Authoritarian collectivism and the dilemmas of the socialist alternative to capitalism in the 21st century

Abstract

This review aims to present the central elements of the book Authoritarian collectivism and “real socialism”: trajectory in the 20th century and issues of the 21st century, by José Maurício Domingues, which aims to analyze the experience of “real socialism”. Through his analysis of the Soviet Union and other countries, the sociologist defends the inauthenticity of the concrete experiences of socialism that he conceptually calls “authoritarian collectivism”. Through a critical reading, it would be possible to establish the conditions for the institution of an authentic socialist experience, as it was theoretically formulated since Marx and Engels. Based on the book's arguments, I argue that Domingues builds a theory relevant to the decentering of social and political theory and for the left to reassess its Stalinist heritage. However, the normative dimension could be further developed through dialogue with the critical sociology of Florestan Fernandes, which has as its guiding principle the radical transformation of reality to promote an authentic socialist solution.