In 1989, after the collapse of the Soviet Union, capitalism extended into Eastern Europe, and brought the "consumer dream" of happiness through stuff to the impoverished masses of the former Eastern Bloc. This dream has turned out to be an illusion for many.
Robbed of former ideals and beliefs and feeling powerless to control their future many now seek alternatives. One such alternative, was described by renowned Polish sociologist Zygmund Bauman in his last book. He called it Retropia; it is a form of utopia in the past. As absurd as it may seem for those who knew the real historical past, idealizing it, or selected portions of it, may seem attractive. The temptation is fuelled in large part by today's lack of credible visions of a better world. Has the Left, the traditional source of utopian dreams, lost the struggle for minds, not just for popular support?
Bauman thinks so. One result is that people are left with two primary lifestyle options, both troubling: one - existence as a faceless individual alienated from community and their fellow consumers; the other - join a mass movement, of the kind offered by today's right-wing populists, that idealizes a previous world of connectedness from the past. For Bauman this latter ideal of what he calls retrotopia is an opponent to the progress sought by all left movements, that is: a continuous improvement in the human condition for all. Without reframing positive left futures Bauman leaves us with the clear conclusion that going back to times that were anything but utopias is definitely not the way forward.
