Their End Is Our Beginning

A deeply reported analysis of the connections between policing and capitalism, centering global lessons of revolt and resistance Where do cops come from and what do they do? How did "modern policing" as we know it today come to be? What about the capitalist state necessitates policing? In this clear and comprehensive account of why and how the police--the linchpin of capitalism--function and exist, organizer and author brian bean takes these questions on and presents a clear need for the abolition of policing and capitalism. Expanding the prevailing narratives of how modern policing came to be, Their End Is Our Beginning uses a Marxist framework to trace different practices of oppression, colonial rule, and experimentation spearheaded by ruling nations around the globe in their efforts to secure the grip of capitalism. bean draws from extensive interviews with activists from Mexico to Ireland to Egypt, whose lessons and perspectives bring nuance to the meaning of "solidarity" and clarity to what "abolition" and "revolution" look like in practice. Featuring illustrations by Chicago-based artist Charlie Aleck, Their End Is Our Beginning is an incendiary book that offers a socialist analysis of policing and the capitalist state, a vital discussion of the contours of abolition at large, and the revolutionary logic needed for liberation.