How utopias end In Krytyka, No. 7-8 (9-10), 1998, pp. 20-23.

The article contains Volodymyr Panchenko’s considerations of utopias and their role in society using communism as an example. The article examines the causes of mass killings carried out by communists during the so-called “red revolutions” and later under communist regimes.. The author finds the answer in one of the programmatic communist texts – The Communist Manifesto.

As Volodymyr Panchenko notes, The Manifesto already contains the threat of systemic violence and dictatorship, justified by the need to “correct history” and achieve the utopia of communism. The author emphasizes that utopian ideas remain attractive, despite warnings about the dangerous consequences of their implementation.

Finally, the author states that peoples have an inherent need for myths and, consequently, for utopias. At the same time, he emphasizes the confusion of post-Soviet states in the face of their own future, caused by the gradual loss of connection with the communist utopia.