Climate Change and Marx in the Twenty-First Century, Part II

Abstract

ABSTRACTThis paper comes in two parts. Part I, published in the June 2018 issue of this journal, opened with an examination of the relationship between Marx’s characterization of the centrality of commodity production to capitalism as a system, its destructive results on Nature and the global scale of the climate crisis confronting the 21st century. Following a discussion of these issues, Part I moved on to critically examine three models of political economy: Hayekism, Keynesianism and State Socialism. Part II takes the argument further by critically examining a fourth model, Green Keynesianism, currently being manufactured in response to the crisis of climate change, in order to show the inability of all four models to resolve the existential threat posed to humanity in the 21st century and beyond. I then proceed to posit, as a thought experiment, a now-necessary fifth model of political economy, Green Socialism, along with the building blocks important to its evolution as a coherent system. The paper concludes with a brief mention of both the ends and means that demand serious consideration if Green Socialism is to be realized.