ABSTRACT
I MAGINING THE POSSIBLE is not always so simple as it might seem. Espe-cially when one thinks about politics, the imagination is usually associated with utopia while the possible is identified with the acceptance of existing constraints and the "art" of brokering compromises without any sense of long-term gain or loss. There is something valuable in setting high the standard of change and remembering the utopian hopes raised of the past. But, too often, this occurs at the expense of fully appreciating the fight for reforms attendant upon fostering democracy, shortening the workweek, and improving the quality oflife. Neither principle nor compromise has an exclusive claim on truth. The imagination and the possible should not be placed in rigid opposition with one another: the one often inspires the other. Under present circumstances, however, the connection between ideals for creating the best life and plans for creating a better one is becoming increasingly tenuous. Progressive forces have been enmeshed within the agenda set by their opponents for decades. Reinvigorating the left calls for reasserting precisely this connection. Thus, Imagining the Possible will highlight the shifting intersection between radical goals and immediate demands, the exercise of freedom and the constraints of necessity, where we would like to go and where we are now.
