There’s a lot to like in Seth Ackerman’s essay, “The Red and the Black,” even if his argument ultimately fails to convince.

First, and most important among the positives, is his emphasis on talking about utopian goals. After decades of retreat in the face of a resurgent finance capitalism, the Left can no longer rely on the idea that the victory of the working class is inevitable, and that we should focus on organizing to hasten its arrival, before worrying about what kind of society will replace the existing order.

Now that finance capitalism is in crisis, and its failure to deliver its promises is evident to anyone willing to look, the possibilities for progress are opening up once again. But anger against the failures of the existing order can just as easily be channeled into the right-wing tribalism of the Tea Party in the US, or National Front parties in Europe. To quote my own thoughts on utopian vision