Category Archives: key concepts

No to reform!

Review of Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism. Cambridge. £29.99 paperback. ISBN 9781009366182 Mark H Burton*  pdf version Sometimes it has seemed as if the ecological movement and the socialist movement are inevitably at odds. While … Continue reading

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Book review: Degrowth as a desirable and possible future

Review 1) The Future Is Degrowth: A Guide to a World beyond Capitalism. by Matthias Schmelzer, Andrea Vetter and Aaron Vansintjan. Verso, 2022. ISBN 9781839765841. £18.99 paperback, £11.39 ebook (publisher is currently offering both at the ebook price) 2) Political … Continue reading

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The renewed clamour for growth: ignorance, stupidity or immorality?

We are currently seeing renewed calls from leading politicians for a focus on “growth”, by which they mean economic growth, as measured by Gross Domestic Product, or GDP. The Conservative contenders are doing it, and Labour’s current leadership are too. … Continue reading

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Communicating about degrowth: an interview

In this interview with Dave Darby of LowImpact.org, SSM’s Mark Burton talks about the problems that economic growth brings and the degrowth alternative. It is an introductory treatment: for more detail, do explore our website and our publications. Low Impact … Continue reading

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Fighting Fire with Fire?

Mathew Lawrence and Laurie Laybourn-Langton (2021) Planet on Fire: A manifesto for the age of environmental breakdown. London: Verso. 280pp. £12.99 (hb).

Jonathan Neale (2021) Fight the Fire: Green New Deals and global climate jobs. London: Resistance Books. 348pp. Available as free e-book at: https://theecologist.org/sites/default/files/2021-02/Fight_the_Fire_0.pdf.

These are two very different books but with much in common. Both are concerned with how to respond to the climate and ecological emergency. Jonathan Neale’s (JN) focus is on the global level, while that of Mathew Lawrence and Laurie Laybourn-Langton (L&L-L) is primarily on the UK. Both argue strongly for a social democratic approach, by which I mean an emphasis primarily on public provision and governmental regulation to address the crisis. Continue reading

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Job creation after Covid-19: the participatory economy.

by Carolyn Kagan Is there a different way of creating jobs? There is no doubt about it, COVID-19 has forced us to rethink not only what, and who, we value most but the purpose, nature and impact of work and … Continue reading

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Taking the Imperative out of Growth

by Mark H Burton This article presents the personal viewpoint of the author rather than the considered position of the SSM collective as a whole. This article as a pdf.        Our much longer, fully referenced version (pdf). The report, The … Continue reading

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A Green New Deal for Greater Manchester? Workshop report.

On 16 December we held a workshop to look at the prospects for a “Green New Deal” tailored to the needs and realities of Greater Manchester.  As is our usual style, the major part of the event was group discussion … Continue reading

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