New edition: The Revolutionary Ecological Legacy of Herbert Marcuse


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The revolutionary ecological legacy of Herbert Marcuse

Second edition

by Charles Reitz

with an afterword by Nnimmo Bassey:
System Change Will Not Be Negotiated

Buy The Revolutionary Ecological Legacy of Herbert Marcuse

The author appeals to the energies of those engaged in a wide range of contemporary social justice struggles such as ecosocialism, antiracism, the women’s movement, LGBTQ rights, and antiwar forces. As the dialectical counterpart of Marcuse’s Great Refusal, the book, which culminates with the ‘EarthCommonWealth Project’, is keyed to what we are struggling for, not just what we are struggling against.

The author argues that regressive political forces must be countered today, and this is best accomplished through radical collaboration around an agenda recognizing the basic economic and political needs of diverse subaltern communities. System negation must become a new general interest. The author discusses core ethical insights from African philosophical sources, indigenous American philosophy, and radical feminist philosophy. Humanity’s first teachings on ethics are to be found in ancient African proverbs. These subsequently served also as a critique of colonialism and neocolonialism.

Long-suppressed indigenous American sources supply a philosophical and political critique of Euro-centric economic and cultural values. They also offer an understanding of humanity’s place in nature and the leadership of women and attest to modes of cooperative and egalitarian forms of community. Feminist anthropology furnishes an historical context for understanding the origins of patriarchy and how to move beyond dominator power to new forms of partnership power.

The book envisions the displacement and transcendence of capitalist oligarchy as such, not simply its most bestial and destructive components. This is a green economic alternative because its ecological vision sees all living things and their non-living earthly surroundings as a global community capable of a dignified, deliberate coexistence. It is searching for a new system of ecological production, egalitarian distribution, shared ownership, and democratized governance, having its foundation in the ethics of partnership productivity with an ecosocialist and humanist commitment to living our lives on the planet consistent with the most honorable and aesthetic forms of human social and political fulfillment.

Charles Reitz is a major scholar of the work of Herbert Marcuse. This book is a necessary read for anyone who is struggling to understand the social, ecological, political, and economic crisis in which we live. —Arnold L. Farr, Professor of Philosophy, University of Kentucky, author of Critical Theory and Democratic Vision: Herbert Marcuse and Recent Liberation Philosophies.

Charles Reitz brings to life new critical resources from Marcuse’s corpus of writings, much of it only recently unearthed. —Kevin B. Anderson, author of Marx at the Margins

Reitz wields revolutionary Marcusean theory against those who would protect hate speech and promote resurgent fascism in our own day. —Javier Sethness Castro, author of Eros and Revolution: The Critical Philosophy of Herbert Marcuse and Queer Tolstoy: A Psychobiography.

What we are against has found What we are for! —Andrew T. Lamas, University of Pennsylvania, co-editor of The Great Refusal: Herbert Marcuse and Contemporary Social Movements.

Reitz offers a vision of intercultural solidarity against the resurgent politics of white supremacy and oligarchic wealth idolization. His book is a call to action. —Ewa Unoke, Professor and Coordinator of Political Science, Kansas City Kansas Community College, author of Global Security After Evil and Life of Nobody: Reparation to Africa—The Law of Karma is Strong.

An outstanding contribution to critical social theory that takes account of the intersectional characteristics of global capitalist exploitation including the economies and populations of the Global South in the process of capitalist accumulation as these have led to the ecological catastrophe we are experiencing today. —Sergio Bedoya Cortés, Profesor de Filosofía, Facultad de Filosofía y Ciencias Humanas, Universidad Libre de Colombia.

Drawing on immense knowledge of the philosophy of Herbert Marcuse and a wide range of anthropological and other sources, Reitz identifies the promise of happiness contained within a humanist, intercultural ethics grounded in sensuous living labor. —Brandon Absher, Associate Professor of Philosophy and Director of the Honors Program, D’Youville University, author of The Rise of Neo-Liberal Philosophy.

Charles Reitz is a leading voice in the resurgence of discussions of Herbert Marcuse, socialist humanism, and ecology. Reitz’s book is a timely theorization of current crises and a clarion call for desperately needed ecosocialist change. —Terry Maley, Associate Professor, Department of Politics, York University, Toronto, editor of One-Dimensional Man 50 Years On: The Struggle Continues.