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From Marx to Ecosocialism

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From Marx to Ecosocialism SOCIALISMANDECOLOGY From Marx to Ecosocialism* ByMichaelLöwy Since the industrial revolution, capitalist societies (and more recently,thelatebureaucraticsocietiesofEasternEurope)havebeen characterized by an ever-growing rationalization. Following Max Weber,wecandistinguishthreecloselyrelatedaspectsofthis: 1)Zweckrationalitat,ortherationality-of-ends,thatis,theutilizationof rational means to attain objectives that are not at all rational themselves.Bureaucracyistheideal-typicalinstitutionalexpressionof this pattern. This is what the Frankfurt School referred to as instrumentalrationality,atypeof ratio compatiblewith themost monstroussubstantiveirrationalities—therational-bureaucraticadmin- istrationofgenocide,forinstance,totakethelimitingcase.Butapart fromsuchextremes,asErnestMandelhaspointedout,thecombination of partial rationality with overall irrationality is intrinsic to the “normal”functioningofthecapitalisteconomyanditsbureaucratic institutions.1 2)Thedifferentiationandautonomizationofdomains,resultinginthe separationoftheeconomic,social,political,andculturalspheres.The marketeconomybecomesaself-regulatingsystemthatisnolonger “embedded”inthesociety(tousePolanyi’sfamousexpression),thereby escapingsocial,moral,orpoliticalcontrol. 3)Rechenhaftigkeit,orthespiritofrationalcalculationandthegeneral tendency to quantification. This tendency finds its most direct *TranslatedbyK.PMosely.Quoteshavebeentranslatedbutthecitedtexts aretheoriginals. 1Ernest Mandel, Power and Money: A Marxist Theory of Bureaucracy (London:Verso,1992),p.182. CNS,13(1),March,2002 121 expressioninthemonetarizationofsocialrelationsandtheunchecked dominionoftheexchange-valueofcommodities;throughitsaction, qualitative,ethical,social,andecologicalvaluesareinexorablyeroded, jettisoned,ordestroyed. Today,undertheauspicesofsuchinstitutionsastheInternational MonetaryFund,theWorldBank,theWorldTradeOrganization,andthe G-7,therational“pursuitofmaximumprofit,”alongwiththeglobali- zationprocess,haveachievedatrulyplanetaryscalefortheworkingout ofthesetendencies.Unfortunately,theneo-liberalEuropeofMaastricht hasnotescapedthislogc. Thefirstcriticsofthecapitalist-industrialmodelofcivilization weretheRomantics.FromRousseauinthesecondhalfofthe18th centurytocontemporarycritics(suchastheEnglishhistorian,E.P. Thompson),Romanticism,throughaffirmationofprecapitalistcultural, social,or ethicalvalues,hasprotested thequantification,mechani- zation,anddisenchantmentoftheworldofcapital. InthecourseofthehistoryofRomanticism,thenostalgiafora lostparadiseandforpremodernorganiccommunitieshastakenforms thathavesometimesbeenbackward-lookingandretrograde,sometimes revolutionaryandutopian.Inthelattercase,itisnolongeraquestion ofareturntothepast,butofadetour,throughthepasttowardsthe future. ForPierre Leroux,WilliamMorris, orHerbert Marcuse,to nameafew,thefutureutopiaallowsrecoveryoflostcommunity,but inanewguise,incorporatingaswelltheachievementsofmodernity: liberty,equality,fraternity,anddemocracy. Socialismandpoliticalecology(oratleast,certaintendenciesthey contain)are,eachinitsownway,heirstotheRomanticcritique.They sharethegoalofgoingbeyondinstrumentalrationality,thereignof quantification,andproductionasanendinitself.Theyinsistupona societybeyondtheautonomizationoftheeconomy,thedominionof money,andthereductionofthesocialuniversetothecalculationof profitandtheaccumulationofcapital.Instead,theypositqualitative values:usevalueandthesatisfactionofneeds.Onemayemphasize socialequality; theother,thepreservationofnatureandecological equilibrium.Butbothconceiveoftheeconomyas“embedded”inthe socialandnaturalenvironment. Thatsaid,fundamentaldifferenceshavesofardividedthe“reds”and the“greens,”theMarxistsandtheecologists.Oneimportantquestion concernsa frequentaccusationmadebyecologists, thatMarx and Engels were infatuated with capitalist production. This charge of “productivism”admitsofanumberofinterpretations. 122 Fromoneaspectitisentirelyunjustified.Fornoonecondemned thecapitalist logicofproductionfor thesakeof production,orthe accumulationofcapital,wealth,andgoodsasendsinthemselves,more than Marx. The very notion of socialism (never realized by its miserablebureaucraticavatars)isfoundedontheproductionofuse values,ofgoodsrequiredforthesatisfactionofhumanneeds.ForMarx, thefinalpurposeof technicalprogressisnot“having”(theinfinite growthofpossessions),but“being”(beginningwiththereductionof theworkdayandanexpansionoffreetime). Nevertheless,oneoftenfindsinMarxandEngels(andevenmorein laterMarxism)anuncriticalattitudetowardsthoseaspectsofindustrial civilizationthathavecontributedtoitsdestructiverelationshiptothe environment.This haschieflyappearedas atendency tomakethe “developmentoftheproductiveforces”theprincipalvectorofprogress. The“canonical”textforthispointofviewisthefamousPrefacetothe