We are faced with a real historical paradox: while the capitalistic way of production shows all its limits and confirms its transitional nature – throughout the bob up of its contradictions - socialism has become a meaningless word.

Stalinist counter-revolution can be surely mentioned among the causes of this loss of meaning. First, Stalinism succeeded in passing one of the most violent capitalistic dictatorship off as socialism; then, with its fall, it has also decreed the failure of it.

Socialism - as transitional phase from the capitalistic to the communist society - is identified not only as the one social form that can satisfy the needs of the collectivity without exploiting the workers; it also sets the primary material conditions to accomplish the biggest revolution in History.

Nowadays, it is possible to restore the meaning of the word “socialism” as a concrete alternative that does not arise from the “thought that thinks itself”. It is possible on the condition of critically revising all the former elaboration about the so-called phase of transition developed by the revolutionary Marxism, particularly Marx in Critique to the Gotha Program and Lenin in State and Revolution.

We are surer and surer of that, especially with regards to the contributions on the topic by the current left communist's political organisations; contributions that are based on the slavish repetition of the formulations inherited from the 19th century and the Third International. We start a reflection that aims to define – at least in general terms – the contents of the socialist transformation in the modern and complex capitalistic society, so different from the nineteenth-century's one, when the theory of the “scientific socialism” has been formulated.

Thematics are broad and complex. We aim to start a discussion that we hope being as developed as possible.

For contributions, reflections, exchanges on the topic, please write to us:  amministrazione@istitutoonoratodamen.it