{"id":2478,"date":"2025-05-02T12:46:25","date_gmt":"2025-05-02T12:46:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/?p=2478"},"modified":"2025-05-02T22:20:23","modified_gmt":"2025-05-02T22:20:23","slug":"review-against-the-crisis-economy-and-ecology-in-a-burning-world-by-stale-holgersen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/?p=2478","title":{"rendered":"Review &#8211; Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World by St\u00e5le Holgersen"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Amongst the most overused terms in politics and journalism, \u2018crisis\u2019 must be a strong contender for the top spot. A quick glance at today\u2019s news headlines reveals &#8211; amongst others \u2013 a nightlife crisis, a tariff crisis, a cholera crisis, a housing crisis, and \u2013 heaven forbid &#8211; an injury crisis at a leading football club! More specifically, for the Marxist left, the notion of \u2018the capitalist crisis\u2019 has played an important role in our collective political imaginary. How many times have we heard something to the effect that \u201cas the crisis deepens\u201d, the working class will shed its illusions and in due course will rally to the socialist cause? Stale Holgersen recent book, <em>Against the Crisis<\/em>, takes issue with both the conceptual confusion surrounding the concept of crisis and, more importantly, at the notion that capitalist crises should be conceived as opportunities for the left.<\/p>\n<p>In relation to the first point, Holgersen proposes a working definition of crisis which comprises three essential elements, as he writes, <em>\u201cCrises are events that 1) come relatively quickly, 2) are embedded in underlying structures and processes, and 3) have negative effects on people or nature\u201d <\/em>(p.5) Thus, as a consequence, he is sceptical about the concept of a \u2018permacrisis\u2019 (the Financial Times\u2019 word of the year 2022). As to the second, he stresses the role that crises play in sustaining the system and the political difficulties that they pose for the left:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c<em>While crises can \u2013 in theory \u2013 help us to reveal and expose capitalism\u2019s weaknesses and problems, they are also \u2013 in the actual political economy \u2013 central to the reproduction of capitalism. Crises are a good starting point for criticising capitalism, but they also make it harder to actually overthrow the system\u201d; <\/em>(p.10) moreover,<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cIf opportunities \u2013 as defined in textbooks \u2013 are occasions or situations that make it possible to do something you want or have to do, and if opportunities \u2013 as conventionally understood \u2013 entail moments of excitement, optimism and hopefulness, and chances for advancement, then we must refrain from referring to crises as opportunities for the working class, the environmental movement or the political left\u201d<\/em> (p.16).<\/p>\n<p><em>\u00a0<\/em>\u2018Make the Rich Pay for the Crisis!\u2019 may be an attractive slogan but, as Holgersen points out, it is rarely the case that they ever actually do.<\/p>\n<p><em>Against the Crisis<\/em> focusses on the nature of the recurrent economic crises under capitalism and on the overarching issue of the ecological crisis. One of the main strengths of the book is how it analyses the specifics of each of these, their similarities and differences, and the complex relationship between them. Holgersen takes issue with the (reassuring?) view that the ecological crisis, in itself, poses a threat to the continued existence of capitalism. Paraphrasing Lenin he wryly observes, <em>\u201c[It] is more likely \u2026 that the last capitalist will sell a jug of gasoline to his last customer in a world on fire; or that the last capitalist will order workers to use the latest technology to produce even more survival kits\u201d <\/em>(p.106).<\/p>\n<p>In attempting to understand these economic and ecological crises, Holgersen applies an approach which combines both empirical data and structural analysis by way of a series \u2018abstractions\u2019. Thus crises, Holgersen argues, need to be understood simultaneously (1) at the \u2018surface level\u2019 (e.g. a financial crisis), which is in turn related to (2) the concrete organisation of nature\/capitalism (e.g. \u2018neo-liberalism\u2019), rooted in (3) the crisis tendencies of the system (e.g. the increase in the \u2018organic composition of capital\u2019) which are finally associated with (4) the profit-driven nature of the system and (5) ultimately, with the underlying contradiction between use-value and exchange value which characterises the capitalist system as a whole. It is at these, more fundamental levels of abstraction, that both the economic and the ecological crises \u2013 despite their specificities and important differences \u2013 can be conceptualised as different manifestations of the same systemic imperatives and contradictions.