ABSTRACT
One of the fundamental questions addressed by this book is the possibility of building socialism in the twenty-first century in conditions of a system that is in crisis, conditions that might well be described as barbaric. Historically this dichotomy (barbarism or socialism) was resolved via: (1) the conquest of the state and (2) the socialist transformation of the economy and the society by means of state power and the active mobilization of the working classes. The form that socialism subsequently took, and the successful transition from capitalism to socialism in some contexts and the failure in others, were contingent on changing conditions. Material and objective conditions and their effects on subjective and political consciousness as well as the correlation of class forces and the particular conjuncture of these conditions effected the transition to socialism. Today, the problem of building socialism is very different, particularly the changed conditions of capitalist development (neoliberal globalization) and the added dimension of having to rebuild it under conditions of the collapse, some two decades ago, of a particular form of socialism. Because conditions today are manifestly different than they were in the twentieth century this complicates the terms for bringing about socialism-the question of ‘what can be done’ under these conditions?
