Reviewing the Conception of Socialism: A Possible Reading of The Alternative by Rudolf Bahro

Abstract

This article shall present a summary of the book The Alternative by the German intellectual Rudolf Bahro. Its theoretical aspects and interpretations of the Soviet-type socialism are examined in depth as well as his proposal of how could this be overcome by means of a cultural revolution. Bahro’s analysis sought to explain the origin of the that system and proposed its transformation, convinced as he was that objective and subjective conditions were present in those societies that he calls developed socialism. The article also examines the impact on the Spanish-speaking world and the importance of his proposal to explain bureaucratic features and its overcoming, where he encourages the classics of Marxism.

Keywords

GDR, really existing socialism, bureaucracy, subalternity, intellectuals, cultural revolution