Green Syndicalism—An Alternative Red / Green Vision

Shantz, author of books on radical ecology and anarchist practice, makes the case for a productive relationship between radical labor activists, like the Industrial Workers of the World, and radical environmentalists. He does so by first tracing how working-class people's relationship to the natural world has been neglected by environmental activists, who are quick to identify industrial workers with destructive industry. He offers a revised history of working-people resisting both the destruction of the environment and economic exploitation. As he examines the origins and histories of organizations like Earth First!, he considers how revolutionary unionists like the IWW and CNT cross-pollinate the environmental movement with direct-action tactics and rank-and-file organizing. His conclusion re-iterates a motif of anti-productivist radicalism that seeks to "abolish the wage system and live in harmony with the earth." This is an exciting vision of a new kind of radical anticapitalist environmental movement. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Jeff Shantz is professor in the Criminology Department at Kwantlen Polytechnic University in Surrey, British Columbia. His books include Radical Ecology and Social Myth: The Difficult Constitution of Counter-Hegemonic Politics and Living Anarchy: Theory and Practice in Anarchist Movements.