Are There Laws Governing the Movement of History?

Abstract

The text translated below is an excerpt from Libercomunismo: Scienza dell’Utopia, by Italian political economist Emiliano Brancaccio, published by Feltrinelli in 2026. In this book, Brancaccio advances a bold and theoretically rigorous rethinking of political economy, seeking to rehabilitate the concept of utopia as a scientifically grounded and materially rooted project. Moving beyond both orthodox determinism and liberal reformism, Brancaccio proposes “liber-communism” as a framework for confronting contemporary crises of capitalism, including inequality, financial instability and democratic erosion. The present excerpt is introduced and translated by Salvatore Prinzi, whose contribution situates the text within broader debates on critical political economy, while also making Brancaccio’s complex arguments accessible to an English-speaking audience. Together, the introduction and translation aim to highlight the contemporary relevance of Brancaccio’s intervention and its potential implications for reimagining transformative social change.