Imaginary Power, Real Horizons : The Practicality of Utopianism

A defense of the radical imagination from a scholar of social movements. Political theorist and philosopher Richard Gilman-Opalsky’s Imaginary Power, Real Horizons is a tribute to the imagination and to its necessity for liberatory struggle. “‘Impractical’ is the name given to anyone who imagines something radically other than what exists,” he writes. However, many things—such as the abolition of slavery—were dismissed as impractical before they came to be. In a warm, plainspoken manner, these essays chart the affects of creativity and utopianism through topics as varied as the cyclical nature of popular movements; the international history of May Day; the experience of teaching political theory and Marxism in contemporary China; and the revolutionary aspirations of Free Jazz. The human imagination is a real, world-creating power, and those who would declare otherwise have a poor understanding of history. Imaginary Power, Real Horizons is a call to action for those who would dare to dream of a society organized by a different logic than capitalism. A mind-expanding exploration of the political force of the imagination. When we imagine a different society organized by a different logic than capitalism, what we imagine is not (yet) in the world as a material reality. To what extent is a rival vision for life on Earth a prerequisite for living differently? After all, we cannot aim to create what we cannot imagine. When we imagine something, it is already present . Human imagination is a world-creating power. Radical theorist Richard Gilman-Opalsky explores the function of imaginary power in contexts as diverse as revolts across the globe, Black radical music, the international history of May Day, the George Floyd Rebellion, and ideology in present-day China. He reminds us that people once denounced slavery abolitionists and radical suffragettes as utopian. So much is declared impossible until it starts to happen. In these expansive and surprising essays, Gilman-Opalsky demonstrates that anti-utopian naysayers suffer from limited imaginations, poor understandings of history, or worse, are favorably disposed toward a deadly status quo. Imaginary Power, Real Horizons , on the other hand, considers the urgent theoretical and practical importance of our ability to dream up our successes in real struggles to abolish the terrors of capital.