The very successful first volume followed the 2009 conference called in response to Alain Badiou’s “communist hypothesis,” where an all-star cast of radical intellectuals put the idea of communism back on the map. This volume brings together papers from the subsequent 2011 New York conference organized by Verso and continues this critical discussion, highlighting the continuing philosophical and political importance of the communist idea, and discussing how to take these essential ideas forward in a world of financial and social turmoil. Contributors include Alain Badiou, Etienne Balibar, Bruno Bosteels, Susan Buck-Morss, Jodi Dean, Adrian Johnston, Francois Nicolas, Frank Ruda, Emmanuel Terray and Slavoj A iA ek.