Capitalism staggers from one crisis to another, created by
its inherently irreconcilable contradictions. All the scientific evidence
points to the fact that climate change threatens the world with environmental
catastrophe. All the political evidence points to the fact that our rulers are
either sleep-walking to disaster or, more likely, consciously gambling with
humanity’s future for the sake of profit. Today, our life-support system, our
planet, is under threat. The threat arises from a combination of a complex of
factors, the most notable of which is the greenhouse effect caused by CO2
emissions. There is a growing awareness by millions of people across the globe
that the way economies develop impacts on the environment. Sustainable
development is an urgent matter. If societies continue on the model of
development of capitalism where profit maximisation and growth for more profit
predominate, the planet and its atmosphere will struggle to sustain human life.
Global warming, pollution of river systems, destruction of forests are just
three examples of capitalism’s destructive global footprint. Indeed, capitalism
threatens the very existence of life on the planet, through everything from
pollution-fueled global warming to the potential for nuclear war. As a result
of this growing awareness, there is an intense battle of ideas on what course
of action to take. There are interesting times and people are coming up with
answers which protects and nurtures the planet. Nonetheless, the system of
capitalism will not disappear on its own, but needs politically class conscious
determination and organised mass struggle by the working class.
The oceans and the land can no longer be treated as
garbage-dumps. Waste must either be recycled or used as the starting point for
other processes. If this is not possible in a particular process of production,
it may be that that process will have to be abandoned or replaced by an
alternative process which does not produce unusable waste. The change to the sort of closed system of
waste-free production to which we have referred is incompatible with the
continued existence of an unplanned capitalist economy dominated by the drive
for maximum profit. It makes the case for socialism as a system of society
where there are no inbuilt obstacles to environmental protection. Capitalist
profit is just such an in-built obstacle. It means that the short-term
objective of profit takes precedence over the long-term consequences for the
environment. In fact, capitalism's world-wide rush for profit has ravaged the
environment of the World and created today's problems.
A socialist society run in the interests of the vast masses
of humanity, and not a tiny elite class of profiteers, is the only alternative.
It is not pie-in-the-sky dreaming. It is
the logical conclusion of capitalism’s development. Capitalism has itself laid
the basis for transcending the misery to which it condemns humanity. It long
ago built up the economic productive forces—industry, technology and a globalised
economy—to the point where the potential exists to produce an abundance of all
need resources. But that potential remains trapped by capitalism’s pursuit of
profit. To redirect society’s productive forces toward producing in the
interests of the majority, ownership and control of the economy will have to be
seized from the capitalists. This cannot be achieved in one country—it will
take revolutions across the world to unleash the productive potential of the
world.
By planning economic production in the interests of the
masses of humanity, workers would do so much more than just improve their
immediate living conditions. Class society first arose in history as a result
of a scarcity of necessary goods. The struggle to control small surpluses of
food, for example, saw society divide into a tiny elite who enjoyed the profits
of rule over an exploited majority. Scarcity continues to underpin capitalist
class society, driving nationalism as the way capitalist forces rally support
in a fight of all against all for dwindling resources. By producing an
abundance of necessary goods for all, workers would undermine the very basis
for the existence of classes. Necessary work would be divided equally among
all. And the introduction of labour-saving technology, instead of creating
unemployment as it does under capitalism, would be used to shorten the
work-week and free workers’ lives for greater leisure. In such ways the basis
would be laid to the development of a society free of all forms of exploitation
and oppression. With no way to survive without working for and being exploited
by the capitalists, the working class has no fundamental interest in
maintaining the system. Drawn from across the world and forced into cooperation
and labor in their jobs, the working class can turn this organisation against
the capitalists in collective struggle. To protect the environment calls for
the rational allocation of resources and for the widest possible development of
democracy. This is a struggle for today. This is the struggle for socialism.
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