Marius Bickhardt
@mbickhardt.bsky.social
PhD political theory at Sciences Po Paris/Centre Marc Bloch Berlin. Philosophy, environmental Malthusianism, ecological Marxism.
Research and direction of the Climate Denials Program @ diagrammes.fr
@diagrammes.bsky.social
Research and direction of the Climate Denials Program @ diagrammes.fr
@diagrammes.bsky.social
In their paper “Problems of Optimization in the Planning and Control of the Environment”, the economists N. Fedorenko and K. Gofman similarly argue that “nature conservation work still receives too little consideration in the overall system of national economic planning and management” (1973, 38).
January 27, 2026 at 5:29 PM
In their paper “Problems of Optimization in the Planning and Control of the Environment”, the economists N. Fedorenko and K. Gofman similarly argue that “nature conservation work still receives too little consideration in the overall system of national economic planning and management” (1973, 38).
he also emphasized the need to elaborate a socialist “plan of ecological measures” based on “methods of calculating both the economic and social effect of improving the use of natural resources and environmental protection” (1979, 22).
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
he also emphasized the need to elaborate a socialist “plan of ecological measures” based on “methods of calculating both the economic and social effect of improving the use of natural resources and environmental protection” (1979, 22).
Another eminent participant of the roundtable discussion was the geophysicist E.K. Fedorov, one of the rare Soviet members of the Club of Rome, former director of the Hydrometerological Service in the Soviet Union and member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in the 1970s (Lajus 2020).
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Another eminent participant of the roundtable discussion was the geophysicist E.K. Fedorov, one of the rare Soviet members of the Club of Rome, former director of the Hydrometerological Service in the Soviet Union and member of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in the 1970s (Lajus 2020).
regarded the MIT study as “interesting in many respects” and warned of the danger to “dispense with such an approach to the study of problems of global ecology merely because American authors have made a number of mistakes” (2022).
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
regarded the MIT study as “interesting in many respects” and warned of the danger to “dispense with such an approach to the study of problems of global ecology merely because American authors have made a number of mistakes” (2022).
Among the thirty participants, the Soviet climatologist M. I. Budyko who formerly introduced the analysis of the ice–albedo feedback that would later make global warming a pressing concern (Budyko 1969) upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en...
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Among the thirty participants, the Soviet climatologist M. I. Budyko who formerly introduced the analysis of the ice–albedo feedback that would later make global warming a pressing concern (Budyko 1969) upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en...
Harich’s interest in the MIT study was stimulated indirectly through the proceedings of the 1972 roundtable discussion on “The Human and the Environment” convened by the journal Voprosy filosofii among Soviet scientists that the author would ironically baptize the “Club of Moscow”.
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Harich’s interest in the MIT study was stimulated indirectly through the proceedings of the 1972 roundtable discussion on “The Human and the Environment” convened by the journal Voprosy filosofii among Soviet scientists that the author would ironically baptize the “Club of Moscow”.
While the French Communist Party dismissed natural limits as a “fable” (Audier 2019), the GDR economist Jürgen Kuczynski interpreted zero-growth demands as “reactionary pessimism”, reducible to an ideological symptom of the U.S. overproduction crisis beginning in 1969 (1972; 1973).
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
While the French Communist Party dismissed natural limits as a “fable” (Audier 2019), the GDR economist Jürgen Kuczynski interpreted zero-growth demands as “reactionary pessimism”, reducible to an ideological symptom of the U.S. overproduction crisis beginning in 1969 (1972; 1973).
In 1973, the president of the Club of Rome Aurelio Peccei addressed an alarmist appeal to his “dear friends and colleagues of Eastern Europe” (in Bergeret et al. Citation1973), prompting numerous responses across the socialist bloc that can be grouped into two main types: dismissive and reflexive.
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
In 1973, the president of the Club of Rome Aurelio Peccei addressed an alarmist appeal to his “dear friends and colleagues of Eastern Europe” (in Bergeret et al. Citation1973), prompting numerous responses across the socialist bloc that can be grouped into two main types: dismissive and reflexive.
and the forced diversion of “considerable resources to military security” that would otherwise be “urgently needed for environmental protection” (Paucke and Bauer 1980, 66).
