Vol. 31 No. 1 (2019)

Communism is a necessary starting point for any political or theoretical discussion of anticommunism. Exorcised for nearly two centuries, communism today is not just occluded by the prohibition of thinking or practicing it, but also expelled by a complete ban on desiring it. Not only does mention of communism bring disgust on the Right, fully aware that the oncehorrifying spectre is just its pale shadow today; communism is also an uncomfortable relative for the Left. At best a troublesome legacy of the past – at worst, a foe actively fought against. The desire for communism – as a goal, as an experience of everyday life, as co-existence, coproduction and co-abolition of constraints that stand in the way of truly democratic governance – lay at the heart of designing a better future. Therefore, only a mediation in the desire for communism can make the considerations of anti-communism something more than a mere contribution to the emergence of yet another form of “anti” politics.