The Poverty of Green Philosophy, A Marxist Case for Nuclear Energy in a Cooperative World, by Bill Sacks and Greg Meyerson
The Poverty of Green Philosophy: A Marxist Case for Nuclear Energy in a Cooperative World, is an about to be published book that explores vital issues regarding the production of electrical energy. No matter what the method of generating electric power, or any societal need, its cost, efficiency, distribution and safety is affected by the economic structure of society. Under capitalism, profitability and national and international competition outweigh efficiency, safety, and equitable access in the use of any technology. Moreover, capitalism tries to undermine workers’ demands by decreasing our understanding of science. Under communism, the benefit to the world’s working class will be the main determinant of scientific and technical innovation. However, there are achievements under capitalism that can and do benefit workers because having enough healthy, mobile and trained workers is necessary to capitalists. Thus we have vaccines, computers and many other tools we use to our advantage and fight for, even as we oppose the way they may be lied about, produced and distributed under capitalism.
Nuclear energy must be under the control of the working class
With regard to electricity, it is still mainly produced by burning fossil fuels, even as their use leads to accelerating climate change and causes a huge amount of disease and pollution. The profitability of their production and sale is so huge that capitalism is loath to change to cleaner energy. To this end the industry expends vast efforts to oppose the use of alternatives, both renewables and nuclear. Nuclear energy production is already feared, as it is incorrectly conflated with nuclear bombs. Many climate activists and critics of capitalism are drawn to renewables because they seem more natural, and it is believed that they could power the world. Most Americans are unaware that the 94 nuclear plants in the U.S. are already the world’ s highest producer of nuclear energy.
In this book, the authors both explain the science of nuclear technology and compare it to renewables in terms of efficiency and cost and explore the fallacies in the reasoning of promoters of renewables. Using extensive data and analysis, the book concludes that renewables are actually less and less efficient as they expand because of the vast land area needed, intermittency, conversion and transmission apparatus, battery storage, and the upkeep, replacement and recycling of equipment they require. A nuclear plant takes 18 times less material than a solar installation. And even under capitalism, nuclear power is much safer than fossil fuels, having caused no deaths since Chernobyl, while fossil fuels cause about 8 million deaths worldwide a year. The problem of nuclear waste storage is also vastly exaggerated, has had no negative consequences, and pales beside the vast toxicity of coal, oil and gas production. You’ll have to read the book to convince yourself.
Capitalism will never solve climate change
The authors make clear that capitalism is the ultimate obstacle to halting global warming, but delineate how even many critics of capitalism have no faith in our ability to replace it or for communism to work. Many, such as Green New Deal supporters, are convinced that capitalism can be reformed so as to be more advantageous to workers. We in Progressive Labor Party believe that we can and must overthrow capitalism in order to avoid the disasters of climate change and world war, among others, and that we can analyze the weaknesses of prior revolutions in order to build a lasting communist world, run by and for the working class.
