A POSTCAPITALIST PARADIGM: THE COMMON GOOD OF ...

The dominant classes are convinced that these will result in growth –
evidently a growth in the form of a champagne goblet, as was shown
by the UNDP, increasing concentration in the wealthier categories of the
population.
However, in the meantime there is a price to pay. This could be so high
that it would be socially and ecologically insupportable. This is why, to
take a long-term view, alternatives are necessary. In other words, a new
paradigm of human development must be established. The present situation
is affecting the very basics of life on the planet, particularly human
life. It is a question of 1) the responsibility of the human species for the
survival of the Earth; 2) finding ways to produce the material bases of
life; 3) collective social and political organization; 4) understanding reality
and the ethics of social construction (culture). Redefining a new paradigm
involves revising these four aspects of the present system.
Obviously, opting for alternatives to the present system and proposing
a new paradigm for human development does not hinder the adoption
of measures to resolve the immediate problems that are the products
of capitalist logic. It is in this sense that Rosa Luxemburg proposed a dialectical
vision of the relationship between reforms and revolution. Thus
it is not possible to scorn social policies that try to remedy the effects
of neo-liberalism: we shall return to this further on. To find a solution,
theoretical and practical, it is necessary to raise again the whole question
of transition.
The transition
As we know, Karl Marx used the concept of transition to describe the
passing from feudalism to capitalism, showing how, little by little, the
forms of the former were incapable of ensuring the conditions of social
survival and its progress, and how new forms developed that transformed
the general mode of production and social formation. Today the
situation is different because, while capitalism has developed new contradictions
and while some forms of socialism have appeared, the
process must be planned in order to accelerate the latter. We do not
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