Slavoj Zizek likes to put it like this: Communism is not the name of a solution, its a name of a problem. Meaning that the problems of capitalism still exist, which communism tried to give an answer to and failed. Its the problem of the commons.
So he is basically saying, that a democratic state that is based on private property cannot solve things like intellectual property esp. concerning big data, biotechnology, externalities that lead to serious ecological damage like global warming, etc. And of course capitalism is a system, that produces failed people all the time.
The decline of democracy is a symptom that capitalism reached a theoretical limit in its developement.
The question that concerns me is how much of the communist ideology is still actual today? On Wallstreet alot of people still like Marx, since his description of capitalism is quite acurate, even today. But Lenin and others - most people are shocked if you just mention these names.
I still think Lenin said alot of intelligent things and i like his theory of imperialistic states. Dont know how dated it is, since two thirds of the world is imperialistic today, given Lenins criteria like capital export.
Is there any chance to update communism and which theories have the most potential to do so?