After Nature Against Capital: Marx's Ecology in his unfinished critique
of capital, which was the text of his doctoral thesis, published in
French in 2021, Kohei Saito reformulates his thinking and makes it more
accessible with Less! Degrowth is a Philosophy. This Japanese
philosopher is part of the (somewhat fashionable!) school of thought
that insists that Marx was an "ecologist" before his time. But Kohei
Saito goes even further, supposing that Marx even had a thought about
"degrowth." As stated in the article in this same issue, "Was Marx an
Ecologist?", soon to be published, unfortunately, no clear citation
supports this inspiring thesis.
Marx clearly saw that the capitalist exploitation of labor and the
capitalist exploitation of nature are two aspects of the same process,
which should not be opposed.
And this is where Kohei Saito's essay is interesting, even though the
way he attributes these theoretical aspects to Marx is unconvincing and
even perplexing.
The author suggests some avenues for a "degrowth communism," which not
only speaks to us, but surely constitutes the only viable horizon for a
future a little brighter than what current society presents us with.
Saito invites us to "consider the link between the ecological crisis and
the economic relations that produced it." In a recent article, Paul
Guillibert, another Marxist ecologist, wrote: "Through Marx, Saito
imagines a new path to resolving the ecological crisis, which would
involve a radical questioning of our system of production." Collective
management of the "commons" (water, electricity, etc.), reduced working
hours, self-management of production sites... his latest book advocates
a "degrowth communism," a just and egalitarian society, which, according
to him, would repair this famous "metabolism" between humans and nature.
One can only agree with Saito's ideas. But for a materialist, there is
still a gap: he does not say which social forces could carry these
perspectives. He also omits a whole aspect of the ecological struggle,
which, for libertarian communism, must also be based on feminism, on the
fight against bourgeois ecology, the costs of which are borne by the
working classes, as well as on a decolonial, anti-racist ecology opposed
to nationalist and reactionary withdrawal.
So no, Marx wasn't a degrowth activist, but it's not necessary to invoke
him to say that it's a constraint imposed on us today! Communism will
certainly be degrowth-oriented, but libertarian communism is more than
that, a total revolution that will define all the contours of a new world.
Yann (UCL Nantes)
Kohei Saito, Moins! La décroissance est une philosophie, Seuil, 2024,
352 pages, 23 euros.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?K%C5%8Dhei-Sait%C5%8D-Moins-La-decroissance-est-une-philosophie
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
of capital, which was the text of his doctoral thesis, published in
French in 2021, Kohei Saito reformulates his thinking and makes it more
accessible with Less! Degrowth is a Philosophy. This Japanese
philosopher is part of the (somewhat fashionable!) school of thought
that insists that Marx was an "ecologist" before his time. But Kohei
Saito goes even further, supposing that Marx even had a thought about
"degrowth." As stated in the article in this same issue, "Was Marx an
Ecologist?", soon to be published, unfortunately, no clear citation
supports this inspiring thesis.
Marx clearly saw that the capitalist exploitation of labor and the
capitalist exploitation of nature are two aspects of the same process,
which should not be opposed.
And this is where Kohei Saito's essay is interesting, even though the
way he attributes these theoretical aspects to Marx is unconvincing and
even perplexing.
The author suggests some avenues for a "degrowth communism," which not
only speaks to us, but surely constitutes the only viable horizon for a
future a little brighter than what current society presents us with.
Saito invites us to "consider the link between the ecological crisis and
the economic relations that produced it." In a recent article, Paul
Guillibert, another Marxist ecologist, wrote: "Through Marx, Saito
imagines a new path to resolving the ecological crisis, which would
involve a radical questioning of our system of production." Collective
management of the "commons" (water, electricity, etc.), reduced working
hours, self-management of production sites... his latest book advocates
a "degrowth communism," a just and egalitarian society, which, according
to him, would repair this famous "metabolism" between humans and nature.
One can only agree with Saito's ideas. But for a materialist, there is
still a gap: he does not say which social forces could carry these
perspectives. He also omits a whole aspect of the ecological struggle,
which, for libertarian communism, must also be based on feminism, on the
fight against bourgeois ecology, the costs of which are borne by the
working classes, as well as on a decolonial, anti-racist ecology opposed
to nationalist and reactionary withdrawal.
So no, Marx wasn't a degrowth activist, but it's not necessary to invoke
him to say that it's a constraint imposed on us today! Communism will
certainly be degrowth-oriented, but libertarian communism is more than
that, a total revolution that will define all the contours of a new world.
Yann (UCL Nantes)
Kohei Saito, Moins! La décroissance est une philosophie, Seuil, 2024,
352 pages, 23 euros.
https://www.unioncommunistelibertaire.org/?K%C5%8Dhei-Sait%C5%8D-Moins-La-decroissance-est-une-philosophie
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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