Date: Wed, 20 Aug 1997 14:42:35 -0400
From: Louis Proyect <lnp3-AT-columbia.edu>
Subject: Re: M-TH: Socialism and environmentalism


Heartfield:

>6. I read contemporary environmentalism as an ideological expression of
>the historically low growth rates. Robbed of its claim to social
>development (robbed that is by its own inner tendency to stagnation),
>capitalist ideology is increasingly emphasising the austerity economics
>of green ideas. 

This is an utterly false reading. Environmentalism is a response not to low
growth rates, but to what unplanned capitalist development is doing to the
planet-- humans, animals and plant-life included. China has the highest
growth rate in the world right now and it is an environmental disaster.

The solution to the problems of air and water pollution, etc. has to be
part of a general socialist solution. By identifying yourself with nuclear
power, by making puerile jokes about indigenous peoples facing genocide, by
labeling Greenpeace as agents of imperialism, you are differentiating
yourself from the efforts of socialists like myself, David Pepper, and
James O'Connor to create a green-red synthesis.

>This goes way back to the Club of Rome's endorsement of
>Paul Ehrlich's anti-population tract in the seventies. The most recent
>example comes again from the elite Club of Rome - Factor Four, an
>economic tract that promotes what it calls resource efficiency, by which
>it means labour intensive as opposed to capital intensive production.
>Green ideas once again reconciling people to the low growth rates
>endemic in capitalist stagnation.
>

Paul Ehrlich is a neo-Malthusian. It would be much more interesting for you
to respond to the Marxist wing of the environmental movement. By setting up
straw-men of some quasi-fascists in the deep ecology wing of the movement,
neo-Malthusians, bourgeois fakers like Al Gore, etc., you are hiding from
your real opponents within the Marxist movement. Your position is not at
all Marxist on this question. By quoting Marx and Hitler out of context,
you are showing your true sectarian colors. All sectarians love to quote
chapter and verse. What they lack is the ability to see the living class
struggle in context. So instead of confronting the genuine evidence of
radiation poisoning or carbon emissions, you draw heavily from capitalist
ideologues for your supporting documentation. This is a disgrace.

Louis Proyect






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