<\/p>\n<p>Holgersen applies this overall framework to a number of specific issues associated with crises under capitalism. Above all, he underlines the essential class dimensions of such crises. Far from us all being in the \u2018same boat\u2019, crises are caused by one class but typically paid for by another<strong>. <\/strong>More broadly he writes,<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201c[t}hat class struggle intensifies during crises of capitalism may sound like a dream to the left, who might be more than happy to welcome some extra class struggle. But most of this is nothing to cheer about. This is class struggle from above, subtly and quietly, often with murderous efficiency\u201d<\/em> (p.142)<em>.<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Against the Crisis <\/em>also includes a very useful discussion of the relationship between racism, fascism and capitalist crises. For Holgersen racism is a permanent feature of such crises, a predictable response <em>\u201cwithin a capitalism built for centuries on colonialism and imperialism\u201d, <\/em>but <em>\u201c[w]here racism is the rule, fascism is the exception; if racism is the eternal answer to crisis, fascism is the exceptional solution\u201d<\/em> (p.187) and<em> \u201c[f]ascism is a solution when it seems that the crises will not be able to reproduce capitalism. In other words, fascism becomes a possibility when the basic hypothesis of this book is challenged. Fascism is the shock therapy when capitalism really needs to change in order to survive\u201d<\/em> (p.194).<\/p>\n<p>Holgersen applies a variety of theoretical frameworks to help illuminate the nature of capitalist crises, drawing on both the Trotskyist tradition, especially the work of Ernest Mandel and Daniel Bensaid, and on the \u2018left eurocommunism\u2019 of Nicos Poulantzas, and specifically, on the latter\u2019s concept of the \u2018relative autonomy\u2019 of the capitalist state. This represents a potentially innovative fusion of traditions that have traditionally between somewhat remote and indeed hostile to each other; the resumption of a dialogue that briefly took place in the late 1970\u2019s and was subsequently lost to history, not least by the virtual disappearance of the \u2018left eurocommunism\u2019 perspective by the early 1980\u2019s<a href=\"#_edn1\" name=\"_ednref1\">[i]<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>However, whilst Holgersen\u2019s book is theoretically rich and stimulating, in a refreshing contrast with much current leftwing theorising, it also focusses on the practical responses which capitalist crises demand of the left. Paralleling the analytical abstractions that he employs to understand the nature of crises; he distinguishes between three \u2018levels\u2019 around which the left should formulate such a response. In particular, he distinguishes between (1) crisis management (2) crisis policy and (3) crisis critique and argues convincingly that then left needs all of the above. In fact, it is the weakness of the left at the level of crisis management\/policy, in contrast to its relative sophistication at the level of crisis critique, which leaves us vulnerable to collapsing into essentially \u2018Keynesian\u2019 solutions to when the crisis actually hits. Holgersen rightly stresses the urgent need for the left to develop its own distinctive and credible crisis policies and proposes several possible sources for these; including a renewed programme of \u2018transitional demands\u2019, the advocacy of anti-capitalist \u2018structural reforms\u2019 and a strategy which operates simultaneously \u2018in and against\u2019 the capitalist state. As he notes:<\/p>\n<p><em>\u201cCrisis and its causes are something we must fight against. Rather than opportunities we look forward to exploring, or moments when the fight for socialism is put on hold, the crises are problems we must solve\u201d <\/em>(p.19).<\/p>\n<p>Overall, <em>Against the Crisis<\/em> is a fascinating and rewarding read providing useful material on a host of topics. If I have one reservation about the book it would be that whilst correctly stressing the \u2018destructive functionality\u2019 of cyclical crises under capitalism and their essential role in ensuring the reproduction of the system, it is not at all at clear that similar considerations apply to the more long-term \u2018organic\u2019 downturns of the system which can and do span numerous cyclical \u2018booms\u2019 and \u2018bursts\u2019. It is not of course that Holgersen is unaware of the distinction here and in fact discusses it at various points, but perhaps the relationship between these different \u2018crises\u2019 (indeed whether the latter is correctly regarded as a \u2018crisis\u2019 in the sense that Holgersen defines the term) could have been explored more thoroughly. The \u2018functionality\u2019 of capitalism\u2019s cyclical undulations makes much more intuitive sense than those of its \u2018long downturns\u2019, especially when the latter \u2013 for example in the case of the \u2018Great Depression\u2019 of the 1920\u2019s and 30\u2019s \u2013 required a cataclysmic world war to finally resolve. In a similar vein, whilst there is no guarantee that any particular crisis will be the \u2018final\u2019 crisis of capitalism, it doesn\u2019t follow that we can\u2019t or shouldn\u2019t talk in terms of an overall systemic decline.