Matt Huber & Kohei Saito on Growth, Progress and Left Imaginaries
Future Histories International
Exploring Degrowth Communism and Marx's Vision of Post-Capitalism
This chapter delves into the concepts of degrowth communism and the reinterpretation of Marx's theories in the context of post-capitalism. It examines the relationship between technological progress, ecological sustainability, and the history of energy within a Marxist framework, paving the way for a thorough discussion on contemporary social and ecological challenges.
Kohei Saito and Matt Huber discuss degrowth communism, socialist ecomodernism and their respective views on growth, natural limits, technology and progress.
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If you are interested in democratic economic planning, these resources might be of help:
Democratic planning – an information website
https://www.democratic-planning.com/
Sorg, C. & Groos, J. (eds.)(2025). Rethinking Economic Planning. Competition & Change Special Issue Volume 29 Issue 1.
https://journals.sagepub.com/toc/ccha/29/1
Groos, J. & Sorg, C. (2025). Creative Construction - Democratic Planning in the 21st Century and Beyond. Bristol University Press. [for a review copy, please contact: amber.lanfranchi[at]bristol.ac.uk]
https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/creative-construction
International Network for Democratic Economic Planning
Democratic Planning Research Platform:
https://www.planningresearch.net/
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Shownotes
Kohei Saito at University of Tokyo:
https://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/focus/en/people/k0001_04217.html
Saito is chair of the “Beyond Capitalism: War Economy and Democratic Planning” Program at The New Institute:
https://thenew.institute/en/programs/beyond-capitalism-war-economy-and-democratic-planning
Matt Huber at Syracuse University:
https://www.maxwell.syr.edu/directory/matthew-t-huber
Saito, K. (2024). Slow Down: How Degrowth Communism can save the Earth. W&N.
https://www.weidenfeldandnicolson.co.uk/titles/kohei-saito/slow-down/9781399612999/
Saito, K. (2023). Marx in the Anthropocene: Towards the Idea of Degrowth Communism. Cambridge University Press.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/marx-in-the-anthropocene/D58765916F0CB624FCCBB61F50879376
Saito, K. (2017). Karl Marx’s Ecosocialism: Capital, Nature, and the Unfinished Critique of Political Economy. Monthly Review Press.
https://monthlyreview.org/product/karl_marxs_ecosocialism/
Huber, M. T. (2022). Climate Change as Class War: Building Socialism on a Warming Planet. Verso Books.
Huber, M. T. (2013). Lifeblood: Oil, Freedom, and the Forces of Capital. University of Minnesota Press.
https://www.upress.umn.edu/9780816677856/lifeblood/
Matt Huber’s and Leigh Philipps’s review of Saito’s recent work:
https://jacobin.com/2024/03/kohei-saito-degrowth-communism-environment-marxism
on Huber’s critique of degrowth:
https://jacobin.com/2023/07/degrowth-climate-change-economic-planning-production-austerity
more articles on Jacobin by Huber:
https://jacobin.com/author/matt-huber
Matt Huber’s medium blog:
https://medium.com/@Matthuber78
On Ecomodernism:
https://thebreakthrough.org/ecomodernism
Matt Huber’s stance on the term “Ecomodernism”:
https://medium.com/@Matthuber78/clarifications-on-ecomodernism-3b159cafb836
on Vaclav Smil:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vaclav_Smil
chapter on machinery and modern industry in Marx’s Capital Vol.1:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1867-c1/ch15.htm
on Eco-Marxism/Ecosocialism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-socialism
Reading guide on Ecology & Marxism by Andreas Malm:
https://www.historicalmaterialism.org/ecology-marxism-andreas-malm/
on GDP:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gross_domestic_product
Schmelzer, M. (2016). The Hegemony of Growth: The OECD and the Making of the Economic Growth Paradigm. Cambridge University Press.
https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/hegemony-of-growth/A80C4DF19D804C723D55A5EFE7A447FD
on the „Green New Deal”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Green_New_Deal
Pollin, R. (2018) De-Growth vs. a Green New Deal. New Left Review Issue 112.
https://newleftreview.org/issues/ii112/articles/robert-pollin-de-growth-vs-a-green-new-deal
Hickel, J. (2020). What does degrowth mean? A few points of clarification. Globalizations, 18(7), 1105–1111.
on Malthusianism:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Malthusianism
Harvey, D. (1974). Population, Resources, and the Ideology of Science. Economic Geography, 50(3), 256–277.
https://www.uky.edu/~tmute2/GEI-Web/password-protect/GEI-readings/harvey%20population.pdf
the „Limits to Growth” report from 1972:
https://www.clubofrome.org/publication/the-limits-to-growth/
Hickel, J. (2019) Degrowth: A Theory of Radical Abundance. Real-World Economics Review Issue 87.
on Planetary Boundaries:
https://www.stockholmresilience.org/research/planetary-boundaries.html
Earl C. Ellies:
on “Decoupling”:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eco-economic_decoupling
Christophers, B. (2024). The Price is Wrong: Why Capitalism Won’t Save the Planet. Verso Books.
on the Haber-Bosch Process:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Haber_process
Smil, V. (2004). Enriching the Earth: Fritz Haber, Carl Bosch, and the Transformation of World Food Production. MIT Press.
https://mitpress.mit.edu/9780262693134/enriching-the-earth/
Smil, V. (2016). Power Density: A Key to Understanding Energy Sources and Uses. MIT Press.
https://direct.mit.edu/books/monograph/4023/Power-DensityA-Key-to-Understanding-Energy-Sources
on Mining and the Green Energy Transition:
Marx’s letter to Vera Zasulich:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1881/zasulich/index.htm
Marx’s “Preface” to “A Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy”:
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1859/critique-pol-economy/preface.htm
Future Histories Episodes on Related Topics
S03E23 | Andreas Malm on Overshooting into Climate Breakdown
S03E03 | Planning for Entropy on Sociometabolic Planning
S03E02 | George Monbiot on Public Luxury
https://www.futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s03/e02-george-monbiot-on-public-luxury/
S02E55 | Kohei Saito on Degrowth Communism
https://www.futurehistories-international.com/episodes/s02/e55-kohei-saito-on-degrowth-communism/
S02E47 | Matt Huber on Building Socialism, Climate Change & Class War
S02E18 | Drew Pendergrass and Troy Vettese on Half Earth Socialism
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Episode Keywords
#MattHuber, #KoheiSaito, #Podcast, #JanGroos, #Interview, #FutureHistories, #futurehistoriesinternational, #FutureHistoriesInternational, #Degrowth, #Socialism, #Capitalism, #GreenNewDeal, #ClimateJustice, #WorkingClass, #PoliticalEconomy, #ClimateCrisis, #FossilCapitalism, #EcoSocialism, #Marx, #DemocraticEconomicPlanning, #Class, #ClassStruggle, #DemocraticPlanning, #DegrowthCommunism, #PostCapitalism, #ClimatePolitics, #RadicalEcology, #JustTransition, #Prometheanism, #Communism, #Progress
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