From left melancholy to real utopia: modern left about the future

The failure of the project of socialism in the twentieth century led to what can be designated as a loss of horizon of expectations. People are increasingly focused on the present, and the future, if considered, is more as a source of fears and uncertainty, and not as an opportunity to implement human aspirations and projects. Various methods of “privatization” of their living space lead to escapism from more global social projects. Even the very idea of utopia becomes privatized as part of the current state of affairs. Thus, there is a crisis of ideas about the future, which calls into question how humanity will develop in the future. In this situation, the discourse about the future among modern leftists acquires important values for possible social changes that can be available to society. In addition, how these concepts affect the ideas about a person and his place in a socio-political system also play an important role. This article tries to reconstruct the current state of utopia in the left social and philosophical discourse. For this, an analysis of such socio-political concepts as “left melancholy”, “utopia as education of desires” and “real utopia” is carried out. The conclusion is made of varying degrees of relevance and importance of these concepts for society as a whole and a person in particular.