Socialist Stewardship? (2022)

From the November 2022 issue of the Socialist Standard 

The question ‘Who should own the Earth?’ is a common one in political theory. To the capitalists, their private ownership of the land and the wealth they’ve stolen from the workers justifies their class collectively deciding the fate of the planet. The socialist response to the capitalists’ private ownership is that the Earth should be commonly owned by all and managed in the best interest of all. However, common ownership doesn’t solve all the issues which capitalist private ownership of the planet has created; profit over the welfare of the Earth has created a climate crisis (which at this point might be far too late to reverse regardless of the system) but, under a misguided interpretation of the idea, common ownership in the interest of all could lead to this same crisis. If you understand “in the interest of all” as meaning maintaining the ease of travel by car or plane you could justify maintaining the current rate of use of fossil fuels which is destroying the ecosystem.

This is the greatest flaw of the general understanding of common ownership, no group can truly own the planet. As humans we’re merely a part of nature and we have a duty to care for the Earth for future generations; this idea is known as stewardship. If we wish to maintain our planet for us and future generations, we must integrate it into our ideas of common ownership. If we as a species collectively own everything then it must be understood that ownership comes with the priority of maintaining and improving its condition. Simply put, private ownership is killing our planet for economic profit and common ownership can’t make the mistake of killing our planet for short-term conveniences or improvement in our material conditions; instead socialists must embrace the duty to protect the environment and repair the Earth after the ecological trauma of private ownership.

SHERIFF