Abstract

Just as thirty years ago, we witnessed the fall of the Berlin Wall and the failure of real socialism, in the past decade, we have seen the fall of the stock market and the collapse of the neoliberal story of the “end of history”. Social injustice appears everywhere, even in wealthy European countries and North America. Inequalities and social discontent can no longer be denied, making us think again about the future, about possible futures, new futures different from the one being imposed by the existing world chaos. And this is what I would like to elaborate on here together with you. What is communism? Regardless of the names used, communism, postcapitalism, libertarian socialism, commons or common goods, communism is one possible answer to the question, what is the future of humanity? It is one way of designating a probable and future organization of human life, different from the current capitalist organization, one that will be able to overcome the injustices and contradictions that capitalism itself is undergoing. In these cases, we refer to something likely and, in addition, something that concerns the future; something that does not yet exist but that could emerge over time.