As someone who didn’t know a whole lot about Venezuela, I found this book very informative. While it is accessible even to those with little to no prior knowledge, it can be a little difficult to follow at times due to the sheer amount of information there is to take in and to keep track of – people, organisations, terminology, etc.

I appreciate Ciccariello-Maher emphasising that Venezuela’s current socioeconomic situation was a long time coming and that there wasn’t a single revolution in which everything changed overnight; rather, it’s an ongoing process and the product of decades of build-up. On the topic of building up, much of the book is dedicated to how the communes are constructed from the bottom-up through grassroots participation rather than from the top-down with the state/government choosing to decentralise. This was one of the things I was vaguely aware of before reading the book, but having it laid out so plainly made me really understand its significance and appreciate it more.

Building the Commune is definitely a book I’d recommend, and it’s probably one I’ll revisit at some point.