Ecosocialism as a Guiding Principle
Resolution #56 asserts that ecosocialism must be an active component in all of our organizing, and that all campaigns should take intersections with the climate crisis and ecological collapse into account.
Why Is Build Endorsing Resolution #56?
Socialism or barbarism? Ecosocialism or nothing.
We can’t fight capitalism without fighting the climate crisis, and we can’t fight the climate crisis without fighting capitalism.
We must recognize the intersections between every issue we fight and the capitalist-caused climate crisis, environmental racism, and ecological collapse.
Frequently Asked Questions
Concern: Why can’t the Ecosocialism National Working Group do all of this?
Answer: The purpose of this resolution is to ensure that ecosocialism plays a role in all work throughout the entire organization, which means leaving all of the labor to the ecosocialist working group would contradict the resolution itself. The National Working Group can do some of the work of implementation, such as changes to the National website, general education materials and general training materials.
Concern: Why do we all need to be ecosocialists?
Answer: Capitalism, climate change, and ecological destruction can’t be separated. They are interrelated and any attempts to fight just one will be ineffective. They are also all reaching a breaking point - we don’t have time to work on one and focus on the others later. We must fight them all at the same time or we are doing nothing more than putting band-aids on our dying planet and unjust economy. Therefore, any work we do to fight capitalism (which is all the work we do in DSA) must take ecology into account.
Concern: How is this different from the Green New Deal?
Answer: The Green New Deal (GND) is a great project that DSA has already endorsed. While it does address a range of levels of organizing and tactics, the focus is on education and electoral work in areas directly related to climate change. This is important, especially for building support for Ecosocialism in the general public. However, this resolution works separately (and alongside) the GND to make connections between ecosocialism and every aspect of our work and daily life. Additionally, it has a greater focus on local and regional work that can scale up to National level work, while the GND campaign builds from a national set of principles. A variety of tactics and approaches are what we need to truly fight against climate change, and these two projects help round out a more comprehensive focus on ecosocialism.