Socialists, the environment and ecosocialism

There is an ecological crisis in the world and this crisis can be traced to capitalism. There is deforestation due to the trade in timber. There is climate change due to unsafe production methods.

The working class is the class that suffers the most from the ecological crisis. Working class people are in the majority and their life conditions make them more vulnerable. Workers live in flimsy houses and shacks that are easily washed or swept away by strong rains and winds. When workers are sick or injured there is always not enough medical help for them.

Over the years not enough attention has been paid to this problem by socialists. What is worse is that some people who call themselves socialists have added to the ecological crisis. For example, the Soviet Union was responsible for one of the biggest nuclear accidents in human history in Chernobyl. The Chinese Communist Party continues to supervise the destruction of nature through its single-minded and ruthless adoption of capitalist production methods.

The distortions of Marxism and socialism, whereby the values and standards of capitalism are adopted and pursued by ‘socialist states’, needs challenging if we are to fight against the destruction of the environment by capitalism. In the 20th century it was Stalin with his theory of ‘socialism in one country’ and the resultant imperative to compete with and match the west in productive and destructive capacity. He succeeded somewhat but in the process exploited and enslaved the very working class in whose name he ruled. In the 21st century we have to disagree with Hugo Chavez’s ‘petro-socialism’ because the production of more oil might yield more petro-dollars but it means more carbon emissions.

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Human beings are part of nature and socialism is humanistic. In today’s world this means there can be no genuine socialism unless it has an ecological component. To emphasise this some people have come up with the term ‘ecosocialism’. Other comrades have resisted this on the grounds that socialism is inherently ecological. Fine. I think that if calling it ecosocialism will focus our minds on the issue at hand then it is fine for socialists to embrace this new concept or use it when necessary. Remember the debate about ‘democratic socialism’? It was about the need to emphasise the democratic nature of socialism in the light of its distortions by ‘Marxist’ dictators.

The failure of socialists to take a serious interest in ecological issues has two dangers. The first one is that after the earth has been destroyed there won’t be a world where we can build socialism. The second danger is that ‘market environmentalism’ will take over, thus sidelining socialists and ultimately leading to the destruction of nature, including human beings.

‘Market environmentalism’ is the attempt to solve the ecological crisis without questioning the profit system – capitalism. The end result is that ordinary people think something is being done, when in fact the problem gets worse. For example, the 1992 Kyoto Protocol deal adopted carbon trading as a mechanism for reducing carbon emissions. But since that day, carbon emissions have increased and not decreased in the world. Another example is that of recycling. Many people do this but most of it does not help to reduce the problem because the same companies that pollute are often involved in the cycle of recycling.

The ecological crisis is an opportunity for socialists to reach wider layers of people because the environment affects everyone. Also, the ecological crisis can only be solved if the profit motive is severely restricted or eliminated altogether. Capitalism is incapable of solving the ecological crisis because it is the main culprit. Socialists can point this out in concrete ways and make concrete demands that are transitional in nature; drawing in more and more people and forcing the capitalists to either capitulate or show their true colours. Already some capitalists are sponsoring a denialist message and getting exposed in the process.

The obstacles to socialists embracing the ecological struggle are the following:

- The historical distortions of (what is) socialism
- No tradition of taking up environmental issues or ignorance about these traditions e.g. the less known revolutionary anti-nuke movement
- Viewing environmental issues as ‘liberal’ or ‘reformist’ or ‘soft’ e.g. the much ridiculed ‘save the whales’ campaign, the disparaging if humorous reference to ‘tree huggers’
- Allowing the adherents of liberal ideology to define and appropriate environmental issues and struggles e.g. Greenpeace, ‘we are the experts’, ‘it is our issue’, a kind of division of labour in the struggle
• Ignorance by socialists of the seriousness, gravity and nature of the ecological crisis. For example: As a socialist do you know what exactly caused the Tsunami?

THE SOCIALIST/COMMUNIST VISION

Workers produce all the wealth. With their hands they make the things we need in order to live. They do this together. Collective production is the foundation of modern existence. Imagine if workers not only produced but also organised and controlled production, that is, instead of the bosses controlling and owning the wealth, it was workers cooperating with each other in order to produce the things that they need. Imagine how this would allow the basic needs of everyone to be met. Life would be much better and happier. There would be no reason for anyone to oppress or dominate anyone because people, together, would control their lives and make sure that, through their direct control, no one is allowed to dominate, control, oppress or exploit anyone else. When that happens then people would become the best that they can be – and not the worst that capitalism makes them to be (competitive, aggressive and basically sub-human).

Socialism, by getting rid of the bosses’ system and private property, by reuniting producers to the means of production, lays the real possibility of society advancing to communism, the happy society without classes. In the 21st century, into this vision we must inject eco-awareness, what Joel Kovel calls ‘ecocentrism’, that is, respect for the world’s ecology. We need to take active steps to address the global ecological crisis by, at a conceptual level, stopping to regard ecosystems as mere commodities to be exploited for profit. Nature is not the ‘environment out there’ but rather, as Jacklyn Cock has cogently argued in her book, and the Soweto Electricity Crisis Committee.
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