ABSTRACT

This chapter briefly provides a sketch of the different dimensions of the complex and interrelated totality. Learning from the past experiences of both revolutionary and reformist strategies, it argues that a post-capitalist society is only possible when a counter-hegemony at different national and global levels is established to replace capitalism with a superior socio-economic system. The long and protracted process of transition to socialism involves a preparatory and transitional phase during the capitalist era, radical social democracy, and involves new forms of mobilization, education and organization. The new strategies, aiming at a clear and workable goal, will meld aspects of militancy of the revolutionary approach with the pragmatism of incremental reform, towards establishing democratic socialism. The transition from capitalism to democratic socialism is possible only when anti-capitalist forces and a large segment of the agents of social transformation can establish a counter-hegemony at the national and global levels.