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REDFLAG.ORG.AU PUBLICATION OF SOCIALIST ALTERNATIVE 14 JUNE 2021 | REDFLAG

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Marx was unambiguous
on this point: to heal

our relationship with

the Earth, we need
one place, forcing masses of workers to relocate of the system of private property, in which the
revolution. At the heart and creating huge pools of unorganised labour natural environment is reduced to the status of
that could be exploited at will. a commodity to be bought and sold. The healing
of this revolution will Even putting aside the question of global of the metabolic rift begins with the return of the
warming, which of course didn’t figure in Marx’s land, and the means of production required to
be the destruction of time, fossil fuels might, in a society with a healthy work on it, into the hands of the working class.
external and internal metabolism, have been
Marx’s vision of socialism was of a society
the system of private rejected because of their many other damaging centred on the collective, democratic control by
workers of the process of production, and of the
aspects. But with the emergence of capitalism, the
property, in which the only goal that came to matter was the accumula- distribution of goods. Translating this into the
tion of wealth in the hands of the bosses. And there
language of metabolism, we might say: the con-
natural environment is has perhaps never been a commodity so profitable scious, democratic control over society’s internal
for the capitalist class as fossil fuels.
and external metabolism, a control which would
Today, the metabolic rift that underlies the
reduced to the status climate crisis is even clearer. Scientists have enable us quickly to identify problems and to
adjust our practice accordingly.
In a socialist society, for example, the barriers
of a commodity to be known about the damaging consequences of the to a global shift away from fossil fuels would dis-
burning of fossil fuels for 50 years. And we have
long had the technology to begin a transition to appear. There would be no entrenched economic
bought and sold. alternative sources of power such as wind and interests fighting tooth and nail to protect their
solar. Despite this, and despite the increasingly profits. We could have a genuine discussion and
urgent warnings of scientists over the last de- debate about the best way forward, informed by
immediately to disruption in other areas. With cades, global emissions are higher than ever, and the latest science, instead of the mess of misin-
the focus on short-term profits, the idea that you millions around the world are already suffering formation and corporate propaganda that we’re
would build a system to recycle waste from the from an increasing frequency of extreme weather, bombarded with today. And we would be able to
cities back into the agricultural areas didn’t even droughts, bushfires and so on. mobilise immense new resources that in capital-
enter the frame. Why would you invest in a scheme What explains the failure to act? A big part of it ism are tied to useless or destructive industries
like that when you could make money from im- is that those with their hands on the levers of pow- such as the military, advertising, policing, high-
porting guano from distant Pacific islands? Marx er are the people who are reaping all the benefits end housing and so on.
summed up the situation, again in the third vol- from the continued use of fossil fuels, while those Instead of everything being geared towards
ume of Capital, arguing that “the moral of history who are feeling the most effects of climate change the generation of ever greater profits, we would
... is that rational agriculture is incompatible with have the least power to do anything about it. be thinking about what’s good for society. And
the capitalist system”. Never has there existed a class of people so cut for Marx, a healthy metabolism—which ensures
Looking at the situation today, it’s hard to off from nature as the capitalists and their polit- both a sustainable exchange of material between
argue with this. Massive amounts of labour and ical servants. Why would we expect them to care human society and nature, and the circulation of
resources are spent artificially maintaining the much about the damage they are causing when goods to provide everyone with a decent life—was
nutrient levels of soils, and more and more forests their immense wealth can act as a shield against the key to a healthy society. Marx summed up his
and other crucial ecosystems are swallowed up in many of the consequences of their actions? view of the relationship between human society
the constant drive to expand agricultural produc- There is perhaps no better expression of the and nature as follows:
tion. Meanwhile most of the nutrient-rich waste physical and spiritual chasm that has opened “From the standpoint of a higher economic
produced in our cities continues to be thrown away. up between today’s capitalists and the natural form of society, private ownership of the globe by
Perhaps the best example of the metabolic rift world on which their wealth ultimately depends, single individuals will appear quite as absurd as
is climate change. The centrality of fossil fuels to than the fad—personified in Elon Musk—for the private ownership of one man by another. Even
capitalism is, for a start, related to the drive to lib- colonisation of space. It’s telling that the idea of an entire society, a nation or all simultaneously
erate capital accumulation entirely from any nat- building a new civilisation on Mars is so popular existing societies taken together are not owners
ural constraints. Fossil fuels had the advantage, with these people. They have so little sense of of the Earth, they are simply its possessors, its
over other nineteenth century sources of energy, their connection to or care for the natural world beneficiaries, and have to bequeath it in an im-
of being easily transportable, and being able to be that the idea of an interplanetary escape seems proved state to succeeding generations, as good
switched and used at will. This meant production more realistic and attractive than any real effort heads of households.”
could take place 24 hours a day, independently of to fix the problems we have on Earth. In Marx’s time, the rift between human
climatic conditions or any other external factor, How did Marx foresee the healing of the rift society and nature was still in its early stages.
and could be geographically located wherever it between human society and nature? That this Today, it has deepened and widened to the point
was most advantageous to the factory owners. rift is grounded in the fundamental economic where it threatens global catastrophe. But there
This is one of the main developments that structure of society means, obviously, that a bit is nothing inevitable about the slide towards
drove the rapid expansion of cities. Instead of of tinkering here and there won’t be enough. environmental collapse. Most people gain noth-
having to set up in regional areas, where local tra- Marx was unambiguous on this point: to heal our ing from the capitalist status quo. Together, we
ditions of working-class solidarity could be hard relationship with the Earth, we need revolution. At can bring down this rotten system and build a
to break, industry could be clustered together in the heart of this revolution will be the destruction socialist society in its place.