The limits of Marxist-Leninism and the democratic ecosocialist alternative

The socio-ecological crisis of capitalism has given rise to right-wing populism in various parts of the world, including South Africa. Invoking Rick Turner’s ‘necessity of Utopian thinking’, this article assesses the limits of statist twentieth-century Marxist-Leninism and considers the democratic-humanist alternative that inspired the re-emerging South African trade union movement in the 1970s. It then looks at the rise of various social-ecological perspectives and the transformation of Marxist-Leninist parties in Rojava, north-east Syria, as well as Kerala, India. It argues that South Africa, like most parts of the world, desperately needs to build a democratic-humanist, ecological and feminist political centre that can harness the various social-ecological struggles being waged in order to provide a viable counter-hegemonic alternative to the moribund politics of the country. If it does not, the forces of reactionary populism, of various kinds, will gather strength.