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This is Jodi Dean responding to a critical review of The Communist Horizon. The critique ends with pessimism and dismissal of communism: I remain pessimistic about the likelihood that these forces will effectively organize an alternative to the current neoliberal hegemony. Contrary to Marx's famous quip, mankind does not always set for itself only problems it is able to solve. And it is likely that the range of problems currently before us will persist and even grow, and that an effective political response will not be forthcoming. This is a reason to refrain from celebrating a post-historical dispensation or from mythologizing the power of the democratic Left. But it is also a reason to refrain from mythologizing communism or fantasizing about a "communist horizon." Communism was a god that failed. And the communist horizon is a fantasy of salvation.