Abstract
The article sets out the difficult task of performing a rigorous internal critique. Given the available knowledge about climate change, the Marxist tradition has been deeply reluctant to sound the alarm of existential threat. This paralysis translates into the reproduction of a pulverized, inflexible, and unambitious praxis that is satisfied with partial successes and small breakthroughs. I argue throughout the text that even this modest conception of “partial success” or “small breakthroughs” is unsustainable considering the overall picture of the climate challenges facing humanity. To construct the reasoning, I establish three points of dialogue with my fellow ecosocialists: (i) the spontaneously emancipatory and ecological leaning of popular struggles; (ii) the transformative potential of systematic accumulation of small advances and reforms; and (iii) the possibility to buy “time” through small advances and reforms. Finally, the fourth section addresses the danger of the demobilizing effect in the face of the explicit knowledge that ongoing climate change will dramatically affect humankind in the coming decades.
Keywords:
Climate change; Ecosocialism; Reform