Seven essential essays and reports for activists who aim to change the world and save the world
Recommended reading
Archive | Marxist theory
Ecosocialist Notebook
Carl Schorlemmer as a historian of science
In addition to his major contributions to the theory and practice of organic chemistry, the Red Chemist authored the first history of the subject, a book written from the standpoint of historical materialism.
Carl Schorlemmer
More on the Red Chemist
Carl Shorlemmer’s contributions to chemistry were described in this biographical note, published 99 years ago. And there is a statue of him in Germany.
The Forgotten Legacy of Carl Schorlemmer
Marx and Engels and the Red Chemist
Accounts of Marx and Engels’s lives ignore Carl Schorlemmer’s influence on their studies of the natural sciences. It is time to acknowledge his rightful place in the socialist tradition.
Envisioning Another World
Creating a society that meets human needs
How might economic needs be met in a post-capitalist society? Is it possible to eliminate markets and make production choices democratically?
Book Review
‘Anthropocene or Capitalocene?’ misses the point
The authors of this book have very little to say about the Anthropocene, the crisis of the Earth System, or the new global epoch, and most of what they do say is misleading or wrong.
Interview: John Bellamy Foster
Marx and the Earth: Why we wrote an ‘anti-critique’
The German daily Junge Welt interviews John Bellamy Foster on capitalism’s destruction of nature, ecological Marxism from Marx’s time to the present, and the environmental crisis as a class issue.
Book Review
‘Capitalism in the Web of Life’ – A Critique
Kamran Nayeri argues that Jason W. Moore’s theories involve major departures from Marxism, and do not themselves provide a coherent alternative approach to understanding capitalism’s impact on the natural world.
Theory and Practice
Two Views on Marxist Ecology and Jason W. Moore
Fred Murphy argues that John Bellamy Foster misrepresented and unfairly criticized Jason W. Moore in a recent C&C interview about ecological Marxism. Ian Angus disagrees, and explains why he thinks Foster’s remarks were measured and accurate.
Theory and practice
In Defense of Ecological Marxism:
John Bellamy Foster responds to a critic
“Jason Moore has joined the long line of scholars who have set out to update or deepen Marxism in various ways, but have ended up by abandoning Marxism’s revolutionary essence and adapting to capitalist ideologies.”
Ecosocialism
John Bellamy Foster answers three questions on Marxism and ecology
In the present planetary epoch, the concept of sustainable human development, as a way of conceiving of socialism, represents Marx’s most valuable legacy. No other ecological analysis has such breadth and power.
Marxist Theory
Imperialism and super exploitation
Michael Roberts reviews John Smith’s Imperialism in the 21st Century. This “powerful and searing indictment of the exploitation of billions of people,” argues that “the huge low wage proletariat that has emerged in the last 30 years is the key to the profits of imperialism.”
Book Review
The Socialist Alternative: Real Human Development
Cuban scholar Olga Fernández Ríos at the launch of the Cuban edition of Michael Lebowitz’ book. “Its publication contributes positively to the defense of the socialist ideal and to the necessary contemporary debate around the construction of the new society.”
Recommended Reading
Ecosocialist resources, January 2016
On the Papal Encyclical; Peoples power in Venezuela; Marxism & Ecology; Alternatives to neoliberalism; Top 10 climate events; Trade unions and climate justice; New Mexico’s last wild river; Climate insurgency after Paris
Book Review
Why capitalism is addicted to oil and coal
‘Fossil Capital: The Rise of Steam Power and the Roots of Global Warming.’ A brilliant Marxist critique of capitalism and the origins of the fossil fuel economy
Harry Magdoff on the environment capitalism makes
Before the word ‘ecosocialism’ existed, the co-editor of Monthly Review was discussing ecosocialist ideas.
‘Buen vivir’ and the dilemmas of the Latin American left
Atilio Boron: “What has emerged in Latin American politics is more than a debate over development, growth or the environment; it is a profound controversy over the course of civilization itself.”
Ecosocialist Bookshelf, July 2015
The socialist imperative … Debriefing Elsipitog … The Mayan forest garden … Lifeblood … Endgame … Waking the giant … We have never been neoliberal
Ecological crisis and the tragedy of the commodity
Forget the ‘tragedy of the commons.’ The real cause of environmental crises is a system that commodifies nature and values profit above life itself
Karl Marx: The first ecological sociologist?
Participants in this graduate seminar “were united in expressing surprise at just how prescient Marx’s observations regarding human-environment relations were.”