DSA Ecosocialist Resources

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**James O'Connor, "The Second Contradiction of Capitalism"**

Full Text available [[http://www.columbia.edu/~lnp3/second_contradiction.htm|online]].

Originally published in O'Connor, //Natural Causes: Essays in Ecological Marxism//, pp. 158-177\\ 
[[https://www.guilford.com/books/Natural-Causes/James-O'Connor/9781572302730|The Guilford Press]], 1997\\ 
ISBN: 1572302739

//Opening paragraph//:\\ 
"This article expounds the traditional Marxist theory of the contradiction between forces and relations of production, over-production of capital and economic crisis, and the process of crisis-induced restructuring of productive forces and production relations into more transparently social, hence potentially socialist, forms. This exposition provides a point of departure for an 'ecological Marxist' theory of the **contradiction between capitalist production relations and forces and the //conditions// of production**, under-production of capital and economic crisis, and the process of crisis-induced restructuring of production conditions and the social relations thereof also into more transparently social, hence potentially socialist, forms. In short, there may be not one but two paths to socialism in late capitalist society." (emphasis added)

//See also// this [[https://monthlyreview.org/2002/09/01/capitalism-and-ecology/|critique by John Bellamy Foster]].

DSA Ecosocialist Resources

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