SOAS Research Online

Abstract

This papers seeks to contribute to a dialogue between the degrowth perspective and Marxist approaches on the sources and possible solutions to the ongoing ecological crisis of capitalism. While I agree with the general critique that the degrowth movement has raised not only against the consequences of growth but also against the idea of growth itself, I argue that the root causes of the destructive character of capitalism are not to be found in growth, but in capitalist accumulation. I present my reading of three of Marx’s most important contributions to our understanding of capitalism and argue for an understanding that puts the emphasis on the separation of the labourers from the means of production, alienated labour, the imperative and the dynamic of competition, and the limited nature of liberal democracy. I argue that growth could be greened in a post-capitalist society if the institutions and dynamics that drive capitalist accumulation were abolished and full democracy was established. The paper ends with a description of how the Zapatista movement in Chiapas and the Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) in Brazil managed to unevenly and contradictorily challenge and subvert some of the social institutions and dynamics that sustain capitalist accumulation.