Workers' Liberty

I’m not a great one for polls, given the skewed questions and the dodgy sociological categories, but among the general gloom in recent polls on the environment, one finding stood out.

The activist left, being heavily concentrated in city-centre areas with relatively copious public transport, may be liable to underestimate the impact of fuel price rises.

Even in Britain, probably the majority of the working class live in outlying areas of cities and in small towns: they have no choice but to drive a car to get to work. About two-thirds of all journeys to work in Britain are made by car.

Burning fossil fuels and pumping CO2 into the atmosphere is changing our planet. Current projections see temperatures rising by 3°C by mid-century. Sounds insignificant?

Over three thousand people opposed to Heathrow expansion marched on Saturday 31 May from Hatton Cross to Sipson, the village which would be destroyed were a third runway to be built.

The AWL opposes the expansion of Heathrow and other UK airports as part of our working class socialist strategy for preventing dangerous climate change.

If new runways at Heathrow, Stansted, Edinburgh and Birmingham airports are built, they will generate more greenhouse gas emissions, which will further contribute to global warming. We should oppose the expansion of Heathrow and other UK airports as part of our working class socialist strategy for preventing dangerous climate change.

Solidarity’s current debate about the future of the nuclear industry appears to be an argument at cross purposes. Martin Thomas, Les Hearn and others have argued that nuclear is not as dangerous or as lethal as some other energy sources like coal. If only we had a planned economy under workers’ control without a £70 billion Trident replacement project in the pipeline, then nuclear would be a good idea.

The opinions of William Morris on what we now call ecology are important in any assessment of him as a political thinker in his own time.

Morris was a political activist, and although his personal life was informed by his socialist politics, he did not see lifestyle or consumer behaviour as a substitute for political action.

Morris was more coherent when commenting more concretely on housing under socialism. In The Housing of the Poor, an article published in Justice, (19 July 1884), he wrote:

Morris apparently disliked urban living before he became a socialist, and he appears to have carried over this attitude into his socialist activity. In an early article in Justice, entitled Why Not?

On transport, Morris was even more a prisoner of his time.

Morris had less to say of contemporary relevance on energy, which is hardly surprising since renewables were barely even dreamt of when he was politically active.

One of the great myths about Morris is that he was hostile to technology.

Another of Morris’ contributions to Marxism was his positive conception of work under socialism. Not for Morris - as for his contemporary Paul Lafargue – the right to be lazy.

Perhaps Morris’ most significant breakthrough was to identify working class action and the socialist movement more generally as the essential social agents in protecting the environment.

Morris held to a materialist appreciation of the connection between human productive activity and the ruination of the environment.

Morris had read Marx’s Capital in French by 1884 – an authorised English edition was still to be properly translated at this time.

Sometime in 1882, William Morris decided he was no longer a radical and began to associate himself explicitly with socialism.

Morris made his name as an artist and as a poet, and his commitment to conservation was expressed through his work.

William Morris was one of the outstanding Marxists in the period after Marx’s death.

Louise Gold spoke to Graham Thompson from Plane Stupid, whose recent action on the rooftop of the Houses of Parliament was widely reported.

I welcome Les Hearn’s participation in our nuclear debate, particularly as I remember reading about climate change in his science column in Socialist Organiser as long ago as 1988-89. However he completely evades the central problems with nuclear (Solidarity 3/127, 21 February 2008).

This is drafted as a motion for national union conferences, but can be adapted for local union branches and Trades Councils.

§1. Climate change is a fact of life on earth in the early 21st century and in all likelihood will remain a significant ecological and social question for the foreseeable future. It has substantial consequences for working class politics. The AWL has a significant role to play in drawing out the political implications of dangerous climate change and taking part in the fight to prevent it.

Around 300 trade unionists and environmental activists attended the Campaign against Climate Change (CCC) trade union conference on 9 February.

Is this Solidarity or Green World that I’m reading? According to Stuart Jordan (24 Jan), whatever the answer to climate change is, it’s not nuclear power! Nuclear plants are always late and over budget, unlike anything else.
Apparently, uranium would run out in 10 years, a fact that had escaped the companies that are keen to build and run new power stations. So why is Gordon Brown keen on nuclear? Because his brother is a “lobbyist” for EDF!

Of course!