The Latin American left in the twentieth century and the recovered utopia

Abstract

The history of Latin America began with their struggle for independence from colonial powers and prolonged to our days with the resurgence of popular movement and the recovery of utopia that reflects ancestral emancipatory efforts and reaffirms that “a different world is possible”, one of the main ways of theorizing has been the Latin American social change. Throughout the twentieth century in Latin America has been developed a critical thinking that has led theory to its logical conclusion in search for explanations of how it had to be transformed and which direction would it follow. In this theoretical and practical effort the left wing has always been present, particularly the various Marxists expressions. Therefore, in order to understand the current situation of Latin America is indispensable to become acquainted of the debates and experiences of these theoretical branch, because if the trajectory of social movements is not taken into account then what is currently occurring in the region would only be explained as an accident of social development attributed only to messianic character appearances or mere isolated actions without roots or possible historical explanation. However, in trying to recover the debates and actions of the Marxist branch as an indispensable part of the Latin American left, this paper aims to show that the current situation of Latin America is not circumstantial or capricious but the result of a long history forged in the struggle of our people trying to finally obtain their political, cultural and economic emancipation.