This summer has felt like something out of a disaster movie: a growing crescendo of catastrophes that seem to be building inexorably towards collapse. Which begs the question: Should we give up on trying to head-off collapse and frantically prepare for the worst instead? Or should we keep struggling to save civilization from collective suicide?
Fortunately, the answer to both of these two questions is the same: we should organize.
The reason is simple: it should be our goal to end petro-capitalist civilization. One of the primary reasons to organize is to force it to "collapse" on our terms. Another is to help us survive that process regardless of who's got their hands on the wheel.
"Collapse," in this usage, refers to an unintentional ruptural change of society. It is undesirable for everyone involved because the lack of planning means there are no structural means to mitigate the harms it creates. It also means that society is forced to adapt on the fly, which is much more painful than a gradual adaptation.
Collapse of petro-capitalist civilization may well be inevitable at this point, but it is a matter of degrees. The difference between "collapse" and "revolution" comes down to the intentionality of the process, but there is an enormous gray area in between. Countless historical revolutions were made possible by circumstances beyond the control of the eventual victors. Ruling classes have sown the seeds of their own destruction throughout history, and in doing so, some have opened the door to better futures.
When we think about "revolution," we usually think about something initiated almost entirely by revolutionaries. They may take advantage of certain missteps by the ruling class in doing so, but largely we think of them as intentional mass movements that succeed at overthrowing power.
That is not the situation we are faced with today. There is not a viable revolutionary movement anywhere on Earth, and certainly not a global revolutionary movement, which is what would be necessary to overthrow hegemonic global capital in a ruptural changing of the guard. Nonetheless, as we can all see, collapse is already happening: petro-capitalism will not survive climate collapse and its grip is slipping.
So what we have is more like a jump ball situation. Control over the future is up for grabs in the chaos that is accompanying collapse. What we are fighting for is not so much to prevent collapse—that ship has likely sailed—but to make it as just and painless as possible, while simultaneously positioning ourselves to dictate what comes next. This is a critical point: "what comes next" can very much include a habitable planet and joyful human life, but that will largely be decided by how collapse is managed and by whom.
Currently, capitalism's heirs are an emerging neo-fascist movement that promises safety and a return to hallucinated glory. Amidst the terror and chaos of collapse, with the Global North heavily populated by atomized individuals who have enjoyed centuries of unearned wealth, it is not hard to understand why neo-fascism and it attendant romanticism is winning converts.
Fascism, of course, works in conjunction with capitalism, albeit in a somewhat weakened role. Segments of capitalism are eager to line-up behind fascism in order to protect their own interests, as the dream of neoliberalism dies. Capitalists would prefer not to defer to nationalists, but they strongly favor it over having their wealth redistributed by the Left. This relationship gives fascists a huge leg up.
That is our competition. The goal for the global Left must be to ensure that we get the jump ball instead and maintain possession throughout the scrum. We're undersized, we've got budget shoes, and we've been skipping leg day for a hundred years, but that doesn't mean we can't win. Shorter players win jump balls all the time. Timing, strategy, and execution can overcome huge disadvantages.
Winning the future is not simply a matter of seizing control of the state or the economy, however. It is also a matter of prefiguring the future. The reason for that is the complex relationship between means and ends. Views on this differ across the Left, with anarchists generally believing they're one and the same, while authoritarian Leftists of various stripes attempt to justify anything in the service of their goals. I argue that the relationship moves between these two poles depending on circumstances, and that navigating that movement successfully is among the greatest strategic and moral challenges we face.
In a collapsing society, prefiguring the future is very important, but it only works in the context of collective political struggle. Organizing is prefigurative in this way because it necessitates relationships based on solidarity—an understanding of our common interests as people—as well as an analysis of power and a theory of change. Those common interests mean that our lives are inextricably intertwined in a mesh of shared obligations, a reality obscured by capitalism's atomization of us as consumers and workers, as well as nationalism's "imagined communities." Taking collective action on the basis of solidarity today makes it more likely that solidarity will be a core human value tomorrow. Individualized or apolitical efforts to do the same simply do not have sufficient power to influence structural change.
Organizing is also a better way to prepare for collapse than all the prepping in the world. The reason for this is that the strength of your community will do more to decide your fate than the contents of your bunker. You will not be able to stay awake every night to guard your MREs. You need other people, both now and in the future. Building those relationships through political struggle rooted in shared values and interests is the best way to create that community now.
So, where to begin? There are no shortage of options, but if you are an American eco-socialist like me, I suggest the Democratic Socialists of America Ecosocialist Working Group. If their politics do not precisely reflect your own, well, that's what internal organizing is for. You'll make friends, and you just might help win the future, too.
I think the answer is both. You should certainly prep.. Not recommending so may be suicidal. You should grow food if you want to survive.
I also recommend boycotting nation state currencies in order to uproot the traditional systems. Global cryptocurrencies are a viable alternative. All the best!