when I read that article on German growing renewable energy might (a notion that would have been mocked just a few years ago) my conviction of living through the final stage of Capitalism was slightly shattered because, theoretically at least, renewables offer almost unlimited economic expansion possibilities. However, as I see it, what is hope for Capitalism is bad news for revolution and Socialism. You can't have both. We won't reach Socialism through Capitalism: it's impossible. I agree however in this: "The problem for socialists is that the working class have been neutered and their self organisation (which was becoming obvious to Marx and Engels) has been displaced". But I ask: why would anyone organize in a socialism manner within triumphant Capitalism that offers, like in its apogee in the 1960s, safe long-term jobs, cheap housing and gadgets and very reasonable welfare in a context of relatively good freedom levels? It was precisely then when the unions collapsed and Thatcher, the woman who puffed icecream with air, coalesced as iconic forger of our last three decades, creating yet-another-growth-bubble out of cheap credit while demolishing unions and revolutionary hopes. 10 years ago when the Thatcherite-Reaganist late version of Capitalism was booming while the USSR collapsed and the USA invaded Afghanistan, Iraq and Haiti with total impunity, even die-hard communists were doubting their lifelong convictions. You can't make a revolution in such circumstances (c. 2000). You need a weakened, elderly, sick Capitalism to be able to conceive that revolutionary change can in