Marx and the Earth: An Anti-Critique PDF
Preview Marx and the Earth: An Anti-Critique
MarxandtheEarth Historical Materialism Book Series EditorialBoard SébastienBudgen(Paris) SteveEdwards(London) JuanGrigera(London) MarcelvanderLinden(Amsterdam) PeterThomas(London) volume115 Thetitlespublishedinthisseriesarelistedatbrill.com/hm Marx and the Earth AnAnti-Critique By JohnBellamyFoster PaulBurkett WiththeEditorialAssistanceof RyanWishart leiden | boston LibraryofCongressCataloging-in-PublicationData Names:Foster,JohnBellamy,author.|Burkett,Paul,1956May26-author. Title:Marxandtheearth:ananti-critique/byJohnBellamyFoster,PaulBurkett;withtheeditorial assistanceofRyanWishart. Description:Leiden;Boston:Brill,[2016]|Series:Historicalmaterialismbookseries,ISSN1570-1522; volume115|Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.|Descriptionbasedonprintversionrecord andCIPdataprovidedbypublisher;resourcenotviewed. Identifiers:LCCN2015041827(print)|LCCN2015045104(ebook)|ISBN9789004288799(e-book)|ISBN 9789004229242(hardback:alk.paper) Subjects:LCSH:Communismandecology.|Marx,Karl,1818-1883. Classification:LCCHX550.E25(print)|LCCHX550.E25F6672016(ebook)|DDC306.3/45–dc23 LCrecordavailableathttp://lccn.loc.gov/2015041827 WantorneedOpenAccess?BrillOpenoffersyouthechoicetomakeyourresearchfreelyaccessibleonline inexchangeforapublicationcharge.Reviewyourvariousoptionsonbrill.com/brill-open. TypefacefortheLatin,Greek,andCyrillicscripts:“Brill”.Seeanddownload:brill.com/brill-typeface. issn1570-1522 isbn978-90-04-22924-2(hardback) isbn978-90-04-28879-9(e-book) Copyright2016byKoninklijkeBrillnv,Leiden,TheNetherlands. KoninklijkeBrillnvincorporatestheimprintsBrill,BrillHes&DeGraaf,BrillNijhoff,BrillRodopiand HoteiPublishing. 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Contents Preface vii Introduction 1 ThreeStagesofEcosocialistAnalysis 1 TheDebateonMarxandEcologyaDecadeandaHalfLater 12 Marx’s‘MajorEcologicalFlaw’:TheTanuroThesis 15 MarxandtheForeshorteningofIntrinsicValue:TheKovel Thesis 34 Marx,Aesthetics,andtheSensuousValueofNature 50 1 TheDialecticofOrganicandInorganicRelations 57 TheCritiqueof‘Marx’sInorganicBody’ 58 TheOrganic/InorganicDistinctionandHegel’sPhilosophyof Nature 65 Marx’sDialecticofOrganic/Inorganic:TheConditionsofHuman Existence 70 TheEcologicalTransformationofMarx’sNature-Dialectic 78 InstrumentalismandTeleology:ContradictionsintheEcological CritiqueofMarx 83 TowardEcologicalMaterialism 88 2 TheOriginsofEcologicalEconomics:PodolinskyandMarx-Engels 89 Podolinsky:LifeandWork 93 DevelopmentofPodolinsky’sProject 99 AccumulationofEnergyonEarth 102 ProblemswiththeQuantitativeEnergyAccumulation Approach 103 Podolinsky’sAnalysisasaBasisforValueTheory 106 ValueandNature:MarxandSieberversusPodolinsky 107 Podolinsky’sPerfectMachineArgument 110 ShortcomingsofthePerfectMachinePerspective 113 Marx’sNotesonPodolinsky 117 Engels’sCommentsonPodolinsky 122 ElaborationsinDieNeueZeit 131 Stoffwechsel 134 vi contents 3 ClassicalMarxismandEnergetics 137 Introduction 137 LabourPoweranditsValue 139 EnergyandSurplusValue 144 CapitalistIndustrialisationandThermodynamicsinMarx’s Capital 150 EntropyandtheMetabolicRift 160 4 Engels,Entropy,andtheHeatDeathHypothesis 165 Introduction 165 TheSecondLawandtheHeatDeathoftheUniverse 170 TheHeatDeathHypothesisandNineteenth-CenturyPhysics 186 Marxism,theEntropyLaw,andEcology 197 Conclusion:TheDialecticsofNatureandSocietyandtheSecond Law 199 5 TheReproductionofEconomyandSociety 204 Introduction 204 