<\/p>\n<p>Notwithstanding this, Holgersen\u2019s overall thesis is thoughtful, important, and timely. We can\u2019t rely on the crisis of capitalism to deliver the transition to socialism; on the contrary, it is only by finding the political resources to struggle effectively \u2018against the crisis\u2019 that we will find our way to a better society. Although crises typically and paradoxically strengthen the system, the ultimate challenge is, as Holgersen concludes, to definitively \u2018falsify\u2019 this very thesis.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"#_ednref1\" name=\"_edn1\">[i]<\/a> See \u2018L\u2019\u00c9tat et la transition au socialisme. Interview de Nicos Poulantzas par Henri Weber\u2019,\u00a0<em>Critique communiste<\/em>\u00a0(the Ligue Communiste R\u00e9volutionnaire journal), no. 16, June 1977 translated to English as &#8216;The State and the Transition to Socialism&#8217;, in\u00a0<em>The Poulantzas Reader,<\/em>\u00a0ed by James Martin<em>\u00a0<\/em>(Verso, 2008) pp. 334-360<\/p>\n<p>Reviewed by Iain Gault, Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World is published by Verso and is available <a href=\"https:\/\/www.versobooks.com\/en-gb\/products\/3130-against-the-crisis\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<p>There is a\u00a0<em>Scotonomics\u00a0<\/em>You Tube interview with Holgersen which outlines the main themes of the book and which is well worth a look. It can be accessed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=nvjLe7Gs4FM\">here<\/a><\/p>\n<p><b>St\u00e5le Holgersen<\/b>\u00a0is a Senior Lecturer in Human Geography at Stockholm University, Sweden. He is a member of two research collectives: the Zetkin Collective (ecosocialist group working on political ecologies of the far right) published\u00a0<i>White Skin, Black Fuel<\/i>\u00a0on Verso in 2021 and Fundament (a housing research collective) published\u00a0<i>Kris i Bostadsfr\u00e5gan on Daidalos in<\/i> 2023.<\/p>\n<div class=\"pdfprnt-buttons pdfprnt-buttons-post pdfprnt-bottom-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F2478&print=pdf\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-pdf\" target=\"_blank\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/pdf.png\" alt=\"image_pdf\" title=\"View PDF\" \/><\/a><a href=\"https:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fposts%2F2478&print=print\" class=\"pdfprnt-button pdfprnt-button-print\" target=\"_blank\" ><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/wp-content\/plugins\/pdf-print\/images\/print.png\" alt=\"image_print\" title=\"Print Content\" \/><\/a><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Amongst the most overused terms in politics and journalism, \u2018crisis\u2019 must be a strong contender&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":2476,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[187,189,154,188,190],"tags":[192,191,11,123],"class_list":["post-2478","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-climate-crisis","category-crisis-theory","category-ecosocialism","category-environment","category-marxism","tag-class-struggle","tag-crisis","tag-ecosocialism","tag-marxism"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Review - Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World by St\u00e5le Holgersen - ecosocialist.scot<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/?p=2478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review - Against the Crisis: Economy and Ecology in a Burning World by St\u00e5le Holgersen - ecosocialist.scot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Amongst the most overused terms in politics and journalism, \u2018crisis\u2019 must be a strong contender...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/?p=2478\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"ecosocialist.scot\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Ecosocialistscot-103724918653741\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-05-02T12:46:25+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-05-02T22:20:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.ecosocialist.scot\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Untitled-design-500x355.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"500\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"355\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Iain Gault\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@ecosocialistsc1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@ecosocialistsc1\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Iain Gault\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"8 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecosocialist.scot\\\/?p=2478#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecosocialist.scot\\\/?p=2478\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Iain Gault\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.ecosocialist.scot\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/f4f83891f7ff96f99fd02387cf4de077\"},\"headline\":\"Review &#8211; 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