services. This paved the way for extremist parties at the both ends of political divide who, with new slogans, attracted masses.

Over the last two decades, people have resisted neo-liberalism which advocated the unfettered markets. But people failed because free market Capitalism is a clear and forceful idea. They were not convinced with any other alternate to Capitalism. But failure to find alternate led to strengthening of free market proponents. He cited the example of crises of Greece where opponent of austerity failed and the ideas of neo-liberalism was reinforced.

He apprehends that with such measures the global order may survive but it will be in a weakened form. He argues that the economic failure of the West has eroded belief in values and institutions that were once the ideals for all the liberal and democratic societies. The West never thought the permanency of these institutions will ever be questioned. But now "even the lip service to internal law is evaporating; and torture, censorship, arbitrary detention and mass surveillance are becoming the regular tools of statecraft." In the developing countries, initiative and dynamism for economic development on the basis of free economy has also exhausted.

Paul Mason don’t want to keep supporters of Capitalism in dark and warns that at present stage of Capitalism there is a mismatch between the market system and economy emerging on the new foundations i.e. information technology. Besides considering financial crises a cause of problems of Capitalism, he cites technological changes especially in the information technology field, which are demanding re-orientation of approach toward economic system. Mason says that it was only digital technology which actually paused the breath during the slump. The development in information technology sector, therefore, has necessitated changes in Capitalism.

Facebook, Google, Twitter, Youtube and smart phones are now common words being used by everybody in daily life. Many semi-illiterate persons know how to use these new devices and their programmes. Children who even have not stepped into play schools start using these new ‘hand held machines’. Everybody realise the social impact of these instruments in daily life. But if we want to know that how smart phones have changed the economic and political system, Paul Mason’s book will be helpful.

We know how much the Facebook, Google, Youtube have changed our life. Laptop size has decreased and in fact it has been superseded by the smartphone and tablet. But we have little knowledge how much it has affected the finance and economy. The iphone conquered the world but this was itself surpassed by Android smart phones. Digital system has replaced cash. Consumers became direct participants in the financial markets: credit cards, overdrafts, mortgages, student loans and motor car loans have now become part of everyday life.

A growing proportion of profit in the economy is now being made not by employing workers, or by providing goods and services but by lending these to people. A large number of people are dependent upon credits obtained through cards. Parallel currencies, time banks, cooperatives and self-managed spaces have proliferated barely noticed by economists. Though we practice, we hardly consciously realise that ‘our lives are financialised’.

The information technologies have reduced the need of work in shops and offices. It has blurred the edges between work and free time and loosened the relationship between work and wages. The whole society is a factory. Individualism has replaced collectivism and solidarity.

Paul Mason also sees the reduced role of market. According to him, from 1940-2008 the economy was based on the new technologies of transistors, synthetic materials, mass consumer goods, factory automation, nuclear power and automatic calculation. But with the help of user-friendly information technology the requirement of high-skilled worker has reduced. Collaborative production: goods, services and organisations are appearing that no longer respond to dictates of the market and managerial hierarchy. He cites the example of Wikipedia which is not being produced in one workshop. It is being produced by hundreds of thousands people without any salary.

Capitalism is an organism -- it has a lifecycle. People don’t want to go to socialism so an alternative is required. Mason fears that more countries will quit globalisation via protectionism, debt write-offs and currency manipulation. But the major issue is how to de-financialise the society -- because printing of dollars will not solve the problem.

In an economy rooted in information technology, the access to information cannot be suppressed. The production is collective, collaborative and sometime voluntary beyond the market. Hence it should be socialised. He does not advocate state control. But he wants socialisation and stabilisation of a financial system which should be compatible with the progressing economy towards high automation, low work and abundant cheap or free goods and services.