Ecology and Historical Materialism

This book presents a systematic challenge to the widely-held view that Marxism is unable to deal adequately with environmental issues. Jonathan Hughes responds to criticisms of Marx’s theory of history from environmental theorists, and offers an interpretation and reconstruction of key Marxian concepts, designed to show that the theory need not have harmful ecological consequences. He argues that the communist principle “to each according to his needs” must rest on a conception of needs that may be satisfied by a modest and ecologically-feasible expansion of productive output.