'Population' or the Working Class? (was There Are Greens, and There Are Greens)

[Louis Proyect]

>Last but not the least, a fear of an 'imminent environmental catastrophe'
>is not likely to turn the working class toward marxism. More likely than
>not, such fear makes them look to RELIGION, since it only aggravates the
>sense of helplessness and the prospect for a bleak future that beset many
>working-class people today even without the help of such rhetoric. Good
>marxist propaganda work should strive to make workers _fearless and
>fierce_, not fearful and doomed.
>
>Yoshie

If imminent environmental catastrophe was conceived of in the same terms as
a comet hurdling toward earth, like the summer movies dramatize, then
certainly religion would be most people's impulse. On the other hand, if we
make the case that the capitalist drive for profit is causing global
warming, then workers might choose other options than the church. In any
case, the biggest kind of problem we face on this front for the time being
is that the leftish head of the Coalminers Union, Rich Trumka, is
affiliated to an industry coalition fighting against the IPCC treaty.

Louis Proyect

(http://www.panix.com/~lnp3/marxism.html)