THE IMPOSSIBLE: COMMUNISM

In the late 90’s, political theorists, economists and politicians were talking confidently about the end of history and the undisputed triumph of liberal “democratic” capitalism. Communism was written off as dead and buried. But after 9/11, the GFC, the Arab Spring, and the protests spreading over Europe, the ideological gloss of capitalism may be beginning to fade. If the alternative is Putin’s muscular Tsarism or China’s authoritarian capitalism, then renovating the idea of communism may matter profoundly.

For philosophical rock star and brilliant iconoclast Slavoj Žižek, it is something that we should demand, no matter how impossible it seems. The only true utopia today is that things can go on indefinitely the way they are.

Slavoj Žižek is a Slovenian philosopher, critical theorist and author working in the traditions of Hegelianism, Marxism and psychoanalysis.

Chaired by Ann Mossop