Marx on Steam: From the Optimism of Progress to the Pessimism of Power. Issue 2 (3rd April 2018)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Malm, Andreas
• Is Part Of: Rethinking Marxism. Volume 30:Issue 2(2018)
• Page Start: 166
• Page End: 185
• Publication Date: 2018-04-03
• Subjects: Ecology -- Determinism -- Marxism -- Productive Forces -- Steam Power; Communism -- Periodicals; Periodicals; 335.4305
• DOI: 10.1080/08935696.2017.1417085
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0893-5696

Abstract

Abstract : In the light of climate change, the steam engine appears as one of the most momentous productive forces in history. This essay traces Karl Marx's shifting thoughts on that particular technology, arguing that his oeuvre exhibits a break: the young Marx espoused productive-force determinism and considered the steam engine a force of progress while the mature Marx tended to regard the relations of production as determinant. Steam power then arose as a result of contradictions in the relations between capital and labor—not as the origin of those relations. Ecological Marxism needs to reckon with these tensions and ruptures in Marx's works. By elaborating on his constructivism, we may approach a theory of fossil-fuel technologies as material manifestations of capitalist power—the general obstacle, so far, to any meaningful politics for mitigating climate change.