Engels and the Politics of Nature

Abstract

Marxists have responded slowly and uncertainly to the rise of ecological politics since the 1970s. Some have seized on the ‘Limits to Growth’ debate as confirming classical Marxist expectations that capitalism would ultimately collapse under the weight of its own contradictions. Others have burrowed back into the writings of Marx and Engels to discover that they were the original political ecologists. Others in the Marxist tradition have taken a more hostile stance. They have noted the claims made by green activists to have gone beyond the class politics of left and right, in proclaiming a universal interest of human kind. They have also noticed the relatively privileged social position of many environmentalists, and have found it easy to represent environmental campaigns to protect unspoilt countryside as attempts to protect middle-class lifestyles at the cost of homes and jobs for working-class families.