Contributiontothe Critique ofPolitical Economy (1859),oneof Marx’s writingsmostpermeatedbyacertainevolutionism,bythe philosophyof progress, byscientism(that is,avalorizationofthe naturalsciencemodel),andbyanutterlyunproblematicvisionofthe productiveforces. Inreality,thereisevidenceforbothinterpretationsinthewritings ofMarxandEngels.ThefollowingpassagefromtheGrundrisseisa goodexampleofMarx’suncriticaladmirationforthe“civilizing”effect of capitalist production,including its brutalinstrumentalization of nature: Thus,productionbasedoncapitalcreates,ontheone hand,[universal]industry…surpluslabor…creationof value;ontheother,generalexploitationof…nature andman….Creationofbourgeoissociety,universal appropriationofnature…incorporatingallmembers ofthesociety:suchisthegreatcivilizing effectof capital.(italicadded) Itrisestosucha[high]sociallevelthatallprevious societiesappearaspurelylocaldevelopmentsofman- kindandasnature-worshippers.…Nature becomes a…usefulobject…nolongerapower….Knowledgeof naturallaws…submittingnatureto humanneeds, 123 whetheras objectof consumptionor as meansof production.(italicadded)2 However,thereisalsoacertainnumberofpassagesbyMarxand Engelsthatshowamorecriticalvisionofthe“productiveforces.”For example,intheGermanIdeologyonefindsthefollowingstatement: Inthedevelopmentoftheproductiveforces,itcomes toastagewhereproductiveforces…emergethatinthe contextoftheexisting[social]relationscanonlybe negative, no longer productive but destructive... (mechanizationandmoney).…3 ThisideaisnotdevelopedbyMarx,anditisnotclear if the destructioninquestionincludesthedestructionofnature.Oneexample in which this isthecase isthe well-knownpassageon capitalist agricultureinCapital,wherewefindadialecticalvisionoftheinherent contradictionsofthe“progress”createdbytheproductiveforces,along withexplicitreferencetothehavocwreakedbycapitalonthenatural environment: Thusitdestroysboththephysicalhealthoftheurban workerandthespirituallifeoftheruralworker.Every stageinthedevelopmentof capitalist agriculture, eachshort-termadvanceinfertility,representsatthe sametimeastageinthedestructionofthelong-term basisofthisfertility.Themoreacountrydevelops… large-scale industry (US for example), the more rapidly this destructive process moves forward. Capitalistproductionthusonlydevelops…byatthe sametimeexhaustingthetwospringsfrom which flowallwealth:thelandandthelaborer.4 EvenwithEngels,whosooftenapplaudedthehuman“mastery” and“domination”ofnature,onefindswritingsthatcallveryexplicit attentiontothedangersofsuchastance.Consider,forexample,the following passage from the essay, “The role of work in the transformationofmonkeytoman”(1876): 2KarlMarx,FondementsdelaCritiquedel’EconomiePolitique(Paris: Anthropos, 1967),pp. 366-67. 3KarlMarx,L’Idéologieallemande(Paris:EditionsSociales),pp.67-68. 4KarlMarx,LeCapital,trans.JosephRoy(Paris:EditionsSociales),tome 1, pp.360-61. 124 We should not boast overmuch of our human victories over nature.For each of these victories, naturetakesitsrevenge….ThepeoplesofMesopo- tamia,Greece,AsiaMinor…whodestroyedtheforests tocreatearableland,neverimaginedthat…theywere creatingtheconditionforthepresentdesolatestateof this land. The Italians of the Alps cut the forests….theyhadnoidea…theydestroyedthebasis for the dairy industry…even…depriving their mountain springs of water….We must always rememberthatwecanneverrulenature…asaruler overconqueredpeople,asifoutsideofnature….we belongtoitbodyandsoul…allourdominationrests ontheadvantage we haveover othercreatures in knowingitslawsandbeingabletousethemwisely.5 Itwouldnotbedifficulttofindotherexamples.Itremainsthecase, however,thatMarxandEngelsdonotpossessanoverallecological perspective. Indeed, their optimistic conception of the unlimited developmentoftheproductiveforceswhichistotakeplaceoncethese arefreedfromthetrammelsofcapitalistproductionrelations,isno longerdefensibletoday.Notonlyfromthestrictlyeconomicpointof view(giventheriskofresourcedepletion),butmorefundamentally,in viewofthethreatposedtotheearth’secologicalequilibriumbythe productivist logic of capital (or of that represented by its poor imitation,thelate“socialist”bureaucracies). Onemightprovisionallyconcludethisdiscussionwiththevery pertinentsuggestionadvancedintherecent—andremarkable—study of Marx byDaniel Bensäid.As Bensäid observes, itwouldbe as unjustifiedtoexonerateMarxfromthe“progressivist”or“Promethean” illusionsofhistimeasitwouldbetomakehimtheevangelistofan unfetteredindustrialism.Instead,hesuggestsamuchmorepromising tack:tomoverightinwithMarx’scontradictions,andtakethemfully toheart—inparticular,thatbetweentheproductivistcredoannounced incertaintextsandtheintuitionthatprogressmaycauseirreversible environmentalharm.6 Atthebeginningofthe21stcentury,itistheecologicalquestion, inmyview,thatposesthemajor challengetoarenewalofMarxist
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