Why Class-Struggle Ecologism?

First off, why ecologism? As living beings we are dependant on a stable, natural
environment for material sustenance. By destroying the environment, we are
destroying ourselves and our future.

Logically, it is in the interests of all human beings to protect and respect the
environment. This assumes a single humanity, as opposed to "a humanity of classes". Heads of government and industry etc would still be in control of the means of sustenance in the event of environmental collapse.

This leads on to class-struggle. It can quite easily be shown that abolishing classes in the conventional sense should prevent enivironmental collapse. However, pressures on the environment are also caused simply by human population growth. Patriarchy, regardless of the existence or otherwise of capitalist relations, is a form of class oppression, especially when it comes to women having control over reproduction. The fact that women, both in the third world and in capitalist societies, are often forced into having more children than are necessary for the general continuation of human society will ultimately have a negative effect on humanity as population growth creates intolerable stresses on the environment.

Would simply overthrowing capitalism make a difference? Intitally, as stated: yes. But we have to define what capitalism is. In terms of "private capitalism" this is superceded by corporate interests which are over and above the interests of private capitalists. Simply nationalising aspects of the economy or creating a "command economy" does not eliminate the corporate aspect. In fact, it further legitimises the economy being run by a corporate entity, thus legitmising "anti-capitalist" sentiments amoung private capitalists! State Capitalism does not solve the question of how corporations can be expected to respect the enviroment.

The idea has to be perpetuated of a trans-nationally organised, but collectively run at the local level, modern industrial economy. We also have to get beyond a scarcity mentality: we can easily produce enough goods to satisfy everyone's needs. Any beurocracy set up in order to satisfy needs would end up denying them for if goods were to be supplied there would be no need for the beurocracy to exist! There is no need for rapid industrialisation, but there is still a place for industry.