Agreed at a joint aggregate of CPGB and LPM members on July 3 2021. A report of the discussion of the theses was published in Weekly Worker 1355, available on the WW archive here
The following sentence was deleted from section 1.4. (Nature)
Over the last 100 years, and increasingly so, the exploitation of nature has resulted in unprecedented destruction.
And replaced with
Because of its never satisfied lust for profit capitalism results in the concentrated degradation of nature.
Old version of Section 3.3. (Environment)
Our aim is not only to put a stop to the destruction of nature and preserve what remains. For the sake of future generations we must restore and where possible enhance the riches of nature.
Against the destructive, wasteful and polluting logic of capital, communists present these immediate demands:
Free local and city-wide public transport. Nationalise the land. Tax polluters. Minimise carbon, methane and other such global warming gas outputs.
For sustainable development. For the re-establishment of an intimate connection between town and country, agriculture and industry, and a reversal of the trend to concentrate the population in London and south-east England. Work and domestic life should be brought closer together.
Concrete jungles, urban sprawl, huge farms and uninterrupted industrialised agriculture are profoundly alienating and inhuman. Towns and cities should be full of trees, roof gardens, planted walls, allotments, wild parks and little farms.
Inshore seas must include wide non-fishing areas. The aim should be to fully restore marine life and thus create a sustainable fishing industry.
Where feasible there should be the re-establishment of forests, natural floodplains, marshes, fens and heath land. Extensive wilderness areas should be created in the countryside, along with the reintroduction of the full array of native plants and animal species.
Revised version of section 3.3. (Environmental crisis)
Global warming and the danger of runaway climate change have to be dealt with as a matter of extreme urgency. But we should be on guard against pseudo-solutions. Carbon offsets and carbon trading amount to greenwashing capitalism. Blaming population numbers in poor countries easily leads to Malthusian programmes and terrible human suffering. Launching reflective aerosols into the stratosphere, ocean mirrors, cloud thinning and space sunshades would, quite probably, lead to unintended, potentially, irreversible, consequences.
Instead communists present these demands:
- Rapidly transition away from coal, oil, gas and nuclear power towards wind, tidal, solar, geothermal and other renewables.
- Reduce energy demand: bring home and work closer together, support workers who want flexible working arrangements; encourage online meetings, cycling, walking and staycations; introduce free local and urban public transport; discourage the consumption of meat and dairy products; put limits on air travel and car use; ensure that the existing housing stock is radically upgraded and exacting building standards are enforced; impose swingeing taxes on big scale polluters.
- Aim to go beyond carbon neutral as soon as possible.
- Where feasible, rewild: forests, natural floodplains, marshes, fens and heath land should be re-established. Strive to reintroduce the full array of native flora and fauna. Grouse moors, deer-stalking estates and upland sheep runs would be prime targets for returning to nature.
- Concrete jungles, urban sprawl, using rivers and seas as common sewers, huge farms and intensive meat and dairy production result in substantial damage to the biosphere. Nationalise the land and waterways.
- Towns and cities should be full of trees, roof gardens, planted walls, allotments, wild parks and small-scale cooperative farms.
- Destructive fishing practices such as bottom trawling should be banned. Inshore seas must include wide no-catch areas. The aim should be to fully restore marine life and thus create a sustainable fishing industry.
Note: Section 1.4. and the full description of the current epoch is available here
Note: Section 3.3. as the other immediate demands are available here