> On Jan 27, 2025, at 7:59 AM, Michael Meeropol via groups.io
> <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> That last point makes sense --- Marx and Engels believed capitalism had a
> "historic mission" to so develop the "Forces of Production" so as to bring
> the economy to the point where a truly communist society (where "artificial
> scarcity" had been abolished) were possible.
>
> NOT SO SURE how this fit with Marx's references to "metabolic rift" that John
> B. Foster emphasizes, however.
>
Marx used the term "metabolic" or "metabolism" in Capital I (one of the English
translations of "stoffwechsel"). I think of JBF's term "metabolic rift" as a
composite of Marx's use of "metabolism" and the "rift" (or separation) between
town and country: In Marx's view, "a primary form of ecological disruption
generated by class-formed human production is the separation of town and
country" (Burkett, Marx and Nature). Thus, one of the earliest revolutions in
capitalist productive forces, concentrating people in cities, led to a
disruption in the natural cycle of the fertilization of land as its organic
products clogged city sewers and rivers. IMHO, this disruption the earth's
processes by humans has gotten worse with each revolution of capitalist forces
of production.
I think that most of those who write about the "metabolic rift" would tend to
view the further development of capitalist productive forces as NOT
progressive. According to JBF, "it is impossible to imagine the level of
environmental catastrophe that will face the world’s peoples, especially those
at the bottom of the imperialist hierarchy, if capitalism’s creative
destruction of the metabolism of humanity and the earth is not stopped
mid–century" (JBF,
https://monthlyreview.org/2020/09/01/the-renewal-of-the-socialist-ideal/). I
read "creative destruction" (Schumpeter) as revolutions in the capitalist
forces of production. It may be that I'm projecting my opinion onto people whom
I read. I don't know.
Something could also be said about capitalism's unproductive forces: Crypto
currencies today consume more electricity than Greece or Australia
(https://environmentamerica.org/california/articles/bitcoins-purposeless-power-problem/?utm_source=chatgpt.com)
for the sole purpose of redistributing capital among the players.
Mark
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