Rethinking everything: Anti-capitalisms without socialism. A conversation with Teodor Shanin

Abstract

A growing number of people are asking what to do about capitalism. With the Sixth Declaration of the Lacandon Jungle, the Zapatistas brought this question into public debate and onto the political agenda. They firmly declared that their struggle was anti-capitalist. Among those who celebrated this, many took for granted the socialist sign of that position: if they are against capitalism, they must be socialists. But we should not approach this question by stepping backwards, returning to the ideological dispute that trapped us for more than a century. We face an unprecedented situation, which cannot be examined with the tools of the past.