The Environmental Politics of the Communist Party USA since the 21st Century: Theory, Policy, and Action

The Communist Party USA (hereinafter “CPUSA”) was founded in Chicago in September 1919. Over its more than one hundred years of development, the CPUSA has conducted explorations with local characteristics in areas such as the labor movement, anti-McCarthyism, and the socialist path in the United States, enriching the theoretical treasury of scientific socialism. At the same time, the CPUSA has emphasized the unity of the international working class, actively supporting workers’ movements in other countries through various means, and has played an important role in striving for world peace and advancing the international communist cause. Since the 21st century, against the backdrop of continuing to advance the exploration of socialist theory and practice and resisting far-right forces, the CPUSA has launched a series of new social movements, including environmental protection, making significant contributions to the rise of green thought and left-wing environmental politics in the United States. However, domestic academic research on this topic has been insufficient. Therefore, studying the CPUSA’s environmental politics from theoretical and practical dimensions holds certain enlightening significance for our understanding of the lines and policies of Marxist political parties in Europe and America, and for exploring the development trends of the international communist movement since the 21st century.

美国共产党(以下简称“美共”)于1919年9月成立于芝加哥。在百余年的发展历程中，美共在劳工运动、反麦卡锡主义、美国的社会主义道路等方面进行了具有本土特点的探索，丰富了科学社会主义的理论宝库。与此同时，美共重视国际工人阶级的团结，以多种方式积极支持其他国家的工人运动，为争取世界和平与推动国际共产主义事业发挥了重要作用。21世纪以来，美共在继续推进社会主义理论与实践探索、抵制极右翼势力的背景下，开展了包括环境保护在内的一系列新社会运动，对美国的绿色思潮与左翼环境政治的兴起都作出了很大贡献，而国内学界对此研究却有所不足。因此，从理论与实践维度对美共的环境政治进行研究，对于我们理解欧美国家马克思主义政党的路线政策、探讨21世纪以来国际共产主义运动的发展动向具有一定的启发意义。

I. The CPUSA’s Theoretical Construction of Ecological Critique of Contemporary Capitalism

一、美国共产党对当代资本主义生态批判的理论建构

Compared with the influence of American ecological Marxist thought in theoretical circles, the theoretical reflections and explorations of environmental issues by CPUSA theorists are not well known to the academic community. In fact, the basic proposition of “radical ideas, realistic politics” fully demonstrates the CPUSA’s struggle characteristics of balancing theoretical construction with practical movements, and also reflects the clear practical concerns and problem awareness of CPUSA theorists. The theoretical work carried out by the CPUSA in applying basic Marxist theory to reflect on the contemporary ecological crisis, expanding the dimensions of ecological critique of contemporary capitalism, and analyzing the subjects of contemporary social change has already made its environmental political theory an indispensable component of contemporary American left-wing environmental political thought, imprinting a profound Marxist mark on contemporary American environmental politics.

与美国生态马克思主义思潮在理论界的影响力相比，美共理论家对环境问题的理论反思与探索并不为学界所熟知。事实上，“激进的观点，现实的政治”的基本主张充分彰显了美共兼顾理论建构与现实运动的斗争特点，也反映了美共理论家鲜明的现实关切与问题意识。美共在运用马克思主义基本理论反思当代生态危机、拓展当代资本主义生态批判维度以及分析当代社会变革主体等方面所进行的理论工作，已使其环境政治理论成为当代美国左翼环境政治思潮中一个不可忽视的重要组成部分，为当代美国环境政治打下了深刻的马克思主义烙印。

(1) Construction of Environmental Political Theory Based on Basic Principles of Marxism

（一）基于马克思主义基本原理的环境政治理论建构

Reflecting on contemporary global environmental issues through Marxist philosophical principles and by returning to the classic texts of Marx and Engels is the cornerstone of the CPUSA’s construction of environmental political theory. Through theoretical reflection on the increasingly severe contemporary global ecological crisis, some CPUSA theorists have begun to refocus on Marxism, particularly the value of classical works’ discussions on environmental issues for understanding the contemporary ecological crisis. They believe that “Marxist philosophy should be used to understand contemporary environmental problems, and explanations of environmental problems should also be used to understand Marxist philosophy.” Their views are mainly reflected in the following three aspects.

