Re: Red Green synthesis

[Louis N Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

On 15 Jun 1996, jc mullen wrote:

> I think a red-green synthesis is a big mistake. That is to say Marxist theory
> and politics can deal with the problems of ecology like other human problems,
> because its basic thesis is that workers should democratically control 
> society,
> and that people are smart enough to decide to make the world better in every 
> way
> and more human in every way IF we destroy the power of profit. Green politics

Louis: Mullen's point is well taken. Marxism always had the
potential to address and resolve the ecological crisis, therefore a "red"
solution was all that was ever needed. However, the problem is that this
capacity was never fully realized. Production, and production alone, was
the main goal for socialism.

It has only been within the last several decades that the ecological
crisis has reached epidemic proportions. While this was going on, reds
were largely preoccupied with the same old problems of production.
Meanwhile, other ideological currents such as anarchism stepped forward to
address the crisis. Murray Bookchin is a notable example. The "green"
solution is entirely inadequate since it is not based on a socialist
planned economy, the only possible means to rationally order production in
an environmentally sensitive manner.



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