EcologicalEconomistsonMarx’sReproductionSchemes 205 ProductionandCircularFlowsinthetableauéconomique 206 Marxonthetableauéconomique 209 Production,NatureandMonetaryFlowsinMarx’sSchemes 211 TheAnalyticalBackgroundforMarx’sSchemes 214 TheReproductionSchemesandEnvironmentalCrises 218 Conclusion 221 Conclusion:MarxandMetabolicRestoration 222 Marx’sEcologyafterMarx(andafterEngels) 224 Marx,Metabolism,andOpen-SystemEconomics 232 AgainstEnergeticism 236 MetabolicRestoration:TowardSustainableHuman Development 239 Appendix1:SergeiPodolinsky,‘SocialismandtheUnityofPhysical Forces’(TranslatedfromtheItalian) 243 Appendix2:SergeiPodolinsky,‘HumanLabourandtheUnityofForce’ (TranslatedfromtheGerman) 262 Bibliography 288 Index 310 Preface Ecologyasafieldofinquirycanbetracedbacktothebeginningsofcivilisa- tion.Butitsmoderndevelopmentdatesbacklargelytotheriseofcapitalism in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, and especially to the emergence ofindustrialcapitalisminthelateeighteenthcentury.Theword‘ecology’was firstintroducedin1866intheworkofGermanzoologistErnstHaeckel,where it was used synonymously at first with what Charles Darwin called the ‘eco- nomy of nature’.1 Karl Marx, while not himself employing the term ‘ecology’, which had little currency in his day, introduced the notion of ‘social meta- bolism’ (or socio-ecological metabolism), defining the labour process as the metabolicrelationbetweenhumansandnature.2Inthiswayheprovidedan ecologicalperspectivethatwastounderpinhisentirecritiqueofpoliticaleco- nomy.Asimilarconceptionofmetabolicrelationswastounderlietheconcept ofecosystemasdevelopedbyearlytwentieth-centurysystemecologists.Given thishistoricalbackground,itshouldnotbesurprisingthatMarx’sapproachto thesocialmetabolismandhisconceptofmetabolicrift(orecologicalcrisis) haveincreasinglybeenseenascentraltothepolitical-economiccritiqueofthe alienationofnatureundercapitalism,constitutingthesinglemostimportant legacyofsocialscienceinthisrealm. This understanding of the ecological foundations of Marx’s critique was put forward in our previous work, particularly Marx and Nature (Burkett) and Marx’sEcology (Foster), and is now widely accepted.3 Yet, there remain anumberofcriticisms,mostofrecentorigin,levelledatMarxandEngelsfor theirsupposedecologicalflaws.Thepresentworkisdesignedtoaddressthese latest criticisms, which mainly emanate from self-characterised ‘ecosocialist’ (or what we call ‘first-stage ecosocialist’) thinkers. Because of the nature of the present work as a response to ecological critiques of Marx and Engels, we have given it the subtitle An Anti-Critique. The concept of ‘anti-critique’ hasaclearhistoryandmeaninginhistoricalmaterialism,derivingprincipally fromRosaLuxemburg’sfamousTheAccumulationofCapital:AnAnti-Critique (1915)–usuallyreferredtobyitssubtitle(toavoidconfusionwithLuxemburg’s majoreconomicwork).4Butthenotionofanti-critiquecanbeseenashavingits 1 Darwin1964,p.62.OnHaeckel’suseofecology,seeFoster2000,p.195. 2 MarxandEngels1988a,pp.54–66. 3 Burkett2014;Foster2000. 