Nature and Capitalism’s Historical Limits

Abstract

This chapter locates nature and environmental crises in the context of Marx’s analysis of capitalism’s historical limits.These historical limits involve more than the tendencies toward overaccumulation and falling profitability of capital that were pointed out by Marx.They also encompass an overall crisis of capitalist relations as the historical culmination of the fundamental contradiction between production for profit and production for human needs—a contradiction that takes on many forms, including (but not solely) accumulation crises.¹ By analyzing environmental crises as part of this historical crisis of capitalist relations, one can see the potential role of ecological conflicts in the transition from capitalism to communism.