Despair is typical of those who do not understand the causes of evil, see no way out, and are incapable of struggle. The modern industrial proletariat does not belong to the category of such classes.

Lenin, 1910

The world stands at a crossroads. Economic crisis, the drive to war, ecological disasters, and societal collapse signpost a future full of suffering and destruction which is already the reality for many around the globe. Gaza, Lebanon, Sudan and Ukraine serve as a warning of what's to come. As new horrors confront us each time we switch on the TV, listen to the radio or check our social media, it is easy to become despondent. The one question that few seem to be asking is: what's the alternative?

The challenges facing humanity in the 21st century are not some accident of fate, nor are they simply a result of bad choices made by bad individuals. They are all branches of the same tree, a product of historically specific social relations which we call the capitalist mode of production. Fundamentally, we live in societies organised around the pursuit of profit, not the fulfillment of human needs. It is the profit motive which influences the significant decisions humanity makes at the international, national and even interpersonal level. Of course, one small section of society gets more of a say than everyone else. Those with money, property, land – in other words, owners of capital – control the real levers of power. The rest of us only get to sell our labour-power, and maybe vote every four or five years for which representative of the rich gets to rule over us. Ultimately, capitalism as a system was established by force and dispossession, and at every level cut-throat competition, exploitation and oppression are its hallmarks.

One of the great tragedies of the 20th century is undoubtedly the fact that all the societies which, in one way or another, claimed to be an alternative to capitalism proved to be shams that only reproduced the system, sometimes in catastrophic ways. Whether it was "social democracy", "national socialism", or "actually existing socialism", fundamental characteristics of the capitalist mode of production (wage labour, money and commodity production) remained in place, but under conditions of intensified government intervention. That is why we consider all these regimes to be expressions of state capitalism, rather than any real alternative.

But then, what do terms like socialism or communism even mean, if anything? To us, they herald a stateless, classless, moneyless society based on humanity collectively producing and distributing the products of our labour for the satisfaction of our needs. And it is only the mass movement of the working class – those of us who create the profits which allow capitalism to function – that can bring such a world about.

Relations between humans don't have to take the form of exploitation and oppression. We don't have to live at war with nature and each other. We know this from history. Humanity as a species emerged some 300,000 years ago and most of our existence was spent in small stateless, classless, moneyless societies where cooperation and solidarity were key to our survival. We can't turn back the clock and nor would we want to – humanity, with all the latest technological and social advancements at hand, is better placed than ever to consciously organise new and better ways of living. We know this is possible also from our present. Despite the pursuit of profit above all else being the most "rational" behaviour under the current system, humans continue to display acts of cooperation and solidarity every day. Sometimes this even takes on a mass scale, as we have seen with revolutionary movements seeking to transform society.

Which brings us to another point – communism or socialism is not just an idea, but a real class movement born out of the contradictions of capitalist society. To borrow Marx's metaphor, that class movement is like the old mole, which digs and digs underground and only periodically emerges on the surface. Sometimes it digs so deep that even would-be revolutionaries lose hope or start looking for short-cuts, while the ruling class and their apologists celebrate, declaring class struggle to be over. This is only a temporary victory, for as long as class society exists, class struggle will continue to reappear, in another place, at another time, in a new form.

For more than a century now the capitalist edifice has been ripe for overturning, becoming more and more rotten by the decade. The imperialist states of today are like "the New Leviathan, beside which the fantasy of Thomas Hobbes looks like a child’s toy" (Bukharin, 1915). But they are running out of options for keeping the profit system going.

Marxism, understood as a critical and revolutionary method of analysis, is a weapon against commodity society. It allows us to see that twists and turns and sudden breaks are also part of human history. And one way or another, we are gradually approaching such a period. The question is: will the working class be able to enter the stage of history as a real social force or will it remain a sleeping giant to whom history is done to?