4 Luxemburg1972;Bukharin1972. viii preface rootsevenearlierinEngels’sHerrEugenDühring’sRevolutioninScience(1878), betterknownasAnti-Dühring.5 Anti-DühringwasoneoftheformativeworksofMarxism.Itwasfrequently seenintheearlyyearsofthesocialistmovementasthesinglemostimportant work after Marx’s Capital itself. Marx and Engels’s writings prior to the pub- lication of Anti-Dühring were seen as primarily economic and political. The connectionoftheiranalysistothebroaderareasofphilosophyandsciencewas largelyunknowneventotheirearliest,closestfollowers.6Itwasthisseeming gap in historical-materialist analysis that allowed Eugen Dühring’s develop- ment of a larger socialist and naturalistic philosophy to attain considerable influence,duetohiscrossingofallboundariesofthought.Dühringcreateda theoreticalsystem(onethathaslongceasedtodrawanyinterest)thatsought simultaneouslytoexplainsuchdisparaterealmsasphilosophy,economics,his- tory,andthephilosophyofscience,whiledirectlychallengingthepreeminence ofMarxandEngelsassocialistthinkers.Consequently,MarxandEngelscon- cludedthattherewasnochoicebuttoconfrontDühring’sanalysisdirectly:a taskthatfelltoEngels. AsEngelsobservedinhissecondprefacetoAnti-Dühring,hewas‘compelled tofollow’Dühring‘whereverhewentandtoopposemyconceptionstohis.In theprocessofcarryingthisoutmynegativecriticismbecamepositive;itwas transformedintoamoreorlessconnectedexpositionofthedialecticalmethod andofthecommunistworldoutlookrepresentedbyMarxandmyself’.7Inhis originalpreface,Engelsnotedthathewasforcedtoengageincontroversiesin areaswherehisownideasandknowledgeremainedundeveloped.8Itwasthis traversingoftheforestofmodernthought(eventhoughthetreeswereoften obscured)thatgaveAnti-DühringitsgreatoverridingimportanceforMarxists intheearlysocialistmovement,andwhichturnedanegativeanti-critiqueinto apositiveone. Anti-Dühringwithallofitsfaults–ofwhichEngelswasalltoo aware–becamethewidest-rangingpresentationofMarxandEngels’soverall historicalmaterialism. Luxemburg’sAnti-CritiquewasareplytosocialistcriticsofherAccumulation ofCapital,inwhich,buildinguponMarx’sanalysesofcapitalistreproduction andaccumulation,shehadsoughttodeveloptheconnectionsbetweenimper- 5 MarxandEngels1975a,Vol.25,pp.xi–309. 6 ThiswaspartlyduetothefactthatsuchworksasMarx’sEconomicandPhilosophicalManu- scriptsandtheGrundrisse,aswellasMarxandEngels’sTheGermanIdeology,wereatthat timeunpublishedandunknown. 7 MarxandEngels1975a,Vol.25,pp.8–9. 8 MarxandEngels1975a,Vol.25,p.7. preface ix ialismandeconomiccrises.Shewroteher Anti-Critiquewhileinprisonover her opposition to the First World War. It was only published posthumously, in1921,twoyearsafterherbrutalmurderbyreactionaryforces.Thenatureof thedebateovereconomiccrisesandimperialismwithwhichherAnti-Critique wasassociatedmadeitemblematicofthedeepdivisionswithinGermanSocial Democracyatthetime–inthecontextoftheFirstWorldWarandtheRussian Revolution. Itisthissenseofanti-critique,associatedwithEngelsandLuxemburg–but not meant in any way to rival their great achievements – that we have tried toretaininthepresentbook.Theecologicalproblemisthegreatproblemof thetwenty-firstcentury.Weareinaperiodofplanetarycrisisandstrugglethat isunprecedented.Completelynewchallengeshavearisen.Howwechooseto moveforwardonecologicalquestionsisfundamentaltothefutureofsocialism andhumanity.Inourview,theunderlyingbasesforarevolutionarymaterialist- dialectical critique adequate to the ecological challenges of our time are to befoundintheclassicalMarxiantradition.Thisisbecauseofthedepthand rangeofitscritiqueofcapital,whichopposestothepresentsystemofeconomic commodityexchangeanalternativeconceptionofsocietybasedonsustainable humandevelopment. TakingourcuefromEngelsandLuxemburg,wehavethusgraduallycometo seeourowneffortstodefineahistorical-materialistecology,inoppositionto thoseecosocialistswhowanttodumpthegreaterpartoftheclassicalMarxist legacy, as taking on the overall character of an anti-critique. Moreover, what started out by necessity as