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Since this was the topic it seems of the last two posts attempting to counter the Huber article, here is the article. David Ecosocialism: Dystopian and Scientific An effective ecosocialist politics can't just focus on dire threats to scare us into action. It must also convince people that a better future is possible. *by* Matt Huber - Winter 2019 <https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/winter-2019/> Climate change is bleak – coastal sea level rise, millions of climate refugees and whole sections of the planet too hot for human life. Thus, for good reason, ecosocialist politics often emphasizes a “dystopian” vision of a future if capitalism is not replaced. The main mode of critique is laying out what the science is telling us about current ecological collapse and the projected worsening of planetary conditions (not just climate but mass extinction, nitrogen dead zones etc.). However, part of socialist strategy is also about convincing the mass of workers that a *better* future is possible. Ecosocialist politics usually projects a dystopian future we must avoid, rather than an emancipatory future worth fighting for. Recently my local socialist reading group happened to be reading Friedrich Engels’s classic *Socialism: Utopian and Scientific* <https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1880/soc-utop/index.htm>. For Engels, a “scientific” socialism must be grounded in an analysis of what kind of socialist society is possible given historical and material conditions. Engels emphasized utopian socialists imagine an ideal society “invented out of one’s brain”, but failed to articulate how socialism could be realistically built out of the present. I make a similar claim in this essay. The dystopian vision of the future among much of the green left prevents it from explaining how socialism can be built out of the material conditions that confront us. Ecosocialists often make impressive use of natural science to project a dystopian future, but this is not the “science” Engels called for (his “science” is better described as *historical materialism*). FULL: https://socialistforum.dsausa.org/issues/winter-2019/ecosocialism-dystopian-and-scientific/ . _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
