[Marxism] "Power to Save the World: The Truth About Nuclear Energy"

[Bob Hopson]

> 
> Yes, but it is of some interest that you are the
> only person on this 
> 1000+ mailing list that has the distinctly odd
> position on nuclear power 
> that you do. (I have no idea where Rod Holt is
> nowadays.) But on the 
> mailing list that preceded this one, you would have
> been on the same 
> side as Rolf Martens and James Heartfield. I'd
> really think hard about 
> being pro-nuke in light of this.

Well, I'm supportive of Marxism (I don't call myself a
Marxist since at this point of my life it's not
feasible for me to have much of a political practice),
and I generally agree with David's position on nuclear
power, even though he comes from a very different
political tradition that I do.  And frankly, I think
your posts are basically cheap shots that try and lump
together anyone who's pro-nuclear (why didn't you
mention the Larouchites while you were at it?),
without bothering to address the points being raised.

Frankly, Marxists are a fringe minority in the U.S.
anyway, and there is a wide range of views on nuclear
power amongst Americans, so I see nothing unusual
about that divergence of views extending to leftists.

> 
> I am opposed to nuclear power under capitalism. For
> that matter, I don't 
> waste time coming up with solutions to the energy
> crisis under 
> capitalism, including wind power, etc. We need to
> emphasize the 
> irrationality of energy use and commodity production
> under capitalism. 

These are lovely sentiments, and I largely agree with
them, but as you and others have repeatedly written
about, green house gas emissions are a danger to us
all -- see the recent posts about the horrific
pollution in China.  The health, ecological and
climatalogical crises that result from fossil fuel
consumption are occurring at a type when socialist
ideals are only tenuously being reborn, and socialist
reorganization of production and consumption are
barely visible anywhere (even Cuba is looking into
expanding oil production).

Given this reality, I see nothing strange about
advocating nuclear fission as a stop-gap form of
energy production to keep industrial society rolling
until the revolution comes along.  Otherwise we're
just complaining about how bad things are without
prosposing anything resembling solutions.

Of course, there are folks like Alf Hornburg who argue
that industrial society is inherently
self-destructive, but that's an entirely different argument.


       
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