What Can Be Salvaged from Twentieth-Century Socialism?

• with David Broder, historian of Italian Communism and Europe Editor at Jacobin Magazine

The fall of the Iron Curtain culminated 30 years ago with German reunification and the transition to parliamentary democracy in what remained of the Eastern Bloc. Though the Soviet Union would formally exist for another year, it was clear that the socialist movement as it had existed for 150 years was dead and buried. Or was it? Three decades on, most of the ex-socialist countries continue to lag behind their Western counterparts, while global capitalism has undergone several severe crises and proves utterly unable to address the escalating climate catastrophe. Against this backdrop, socialist ideas and organizations have experienced a resurgence in many parts of the world. This week, we’ll be joined by socialist historian David Broder of Jacobin Magazine to discuss the legacy of the classical socialist movement in both East and West, and ask what, if anything, can be salvaged from the radical politics that animated this eventful period in human history.

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