ABSTRACT
Humanism seemed to exhaust itself after freeing the mind of theology's dogmatisms and after its return to, and fresh appreciation of, the Greek classics. With the bourgeoisie securely established, humanism degenerated into humanitarianism for the alleviation of the social misery that accompanied the capital formation process. The struggle for a humanist society incorporates humanism as an 'ideal' because it is not as yet a reality. Socialism, by looking at things as they are, cannot help contemplating what they ought to be. Humanism as a practical reality presupposes socialism. According to Marx, capitalism represents the present stage of a long developmental process of changing modes and relations of social production. The capitalist world, unable to transform itself into a socialist society, but still able either to neutralise or subdue the potentially-given social forces that could affect such a transformation, tends towards its own self-destruction. The resumption of the struggle for socialism would also be the rebirth of socialist humanism.
