ENGELS once said that capitalist society “stands at the crossroads, either transition to socialism or regression into barbarism.”

Commenting on these remarks during World War I, the great socialist Rosa Luxemburg said: “What does ‘regression into barbarism’ mean to our lofty European civilisation? Until now, we have all probably read and repeated these words thoughtlessly, without suspecting their fearsome seriousness. A look around us at this moment shows what the regression of bourgeois society into barbarism means. This world war is a regression into barbarism. The triumph of imperialism leads to the annihilation of civilisation.”

Today, as we see the climate catastrophe, the wars in Gaza and elsewhere, the insane new nuclear arms race which is set to escalate, and the dire economic situation globally, it is clearly the case that the choice is socialism or barbarism.