Re: [Marxism] Re: Peak oil and politics

[Carrol Cox <cbcox@xxxxxxxxx>]

Jon Flanders wrote:
>
>
> We all await your creation of a new energy source. No one is saying the
> world is coming to an end. But  we are in the end game of the oil age.
> And given the increasing threat of global warming, probably not a moment
> too soon.

The trouble with this debate is that it always leads away from politics
to technical debate. And as this argument for rationing indicates,
technical debates almost _always_ end with a _de facto_ acceptance of
capitalism. Under capitalism, rationing works for _individuals_ but not
for industries. How do you ration available electric power among
Walmart, GM, JPMorgan, Google, and NBC? How do you ration gas (=hot
water) among families of 10, Dennys, and Marriott hotels? And so forth.
It can't and won't be done.

There is a way of rationing available electric power among the peoples
of the world (under capitalism): you allow one or two billion to die (or
kill off in war and famine).

We're running out of Oil! is hardly a slogan which will mobilize the
tens of millions that need to be mobilized if you want socialism.
Whether it's so or not, as a political organizing principle it has the
same defects as do conspiracy theories -- appropriate for the courtroom
or the seminar room, but not for political organizing.

Carrol

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