ABSTRACT

A new phase in capitalist development – extractive capitalism, based more on the plunder of society's natural resource wealth and the destructive operations of 'resource-seeking' or extractive capital than the exploitation of labour – the forces of resistance and the activism of the anti-capitalist social movements has forged a new anti-neoliberal and anti-imperialist alliance. Latin America has become for several reasons a privileged scenario for a reconsideration of the socialist project. After several years of silence, a strategic discussion regarding socialism is re-emerging on the Latin American Left, which once again is analysing assessments and courses of action in order to advance towards socialism. The eradication of capitalism is a project entirely dependent on the level of consciousness of the oppressed. The experience of 'actually existing socialism' illustrates how damaging it is to substitute the paternalism of functionaries for the initiative of the people. Socialism requires preparing and consummating anti-capitalist ruptures.