Is Socialism Possible?
When this essay by Sam Gindin was first published as “Socialism for Realists” in the Fall of 2018 in Catalyst, the left was at a crossroads. In the preceding years the idea of socialism seemed to finally be on the political map with several left electoral projects gaining traction in many western countries, and anti-capitalist agendas still gathering steam in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Despite these glimmers of hope, there was no overarching strategy, form of organization, or vision of a feasible socialist future.
This essay provided – and continues to provide – a reference point for what a realistic emancipatory political project could look like. It doesn’t exist solely as a ‘thought experiment’ or set of technical proposals for reordering society; it is an attempt to locate socialism in the possible. Readers are challenged to think in radically creative ways, while grounding a renewed socialist imagination in concrete realities and struggles. It is not another argument for a new ‘social compromise’ and a return to a social democracy that no longer exists.
This essay remains an influential guidepost for organizing efforts seeking to take advantage of the new opening. Initiatives such as the DSA’s National Education Committee, the Socialist Project’s Leo Panitch School for Socialist Education, and others have drawn on it to both inspire a new generation of socialists, and to ground experienced activists. Sam’s essay is a sober reminder that socialism won’t come to us ready-made, but that we will all have a part to play turning it from credible possibility into reality.
Socialist Interventions Pamphlet No. 25 – August 2025.
