FOR MOST members of the Green Party, our politics are 'neither left nor right but ahead. For myself and other eco-socialists, Green politics without socialism is inequitable.
Far from being a new form of politics making old divisions of eft and right redundant, Greenery' enhances the issuer of scarcity. choice and class it the working class hardes This was as true for Engels Manchester of the 1840s as it is for Brazil in the 1990s If resources are finite or carbon dioxide emissions are to be cut back, who picks up the bill? Rich or poor? Affluent middle So-called Green taxes supposedly encourage energy con servation and reduce environmental damage. In reality they are highly regressive, tending poor while al to squeeze the lowing the rieh to go on con suming. as before. Liberal "neither left nor right' analysis will simple generalise poverty and do nothing to solve the eco crisis.
Rainforests do not cut themselves down. Their disap pearance is a direct result of the operations or multnanonals and peasants driven to desperation through the workings of the international banking sysEconomics Green politics, therefore, demands a very solid grasp of political economy. Without an analysis of capitalism, the Green movement will remain Many people are now aware of the damage done by the arms trade, by poverty in the South of the globe, the Greenhouse effect, nuclear waste disposal, toxic but a few obvious problems, But awareness on its own does very little. To transform society very much more is i demanded of us. ly unfashionable, marxism is to this question of transformation. There are a number of key concepts developed by Marx that are extremely useful in this respect.
Some of the most important contained in Marx's analysis of economic systems. This is both more subtle and of greater Core porat relevance than most critics believe. Capital, despite its lengthand the fact that volumes 2 and 3 were never truly com pleted, still remains essential reading.
Capitalism demands infinite growth, ever greater produc non, waste and exploitanon. But apart from in this material capitalism disrupts life in more underemphasised ways Much of what he writes about alienation, the destruc through division of labour, and even son or Es On environmental issues - forest destruction, soil erosion and pollution - would pleasantly surprise many Greens.
"essence, the idea that humans have an intrinsic and unchanging nature, is also vital. We can make our own nature and our own history through our own creaStunted In a capitalist society, where we are stunted in all manner of ways, humanity's lack of autonomy, creativity, ability to cooperate without the need for hierarchical structures, natural rather than social. Time tions of human potential are defended by thisappeal to what is natural.
So lesbian and gay sexuality tion are labelled unnatural. Ag"Rainforests do not cut themselves waste dumping, to name down. Their disappearance is a direct result of the operations of multinationals and peasants driven to desperation" gression, authority, greed, racism, sexism natural.
For Marx, we make our own history, but not 'in circumstances of our own choosing'. Therefore if workers can struggle and remove the dead. weight of circumstances', everything is up for grabs Materialism links into this concept of anti-essentialism. world, as we do, in a physical what affects people materially has an obvious and major impact on their inner -C00608500OUSe world. Put simply, this means people learn not by being told, ut by what they do.
Dialectic
Marx's use of the dialectic is also important. Everything is a driven by internal contradic tion. Nothing hasa wholly posi ave or negative make-up But there are elements in marks mousht that would want to criticise. Capitalist society is attacked because it is exploitative and alienating. But it is seen Marx as being. dialectically, the source of a communist society. There is a risk that this can be interpreted dialectical in his approach to and industrial growth. Far from being irreducibly good, technological developments such as nuciar power and genetic engineering are potentially catastrophic He puts forward in much -but, significantly, not all - of his work, a view of nature that seeks to dominate and exploit. But Marx wrote long before anyone could conceive of a potential global catastrophe.
The point though, is surely not to engage in a lengthy abstract intellectual debate, but to look for ways in which both the Green movement and can strengthened by debate and common action. If even only a portion of the critique proves to be true, we risk survival if we don't suc ceed in changing the Ted Trainer, in his book "Abandon Affluence!", argues that a fusion of Green and in of Codel. Bo his view, have major weaknesses. But together they proYoung Thai worker and elephant Earth First! launched in Britain EARTH FIRST, the controversial US-based environmental group. has been launched in Britain. This summer the group's internasonal day of action around rainforest destruction in Sarowak, received much media attention.
Earth Firsti had been much criticised within the Green movement for vanous racist and homophobic statements from a leading spokesperson, Dave ganisation. The right-wing left, includ ng Foreman, and he has subsequenty boon tying to capsun dady vious views - on account of his rightwing Repubican background Firstl have much more of an orientation towards mass drect action. i is the vide an essential mix.
This century has seen Marx's thought perverted into an undemocratic and deterministic currently fashionable, we need to reinvent a creative, vital and fighting marxist ponacs - 001e going back to the original texts anu or allowing for the nos left-wing approach that the group in Britain are trying to base themselves Murray Bookchin, a leading opponent of Foreman, has been a leading proponent of a social ecological rather than a deep ecological Green poitics since the 1950s. He is coming to Britain week speaking tour in May 1992. This wil be in National Environ ment week, just before the much-hyped Donations and general enquiries should be sent to: Social Ecology Stamford Hil, London, N16 5LE.
Green Revolution' the newsheet of me Green revoluponary ent contacted at: PO Box 845, Bristol, material conditions we face.
Revolutionary socialists of all hues should be debating together and, despite theoretica working together practically: Given the ecolorical realities of life on the eve of the 21st cenwe literally cannot afford to fail. No. 12 Nov. 23, 1991
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