通过马克思主义哲学原理和回归马克思、恩格斯经典文本来思考当代全球环境问题，是美共在环境政治理论建构方面的基石。通过对当代日益严峻的全球生态危机进行理论反思，美共一些理论家开始重新关注马克思主义，特别是经典著作中关于环境问题的论述对于理解当代生态危机的价值。他们认为：“应当运用马克思主义哲学来理解当代环境问题，也应当运用对环境问题的解释来理解马克思主义哲学。”其观点主要体现为以下三个方面。

First, the basic principles of Marxism, especially dialectical materialism, have scientific implications and contemporary value for understanding the contemporary environmental crisis and its historical causes. Former CPUSA Chair John Bachtell once stated: “From the perspective of early environmentalism, Marx and Engels, and later Marxists, had a major impact on the development of modern environmental science by grounding it in the philosophy of dialectical materialism.” Mark Brodine, former chair of the CPUSA’s Environmental Commission, in his book *Green Strategy*, used concepts such as the materiality of the world, universal interconnection, and development and change to elaborate a contemporary “radical environmental philosophy” based on dialectical materialism, providing an overall analytical framework for understanding the contemporary ecological crisis.

第一，马克思主义基本原理尤其是辩证唯物主义对于理解当代环境危机及其历史成因具有科学意涵与时代价值。美共前主席约翰·巴切特尔曾说道：“从一种早期环保主义的视角来看，马克思和恩格斯以及后来的马克思主义者，通过将现代环境科学植根于辩证唯物主义哲学而对现代环境科学的发展产生了重大影响。”曾担任美共环境委员会主席的马克·布罗丁在《绿色战略》一书中运用世界的物质性、普遍联系、发展变化等观点，阐发了基于辩证唯物主义的当代“激进环境哲学”，为理解当代生态危机提供了总体分析框架。

Second, by returning to classic works including *Capital*, the CPUSA explores the theoretical value of Marxism for solving the contemporary ecological crisis. Annie Waters, a CPUSA organizer in Ohio and a sociologist, combined the analytical framework of “metabolic rift” to restore Marx’s research path for analyzing environmental problems such as forest destruction and declining soil fertility. She also cited the views of American scholar John Bellamy Foster on the value of Marx’s ecological thought, arguing that Marx’s approach was, to some extent, “some of the most advanced ecological analysis since the second half of the 20th century.” Based on her understanding of Marx’s ecological thought, Waters specifically pointed out that the contemporary inspiration of Marx’s critical examination in *Capital* of the distorted relationship between humans and nature caused by capitalism lies in the fact that, if the metabolic rift between humans and nature is to be repaired, social and economic relations must be thoroughly transformed against the backdrop of scientific and technological development.

第二，通过回归包括《资本论》在内的经典原著，探讨马克思主义对解决当代生态危机的理论价值。美共在俄亥俄州的组织者、社会学家安妮塔·沃特斯结合“新陈代谢断裂”的分析框架，还原了马克思分析森林破坏与土壤肥力下降等环境问题的研究路径，并引用了美国学者约翰·贝拉米·福斯特对马克思生态思想价值分析的观点，认为马克思的思路在某种程度上是“20世纪下半叶以来一些最为先进的生态分析”。基于对马克思生态思想的理解，沃特斯特别指出，马克思在《资本论》中对资本主义所导致的人与自然之间扭曲关系的批判性审视的当代启示在于，如果想要修复人与自然之间的物质代谢裂痕，就必须在科学技术发展的背景下彻底变革社会经济关系。

Third, based on Marxist methodology, the CPUSA uses systemic and dialectical thinking to analyze contemporary environmental problems and proposes new concepts such as “the dialectics of climate change” and “ecological necessity.” These concepts enrich the theoretical treasury of using Marxism to analyze environmental problems and expand the terminological spectrum of left-wing radical environmental politics. In summary, the CPUSA emphasizes that the fundamental solution to the contemporary ecological crisis cannot be separated from Marxism. Actively using Marxism to reflect on the contemporary environmental crisis, it both bases itself on the classics and faces reality, thereby promoting the in-depth development of theory. This has also become a distinctive feature distinguishing the CPUSA from other left-wing political groups such as the U.S. Green Party in its construction of environmental political theory.

第三，基于马克思主义方法论，运用系统思维与辩证思维分析当代环境问题，并提出诸如 “气候变化的辩证法”、“生态必然性”等新概念。这些概念丰富了运用马克思主义分析环境问题的理论宝库，拓展了左翼激进环境政治的术语谱系。总的来说，美共强调当代生态危机的根本解决方案离不开马克思主义，积极运用马克思主义反思当代环境危机，既立足经典又面向现实，从而推动理论的纵深发展，也成为美共在环境政治理论建构中区别于美国绿党等其他左翼政治团体的鲜明特征。

(2) Ecological Critique from a Left-Wing Radical Perspective

（二）左翼激进视阈下的生态批判

Conducting ecological critique from the perspective of contemporary radical left-wing politics and promoting the institutional transformation of contemporary capitalist society is a prominent feature of the CPUSA’s construction of environmental political theory. It must be pointed out that although CPUSA theorists have extensively absorbed beneficial elements from American environmentalist thought, this does not mean that their environmental political theory is gradually becoming similar to other American environmental currents. On the contrary, the CPUSA not only regards the capitalist system as the chief culprit for the current ecological crisis but also emphasizes that the contemporary environmental crisis cannot be solved through reform or partial social changes, but only through systematic radical transformation of the entire capitalist system.

