Socialism or Bust

Worldwatch Institute marked its 40th anniversary with a 294-page report, “Governing for Sustainability”.

 As a result in the failure in governance the institute warns, environmental damage from water shortages to climate change. It criticises neo-liberalism [aka capitalism] for undermining democratic processes by granting a strong political voice to corporations, whose profit-maximising nature traditionally takes little account of environmental health and sustainability.

 Michael Renner, co-director of the report, told IPS, “We need to rethink many of our basic economic assumptions and mechanisms, and aim not only for a better and wiser distribution of resources, but also a better sharing of available work. This can’t be accomplished via conventional forms of capitalism.”

Sadly their confusion is starkly exposed in that  the report promotes so-called B corps – or benefit corporations – that “aim not only at doing well but also doing good”. B corps are new forms of for-profit entities designed to benefit their social and environmental stakeholders – those affected by the business’s operations – as well as their profit-seeking shareholders. And even they, themselves, expresses scepticism of its success. “Many of the companies subscribing to these principles are still quite small, and a big question is what will happen when these firms grow larger,” Renner says. “Can they remain anchored to the public interest within a broader system that remains ruled by the tenets of capitalism? Markets can be excellent tools for certain purposes, but they do not have a social conscience, environmental ethic or long-term vision.”

Renner concludes “It’s difficult to know what can successfully change this situation, but it would appear that a mass grassroots mobilisation is needed to provide some sort of counterweight to the money-driven politics that is now in command.”

Here we can see some ground for agreement. Socialism would change the situation and socialism can only come about by a mass mobilisation of people. But socialism is not to act as a balance to the money economy but will replace it entirely.  

Of course, the drive to maximise profit is not exclusive to corporations. Australia had previously pledged to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by five percent under 2000 levels, it has now reversed course and could cause national emissions to increase 12 percent by 2020. Japan, too, has abandoned its 2020 target for cutting national emission to 25 percent below 1990 levels. Canada is investing heavily in developing carbon-intensive tar sands deposits, as is the U.S and many other countries.

“Long before the climate crisis was the greatest market failure the world has ever seen, it was a massive political and governmental failure,” David Orr, a professor of environmental studies and  at Oberlin College and an adviser to President Barack Obama, pointed out. “The public capacity to solve public problems has diminished sharply and the power of the private sector, banks, financial institutions and corporations has risen.”

Tom Prugh, another co-director of the report explains “There is a chance we can prevent the worst disruption in climate change, as well as other sustainability challenges such as erosion or fresh water access. But these need to be addressed now. The more we delay, the more irreversible our imprint on the environment will be.”

Speed Socialism!