The Greening of Socialism: Climate Change and Marx in the 21st Century

(Hardback)

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The current generation owes a moral and political obligation to the next generation and beyond , in terms of their real inheritance: the three interlinked existential crises represented by climate change, the multiple crises of the global environment and the conventional and nuclear arms race. This book is an attempt to reach out to the next generation to start shaping their own collective future through the greening of socialism on a global basis as an affirmative survival response to these crises which will have to be confronted in the course of the twenty-first century. It starts with a clear recapitulation of the major historical event-structures of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries which have been responsible for the genesis of these crises and links them to the possible choices and actions for the next century and beyond. These crises are no longer separable in terms of the consequences they entail for global humanity. Nor is it possible to separate our relationship with Nature as a whole from our relationship with each other at a global level. Consequently, the resolution of these crises is no longer a matter of mere technical or economic fixes, they will involve the major part of humanity as actors intervening into shaping their own future. The decisive moment for social and political change is fast approaching, with a clear choice to be made between systemic change or continuing with fragmented systems which are inexorably driving us towards the possibility of human extinction along with the extinction of major life-forms on earth. The building blocks of a desirable and sustainable future are already available to us but the powerful and entrenched economic and political structures of the world are in continuous denial of the possibilities of the future through systemic changes. This book lays out the above argument in a concise and logical framework that ranges across several disciplines from political economy and history to ecology and the sciences and technology. It is then up to the next generation to make their own choices about the future in the light of the mounting evidence about the urgency of systemic change. The decisive moment is now. This book is an honest account linking the past, the present and the likely future. It is a challenging read for those who will rise to the challenge.

Reviews

Capitalism cannot offer a solution to climate crisis. This is why the radical left must THINK BIG and offer a solution beyond capitalism. Ghotge clearly demonstrates why Marx remains the essential reference point for the Greening of Socialism.--Kohei Saito, Osaka University
Emerging from decades of scholarly curiosity and practical activism and informed by a real materialist grounding in engineering and technology, this careful analysis of social surplus dismisses Hayek, Keynes--and his greening--and state socialism as capable of successful applications to the global ecological crisis. In then building the theoretical and practical case for green socialism, Professor Ghotge gives us essential and invaluable materials with which to think and act.--Barbara Harriss-White, Oxford University

Author Bio

Sanjeev Ghotge was former professor at the Centre for Applied Systems Analysis. Later, he was Sr. Fellow at the Centre for Climate and Sustainability Policy at the World Institute of Sustainable Energy, Pune.