a negative response to charges directed at Marx, endedupuncoveringuntolddepthsintheclassicalMarxianecologicalcritique ofcapitalism,arisingoutofthematerialistanddialecticalmethodofMarxism itself,andthereforetakingonapositivecharacter.Inthisview,thephilosophy ofpraxisassociatedwithMarxisminitsmostrevolutionarysenseoffersimport- antnewweaponsinthedefiningstrugglesofourtime,pointingtotheneedfor asocietyofsustainablehumandevelopment,i.e.socialism. Inpreparingthisbookwehavedrawnconsiderablyonpreviouslypublished writings. Chapter 1 is adapted from an article by the same title in Organiza- tionandEnvironment13,no.4(December2000):403–25.Chapters2and3each drawonpartsofthreepreviouspublishedarticles:(1)‘EcologicalEconomics and Classical Marxism: The “Podolinsky Business” Reconsidered,”’ Organiza- tionandEnvironment 17, no. 1 (March 2004): 32–60; (2) ‘Metabolism, Energy, and Entropy in Marx’s Critique of Political Economy: Beyond the Podolin- sky Myth,’ TheoryandSociety 35, no. 1 (February 2006): 109–56; and (3); and “ThePodolinskyMyth:AnObituary:AnIntroductionto“HumanLabourand UnityofForce”bySergeiPodolinsky,”HistoricalMaterialism16(2008):115–61. x preface Chapter4isadaptedfrom‘ClassicalMarxismandtheSecondLawofThermo- dynamics:Marx/Engels,theHeatDeathoftheUniverseTheory,andtheOri- ginsofEcologicalEconomics,’OrganizationandEnvironment21,no.1(March 2008): 1–35. Chapter 5 is an edited version of ‘Marx’s Reproduction Schemes andtheEnvironment,’EcologicalEconomics49,no.4(2004):457–67.Thetwo appendixes,consistingofEnglish-languagetranslationsoftheItalianandGer- manversionsofPodolinsky’sarticles(whichaccompaniedouranalyses),first appeared,respectively,inOrganizationandEnvironment17(March2004):61–75 (translatedbyAngelodiSalvoandMarkHudson),andHistoricalMaterialism 16(2008):163–83(translatedbyPeterThomas). Our intellectual debts in the present book are manifold. Our first and greatestdebtistoRyanWishart,whosenameisincludedonthetitlepage.Ryan editedchapters2–4ofthisbook,soastocreateacoherent,sequentialargu- mentoutoffourseparatearticlesthatwerenecessarilyrepetitivewhenplaced oneagainsttheother.Allofthismaterialneededtobemassivelyeditedand reorganisedtoformthebackboneofthepresentbook.Healsohelpedwiththe editingofthebookasawhole.ItisliterallytruethatwithoutRyan’seditorial efforts,thisworkwouldnothavecomeintobeing.Wewouldalsoliketothank JordanFoxBesekwhocontributedtothefinaleditinginthepreparationofthe book. Sebastian Budgen and Peter Thomas have been supportive of this project fromthebeginning;thelattertranslatedtheGermanversionofPodolinsky’s manuscriptonhumanlabourintoEnglishinassociationwithHistoricalMater- ialism.AngeloDiSalvotranslatedtheItalianversionintoEnglishwiththehelp of a rough translation from the French by Michael Hudson. Mikhail Balaev translatedPodolinsky’sletterstoLavrovof24March1880and4June1880from theRussian.LeontinaHormeltranslatedthetableofcontentsoftheRussian versionofPodolinsky’smanuscriptforus.Weareimmenselygratefulforthe helpprovidedbyallofthesescholars. Wewouldalsoliketothankthemanyfriendsandcolleagueswhogaveus encouragement in this project, including, most notably, Brett Clark, Hannah Holleman,JohnJermier,R.JamilJonna,FredMagdoff,JohnMage,JohnJ.Simon, andRichardYork. Most of all, we would like to thank our life partners, Carrie Ann Naumoff andSuzanneCarter,whoarepartofourcircleoflifeandwhoseimprintisthus (indirectly)oneverypage. 12December2014 Eugene,Oregon TerreHaute,Indiana
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