THEORY
proletariat (the key agent for socialist change), have forced socialists to cast
around for new allies. Not surprisingly, there seems to be considerable com-
mon ground with the ecological movement, as illustrated by the red–green
coalitions that have emerged in several countries (see Chapter5). The con-
sensus between ecologism and socialism across a range of common core
principles, notably social justice, equality and democratisation, has led the-
orists from both camps to explore the potential of new social movements
and rainbow coalitions of issue movements – socialists, greens, feminists,
anti-racists, gay rights – as agents for change (see PartII). Most socialists
might agree with Gorz ( 1980 )that‘theecological movement is not an end
in itself, but a stage in a larger struggle. It can throw up obstacles to capi-
talist development and force a number of changes’ (p. 3). However, for now,
socialists and greens share a common foe: capitalism.
Ecosocialists have also contributed to the reassessment of the role of the
state within green political theory (Hayward 1995 ). Whilst greens tradition-
ally distrust the state, socialists see it as playing a central role in bringing
about social change. Socialist solutions to environmental problems mirror
theapproach to other problems: a reformist socialist strategy uses a cen-
tral interventionist state to regulate the market to protect the environment
whilst pursuing a social programme based on a redistribution of wealth,
equality and collective ownership. As the earlier discussion of decentralisa-
tion and the state revealed, many greens now attribute a key role to the
state in delivering environmental protection policies.
Finally, it would be wrong to over-emphasise the significance of ecoso-
cialism within the socialist tradition. Ecosocialism tends to draw on a very
narrow body of socialist ideas, namely, the ‘decentralist, non-bureaucratic,
non-productivist socialism’ (Dobson 2000 :187) of utopian socialists such as
William Morris, G. D. H. Cole and Robert Owen. Their vision of a decen-
tralised, self-sufficient community has much in common with ecologism,
but it is not the dominant position within socialism, where the central-
ist, labourist heritage represents a sharp cultural barrier between the two
movements.
The dialogue between these two ideologies has been particularly lively.
Ecologism has certainly been sharpened by the socialist critique of capital-
ism. Socialism has also taken on board some of the lessons of ecologism;
indeed, many socialists would agree that ‘A socialism for the 21st century
must put at its heart the ecological challenge and escape from the limits
of productivist thinking’ (Mellor 2006 : 36). Yet critical differences remain on
keyissues, such as attitudes to human–nature relations, and in the institu-
tional and cultural manifestations of each movement.◗ Feminism
Ecofeminists are keen to correct the tendency for green politics to ignore
feminist issues.^12 The deep ecology movement, and especially the US group