Degrowth in the Semi-Periphery: Ecology and Class in Central and Eastern Europe
Degrowth in the Semi-Periphery: Ecology and Class in Central and Eastern Europe

Summary/Abstract: The aim of this extended review essay is to discuss the potential relevance ofdegrowth-aligned social-ecological transformation for the specific contextof Central and Eastern Europe (CEE). We frame this discussion aroundthree recent books which we consider especially useful for this debate:The Future is Degrowth by Schmelzer et al. (2022, in Czech 2023) for anup-to-date and comprehensive overview of the concept of degrowth; Marxin the Anthropocene by Saito (2023) for an ecologically grounded debateon anticapitalist strategies stemming from writings of late Marx; and ThePolitical Economy of Middle Class Politics and the Global Crisis in EasternEurope by Gagyi (2021) that empirically analyses the specific position ofthe CEE semiperiphery and its implications for a radical social-ecologicaltransformation. We introduce and interlink the main ideas of these books anddiscuss their implications for the degrowth movement in the CEE context.We argue that to deeply transform our socio-metabolic relation with nature,it is crucial to cultivate and expand spaces of reproductive autonomy, andlink them to struggles of labour and social movements. We conclude byemphasising the role of internationalism from below.

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