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
and the forced diversion of “considerable resources to military security” that would otherwise be “urgently needed for environmental protection” (Paucke and Bauer 1980, 66).
Fueled by abundant brown coal, the GDR’s big-push industrialization ultimately reproduced capitalism’s characteristic “use and abuse of nature” (O’Connor Citation1988), thereby undermining the ecological potential of long-term planning praised by Cold War environmentalists in the socialist bloc.
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Fueled by abundant brown coal, the GDR’s big-push industrialization ultimately reproduced capitalism’s characteristic “use and abuse of nature” (O’Connor Citation1988), thereby undermining the ecological potential of long-term planning praised by Cold War environmentalists in the socialist bloc.
On the material level, the post war industrial boom of the “Great Acceleration” was ideologically justified by the geoeconomics of the systems race, leading to the “precedence” of “economic and security issues” over environmental concerns “on both sides of the Iron Curtain” (Kirchhof and McNeill).
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
On the material level, the post war industrial boom of the “Great Acceleration” was ideologically justified by the geoeconomics of the systems race, leading to the “precedence” of “economic and security issues” over environmental concerns “on both sides of the Iron Curtain” (Kirchhof and McNeill).
What is Cold War ecology? Historian Naomi Oreskes (@naomioreskes.bsky.social) shows how massive U.S. Cold War military spending on deep-sea research unintentionally consolidated new fields of ecological science such as physical oceanography and marine geophysics (2022).
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
What is Cold War ecology? Historian Naomi Oreskes (@naomioreskes.bsky.social) shows how massive U.S. Cold War military spending on deep-sea research unintentionally consolidated new fields of ecological science such as physical oceanography and marine geophysics (2022).
Published in 1975 and marking its fiftieth anniversary in 2025, Harich’s book articulated a distinctive ecosocialist critique of growth, mediating between Western environmentalism and its Marxist-Leninist dismissal.
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Published in 1975 and marking its fiftieth anniversary in 2025, Harich’s book articulated a distinctive ecosocialist critique of growth, mediating between Western environmentalism and its Marxist-Leninist dismissal.
It was within this contentious Cold War ecology that the East German philosopher Wolfgang Harich developed his provocative theory of “communism without growth.”
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
It was within this contentious Cold War ecology that the East German philosopher Wolfgang Harich developed his provocative theory of “communism without growth.”
This debate was also geopolitical. In 1972, West German lobbying against the full participation of the GDR in the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment prompted all Warsaw Pact countries, with the exception of Romania, to boycott the conference.
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
This debate was also geopolitical. In 1972, West German lobbying against the full participation of the GDR in the Stockholm Conference on the Human Environment prompted all Warsaw Pact countries, with the exception of Romania, to boycott the conference.
socialist thinkers interpreted The Limits to Growth (1972) report as evidence of a structural crisis of monopoly capitalism and argued for long-term socialist planning as the viable solution to the environmental problem.
("Limits to Growth or Crisis of Imperialism?")
("Limits to Growth or Crisis of Imperialism?")
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
socialist thinkers interpreted The Limits to Growth (1972) report as evidence of a structural crisis of monopoly capitalism and argued for long-term socialist planning as the viable solution to the environmental problem.
("Limits to Growth or Crisis of Imperialism?")
("Limits to Growth or Crisis of Imperialism?")
While Western environmentalism rejected the Marxist-Leninist endorsement of techno-scientific progress in the name of a universal problem of civilizational survival,
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
While Western environmentalism rejected the Marxist-Leninist endorsement of techno-scientific progress in the name of a universal problem of civilizational survival,
Yet, given its emergence in the context of the Cold War, environmentalism has long been shaped by systemic rivalry. In divided Germany, the territorial proximity of two different states placed the green emphasis on systemic neutrality at the center of debates on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Yet, given its emergence in the context of the Cold War, environmentalism has long been shaped by systemic rivalry. In divided Germany, the territorial proximity of two different states placed the green emphasis on systemic neutrality at the center of debates on both sides of the Iron Curtain.
Some argue waning US hegemony and China's green dominance amounts to a "second Cold War" (@iliasalami.bsky.social & @triofrancos.bsky.social) or "war ecology" (@picharbonnier.bsky.social).
