Complete change is needed to combat climate change and it
will never happen under capitalism. What may take place if we are lucky is
piecemeal reforms too little and too off-set the chain of environmental tipping
points that will quickly cascade out of our control and result in calamitous
catastrophe. Piecemeal measures within the framework of capitalism will run up
against the logic of the system, where accumulation of capital always comes
first. The changes that are necessary to save the planet from ecological
destruction are not compatible with a society that is based on profit. Capitalism
is the culprit behind global warming because it is based on the endless
production of goods and services running on or made up of fossil fuels, which
release greenhouse gases when used. Such
changes can be fully compatible, however, with a society based on cooperation. To make such a society will mean organising to
make a revolution and overthrow capitalism. The only possible solution is socialism
focused upon the vision of establishing harmony between humanity and nature.
It is clear that capitalism, as an economic system, cannot stop
ecological collapse and it is equally clear that the environmental lobbies,
such as Friends of the Earth, think that capitalism can solve these problems.
For them it is simply a question making the world wake up to the need for
urgent action. Reversing climate change could, they think, be achieved without
any fundamental change to capitalism if only our leaders would listen and begin
to move capitalism towards sustainability and zero growth. The threat to life
on Earth stems from the way the capitalist system operates, the result of which
is a continual and relentless demand for growth and reduction of production
costs. The capitalist system is a juggernaut heading for a cliff band it has its
own internal system of steering which cannot be altered. It must be clear to
anyone with eyes to see that we face an urgent crisis yet the ruling
representatives of capitalism are indifferent. Scientists and economists start
from the assumption that the ecological crisis can be solved within the
capitalist system, but the truth of the matter is that the required policies
are cannot be implemented namely because this environmental crisis cannot be
solved within capitalist relations of production. The capitalist system
requires continuous accumulation of capital. If capitals do not accumulate they
will collapse, and there is therefore a general struggle for accumulation of
capital, which means growth and expansion of markets, throughout the entire
system. This drive for accumulation is derived from the internal functioning of
the system and cannot be avoided. As Marx wrote, for capitalism, the watchword
is: “Accumulate, accumulate! That is Moses and the prophets!” Capitalism is a
productive system which produces for profit not for human needs. It is based on
the separation of the working class from the means of production; a separation which
enables the capitalist class to extract unpaid labour from the working class.
This unpaid labour is converted into surplus value and forms the basis of
capitalist profit. Capitalism has to “expand or die”, which is why all national
economies measure their success in terms of growth, measured by GDP. Only when
the ecological problems start to affect profits will capitalists start to treat
them seriously and by then it will be too late to do anything about it. Capitalism’s
continual drive for growth shows that the forces propelling this drive come
from the workings of the capitalist system itself, not from the immorality of
the capitalist class. They are material forces, they are not ideological ones.
Consequently the attempts of environmentalists to persuade the capitalist class
to “wake up” and to adopt a zero growth/steady state economy, reflect a failure
to understand the dynamics of capitalism, and are therefore futile.
Environmentalists are hopelessly utopian in believing global
warming and ecological degradation will be reversed and human society will
develop a harmonious relationship with nature because the corporations will
commit to environmental targets and the good of society, an ideal world where
customer stock ownership schemes, cooperatives, community interest companies
and social enterprises dominate the economy and advance policies which recycle,
where local food and local energy production will be the norm, all this brought
about by popular campaign pressure which will show the capitalists the errors
of their ways, and persuade the CEOs to stop producing for profit and if need
be, enforced by government regulation and legislation. The idea that capitalism
can be reformed to become a benevolent system is very typical of many
environmentalists. In their utopia the basic structures of capitalism remain
intact but the distribution of the social product is changed to end inequality.
Institutions of capitalism, such as the multi-nationals become enlightened charitable
enterprises. The market becomes harnessed and controllable and the main
international bodies of global capitalism, the UN, World Bank and IMF police
the system.
Such a perspective through rose-tinted glasses totally
disregards that the present world order is driven by the struggle for profit
which leads to competition and national rivalry. These are the fundamental and
inherent characteristics of capitalism. An exploitative economy constantly
striving for profits, built upon the necessity of expansion and operating under
relentless competition conditions cannot possibly lead to their green utopia. The
whole scenario of reformism is full of contradictions and is quite
unachievable.
The entire system of production based on wage labour and
capital needs to be replaced with a system which produces for human needs. A
higher form of society requires to be built. The means of production and
distribution need to be converted from capitalist class property to social
property. Instead of the present system in which workers are alienated from the
means of production and from the products of their labour, a free association
of producers producing for the needs of humanity, must be developed. We call a
society of property owned in common and freely associated producers, producing
for human needs, society where the free development of each will be the
condition for the free development of all, socialism.
Humanity will have a common interest and will be able to
work towards achieving it. Working time will be reduced and the mass of the
population will be drawn into the running of that new society. All will have a
common interest in solving the ecological problems inherited from capitalism.
With the abolition of capitalist society, all its waste, its cruelty, its wars,
together with the misery, agony of toil, ignorance, brutality and mental
degradation it inflicts on people, will be ended. Socialism will draw on the
abilities of all and produce for the needs of all. It will be able to balance
these needs with sustainability. It will then be possible to roll back and
repair the damage capitalism has inflicted on the planet. It will be a society
which will inscribe on its banners:
“From each according
to their ability, to each according to their needs”
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