Marxism and Ecology

Abstract

From the vantage point of the late twentieth century it is curious to look back on the previous century as in some ways a better time, when things were simpler, less threatening and the ever onward march of the industrial revolution was taken for granted. Indeed the Marxist critique was essentially that capitalism was a fetter holding back the inevitable tide of progress, denying its fruits to be enjoyed equally by all. How different things seem now, after almost two centuries of industrialisation. Western societies are characterised as ‘risk societies’ (Beck, 1992), increasingly sensitive to a widespread sense of powerlessness in the face of forces outside their control. A large part of this has to do with the growing sense that nature is taking its revenge, as the ecological life-support systems of the planet are degraded and destroyed. Globally, after four decades of ‘development’, the vast majority of the world’s human population go with basic needs unfulfilled and, perhaps for the first time in human history, there is a widespread feeling that things will not be better in the future. As the new millennium approaches, for a growing number, progress simply ain’t what it used to be.