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
Some argue waning US hegemony and China's green dominance amounts to a "second Cold War" (@iliasalami.bsky.social & @triofrancos.bsky.social) or "war ecology" (@picharbonnier.bsky.social).
New paper in CNS:
'Cold War Ecology. Socialist Environmental Reflexivities from the “Club of Moscow” to Harich's “Degrowth Communism” in the GDR'
This link gives full access ⤵️
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VNGYF...
An illustrated thread Part 1 ⬇️
'Cold War Ecology. Socialist Environmental Reflexivities from the “Club of Moscow” to Harich's “Degrowth Communism” in the GDR'
This link gives full access ⤵️
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VNGYF...
An illustrated thread Part 1 ⬇️
January 27, 2026 at 5:19 PM
New paper in CNS:
'Cold War Ecology. Socialist Environmental Reflexivities from the “Club of Moscow” to Harich's “Degrowth Communism” in the GDR'
This link gives full access ⤵️
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VNGYF...
An illustrated thread Part 1 ⬇️
'Cold War Ecology. Socialist Environmental Reflexivities from the “Club of Moscow” to Harich's “Degrowth Communism” in the GDR'
This link gives full access ⤵️
www.tandfonline.com/eprint/VNGYF...
An illustrated thread Part 1 ⬇️
This will soon be out, by yours truly
December 18, 2025 at 10:00 PM
This will soon be out, by yours truly
At the Natural History Museum in London — the "cathedral of nature" and of "empire". As Kautsky remarked in 1910, on the decline of the American bison, the “extermination of animal species [is] caused by the pursuit of profit” — a capitalist 𝘙𝘢𝘶𝘣𝘸𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘧𝘵.
November 12, 2025 at 7:50 PM
At the Natural History Museum in London — the "cathedral of nature" and of "empire". As Kautsky remarked in 1910, on the decline of the American bison, the “extermination of animal species [is] caused by the pursuit of profit” — a capitalist 𝘙𝘢𝘶𝘣𝘸𝘪𝘳𝘵𝘴𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘧𝘵.
At this year's HM conference, I will give a talk on Karl August Wittfogel's marxist critique of geopolitics as a naturalist ideology of the age of empire (Thursday morning) and will discuss Joel Wainwright's great new book on Marx and Darwin (Friday morning).
November 5, 2025 at 11:26 PM
At this year's HM conference, I will give a talk on Karl August Wittfogel's marxist critique of geopolitics as a naturalist ideology of the age of empire (Thursday morning) and will discuss Joel Wainwright's great new book on Marx and Darwin (Friday morning).
@reminoyon.bsky.social dans le @nouvelobs.com à propos du renouveau écomarxiste en France, avec un clin d'oeil à @triofrancos.bsky.social, @alybatt.bsky.social, à l'ouvrage d'Alexis Cukier et de Paul Guillibert ainsi qu'à notre Repères sur Le marxisme écologique à paraître en 2026
DM for PDF
DM for PDF
September 19, 2025 at 2:38 PM
@reminoyon.bsky.social dans le @nouvelobs.com à propos du renouveau écomarxiste en France, avec un clin d'oeil à @triofrancos.bsky.social, @alybatt.bsky.social, à l'ouvrage d'Alexis Cukier et de Paul Guillibert ainsi qu'à notre Repères sur Le marxisme écologique à paraître en 2026
DM for PDF
DM for PDF
Soviet economist T. S. Khachaturov, "Economic problems of ecology", 1978
"It must be taken into account that the increasing consumption of fossil fuels causes growing atmospheric pollution (with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and dust), 1/
"It must be taken into account that the increasing consumption of fossil fuels causes growing atmospheric pollution (with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and dust), 1/
September 15, 2025 at 12:37 PM
Soviet economist T. S. Khachaturov, "Economic problems of ecology", 1978
"It must be taken into account that the increasing consumption of fossil fuels causes growing atmospheric pollution (with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and dust), 1/
"It must be taken into account that the increasing consumption of fossil fuels causes growing atmospheric pollution (with sulfur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide, carbon monoxide, and dust), 1/