Reviving the Commons: A Unifying Vision for Our Common Wealth with Guy Standing

Thursday January 16th
Doors & drinks 6.30pm; Talk starts 7pm

This event is now fully booked. If any places open up, we will make them available here on the morning of the talk. Please check back then. 

Could the revival of “the Commons” provide the basis for a new progressive political agenda? What would a radically new form of governance look like that was based on equitable, ecologically-sustainable shared common wealth, and how could we start moving towards it?

Throughout 2025, Kairos will be holding a series of discussions focused on the Commons. To launch the series, economist Guy Standing, will set out a framework for a Commons perspective. Using education as an example, he will explain what a Commons entails, counter some misconceptions (such as the flawed thinking behind the “tragedy of the commons”) and explore the governance principles required to preserve or revive our Commons.

The History of the Commons

Since ancient times, and the formation of common law in the Justinian Codex of AD529-534, there have been four forms of property – private property, state property, nobody’s property and common property. The Commons have always been the bedrock of society, and “Commoning” (ie shared activities in the commons) have been desired forms of activity by the world’s Commoners.

In Britain, all the great rebellions and social movements have been in defence of the Commons or attempts to revive or extend them. These include the social struggle that led to Magna Carta and the Charter of the Forest of 1217, the Peasants’ Revolt of 1381, Kett’s Rebellion of 1549, the Civil War of the early 17th century, the Blacking movement of the early 18th century, the Luddites of the early 19th century, the Chartists of the 1830s and the Socialist League of William Morris in the 1890s, as well as the anarchism of Kropotkin and fellow travellers.

Over the centuries, all forms of Commons (natural, civil, social, cultural and intellectual) have been plundered, and in much the same sequence - through encroachment, enclosure, privatisation, commodification and financialisation.

To take education for example, the principles and practices of the education Commons were established in ancient Athens. Over the ages they have been shredded, first by religious and class-based bigotries and latterly by the neo-liberal emphasis on ‘human capital’ and the construction of a globalised education industry dominated by financial capital and by the plutocracy.

A Unifying Vision for a New Progressive Politics

With today’s globalised and financialised rentier capitalism, more and more of the income and wealth flows to the owners of private property (physical, financial and so-called intellectual property). Successive British governments have failed to learn the lesson that conventional policies to promote GDP growth has only increased inequalities and economic insecurity, while causing the devastation of our natural world.

Guy will argue that a new progressive politics should be centred on a revival of the Commons and Commoning and suggest a direction for future discussions. Depending on the development of our conversations over the coming months, one outcome might be the drafting of a modern Charter of the Commons that could form the basis for a public campaign.

Guy’s talk will be followed by supper and discussion.

Read Guy's recent article for Labour Hub, Can the Commons be the Left's Ethical Ground?

Kairos, 84 Tottenham Court Road, London W1T 4TG

Doors open at 6.30pm for drinks. Event starts at 7pm.

£8 Kairos Club Member, £15 Non-member, £10 Struggling financially, £20 Supporter. Food complimentary.

Before requesting a discounted ticket, please consider sincerely: Are you struggling to meet your basic needs? Would you have to make a genuine sacrifice to buy a full priced ticket? Do you have reduced earnings through a lifestyle choice or because you’re dedicating your time to unpaid work relating to the climate and nature crises?

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