Crisis, Solidarity Economies and Socialism

The argument of this paper is that the search for alternatives to capitalism, the prevailing and dominant socio-economic and political system in South Africa (and elsewhere), is both necessary and urgent, especially because it has failed to meet even the most basic needs and aspirations of the citizenry. In South Africa, this failure is borne out by the fact that despite all the policy reforms, strategies and plans of the post-Apartheid government, the material conditions of the vast majority of people have not met the promise of liberation and may in fact have regressed in some regards. The article examines key elements of the failures of capitalism by reference to a key set of critical indicators, following which it examines some of the foundational ideas about socialism that underpin the emergent solidaristic responses to global corporate capitalism. The final section will deal with the emergence of alternative solidaristic and cooperative forms of social and solidaristic economy in response to the persistent crisis of capitalism and its effects on the global poor and the natural environment.