Marx in the Anthropocene : Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism

Facing global climate crisis, Karl Marx's ecological critique of capitalism more clearly demonstrates its importance than ever. This book explains why Marx's ecology had to be marginalized and even suppressed by Marxists after his death throughout the twentieth century. Marx's ecological critique of capitalism, however, revives in the Anthropocene against dominant productivism and monism. Investigating new materials published in the complete works of Marx and Engels (Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe), Saito offers a wholly novel idea of Marx's alternative to capitalism that should be adequately characterized as degrowth communism. This provocative interpretation of the late Marx sheds new lights on the recent debates on the relationship between society and nature and invites readers to envision a post-capitalist society without repeating the failure of the actually existing socialism of the twentieth century. "Facing global climate crisis, Marx's ecological critique of capitalism more clearly demonstrates its importance than ever. Marx in the Anthropocene explains why Marx's ecology had to be marginalized, and even suppressed by Marxists after his death, throughout the 20th century. Marx's ecological critique of capitalism, however, revives in the Anthropocene against dominant productivism and monism. Investigating new materials published in the complete works of Marx and Engels (Marx-Engels-Gesamtausgabe), Kohei Saito offers a wholly novel idea of Marx's alternative to capitalism that should be adequately characterized as degrowth communism. This provocative interpretation of the late Marx sheds new light on recent debates on the relationship between society and nature and invites readers to envision a post-capitalist society without repeating the failure of the actually existing socialism of the 20th century"-- Provided by publisher Frontmatter Dedication Contents Acknowledgements List of Abbreviations Introduction Part I Marx’s Ecological Critique of Capitalism and Its Oblivion 1. Marx’s Theory of Metabolism in the Age of Global Ecological Crisis 2. The Intellectual Relationship between Marx and Engels Revisited from an Ecological Perspective 3. Lukács’s Theory of Metabolism as the Foundation Part II A Critique of Productive Forces in the Age of Global Ecological Crisis 4. Monism and the Non-identity of Nature 5. The Revival of Utopian Socialism and the Productive Forces of Capital Part III Towards Degrowth Communism 6. Marx as a Degrowth Communist 7. The Abundance of Wealth in Degrowth Communism Conclusion References Index Facing global climate crisis, Marx's ecological critique of capitalism more clearly demonstrates its importance than ever. This book reconstructs the history of Marxism from an ecological perspective to open up a whole new idea of Marx's post-capitalism that is radically different from other alternatives proposed in recent political ecology.