Red Emma’s

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.

"As a Marxist, I have to say that to be a communist in today’s world is hard and precarious. Gilman-Opalsky’s Imaginary Power, Real Horizons is a vital source of inspiration to be a communist today and to envision a new utopia based on love." —Kohei Saito, author of Marx in the Anthropocene

Richard Gilman-Opalsky is professor of political theory and philosophy in the School of Politics and International Affairs at the University of Illinois. He is author of seven books, including The Communism of Love, Specters of Revolt, and Precarious Communism. Gilman-Opalsky has lectured widely throughout the world, and his work has been translated and published in Greek, Spanish, French, and German.

Vanessa Christina Wills is Associate Professor of Philosophy at The George Washington University. She is a founding editor of Spectre Journal, a biannual journal of Marxist theory, strategy, and analysis, and the author of Marx's Ethical Vision.