6) Further Reading

Radical ecologism or communism: further reading

For a more developed critique of the various radical ecologist theories, see our recent articles:

• Critique of Saito's "Degrowth Communism"
• Andreas Malm: 'Ecological' rhetoric in defence of the capitalist state

We respond to Saito’s claim that Marx’s researches into questions around ecology and pre-capitalist communal forms led him to abandon historical materialism and to adopt what Saito calls “degrowth communism”.  The article on Malm focuses on showing that, despite his radical, pseudo-marxist rhetoric, Malm insists on the need to work inside the framework of the existing capitalist state. In both cases, there is a systematic rejection of the proletarian revolution as the only solution to the ecological crisis.

Other articles by the ICC on the ecological crisis include:

• Capitalism is poisoning the earth (International Review 63, 1990)
• The world on the eve of an environmental disaster, International Review, 135 
• The world on the eve of an environmental disaster: who is responsible?, International Review 139
• No solution to the ecological catastrophe without the emancipation of labour from capitalist exploitation, ICConline, 2019, focusing on the method used by Engels to understand the relationship between humanity and its environment
• Bordiga and the Big City, International Review 166, 2020. A study of the work of the Italian left communist Amadeo Bordiga, who, already in the 1950s and 1960s, displayed an acute insight into capitalism’s destructive relationship with nature.

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