从当代激进左翼政治视角展开生态批判，推动当代资本主义社会的制度转型，是美共进行环境政治理论建构的突出特色。必须指出，尽管美共理论家广泛吸收了美国环境主义思潮的有益要素，但这并不意味着其环境政治理论与美国其他环境思潮渐趋相似。相反，美共不仅认为资本主义制度是导致当今生态危机的罪魁祸首，而且强调不能通过改良或社会的局部性变化，而必须通过对整个资本主义制度进行系统性激进变革，才能解决当代环境危机。

Under the guidance of adhering to Marxist theory, CPUSA theorists have extensively absorbed and drawn on contemporary American environmentalism and other left-wing political currents, giving their environmental political theory a theoretical style that focuses on practical problems, emphasizes effectiveness, and stresses real-world change. This is specifically manifested in the fact that CPUSA theorists have not only drawn on the ideas of representative American ecological Marxist or green left theorists such as Foster, James O’Connor, and Barry Commoner, but have also absorbed the views of representatives of the American left-wing environmental movement such as Rachel Carson and Green Party activist Joel Kovel on real-world green movements. This enables their theoretical construction to be closely integrated with actual social movements, always addressing major real-world environmental issues of public concern.

在坚持马克思主义理论指导的前提下，美共理论家广泛吸收借鉴了当代美国环境主义及其他左翼政治思潮，使其环境政治理论呈现出关注现实问题、注重实效、强调现实变革的理论风格。这具体表现为，美共理论家不仅借鉴了福斯特、詹姆斯·奥康纳、巴里·康芒纳等美国生态马克思主义或绿色左翼代表理论家的思想，而且还吸收了美国左翼环境运动代表人物蕾切尔·卡森、绿党活动家乔尔·科威尔等关于现实绿色运动的观点，这使其理论建构能够与现实社会运动密切结合，始终面向公众关注的重大现实环境问题。

However, the absorption of other environmentalist currents has not affected the critical and radical nature of the CPUSA’s environmental theory. The CPUSA insists on placing the interests of the people and the environment before profits, opposing the subordination of people’s interests and environmental protection to the capitalist production system. The CPUSA believes that to reflect on the sustainable development of a future society from a theoretical height, a profound ecological critique of contemporary capitalism must be carried out. It emphasizes that the environmental degradation caused by capitalism is accelerating toward an “ecological tipping point,” and once this tipping point is exceeded, social and economic systems will pay a huge price. CPUSA theorists take the incompatibility of capitalism with ecological protection as the starting point of their ecological critique of contemporary capitalism, and believe that it is precisely the capitalist mode of production that has led to the gradual imbalance of the ecosystem. Based on this, the CPUSA further concludes that capitalism pursues short-term profit maximization, placing other issues such as the environment, public health, human rights and dignity, and public social welfare in a secondary position, and that the contemporary American capitalist production system is pushing the entire society toward a cliff.

但是，对其他环境主义思潮的吸收并没有影响美共环境理论的批判性和激进性。美共坚持把人民和环境的利益置于利润之前，反对将资本主义生产体系凌驾于人民利益和环境保护之上。美共认为，若要站在理论高度思考未来社会的可持续发展，就必须对当代资本主义展开深刻的生态批判；强调资本主义所导致的环境恶化正加速走向“生态临界点”，一旦超过这个临界点，社会和经济系统将付出巨大代价。美共理论家把资本主义与生态保护的不相容作为当代资本主义生态批判的出发点，并认为正是由于资本主义的生产方式导致生态系统逐渐失衡。基于此，美共进一步得出：资本主义追求短期利润最大化，将其他问题如环境、公共卫生、人权和尊严、公众社会福祉等置于次要地位，当代美国的资本主义生产体系正把整个社会推向悬崖。

Furthermore, the CPUSA emphasizes that the critique of the ecological crisis of contemporary capitalism must adopt a global perspective. Some CPUSA theorists have elevated the status of the contemporary capitalist ecological crisis to the level of a "planetary emergency," arguing that the climate crisis and the nuclear crisis possess the destructive power to threaten the survival of all humanity, and that these issues must be reflected upon from a "planetary scale." Therefore, relevant countermeasures must be devised on the basis of broader international cooperation. The report of the 31st National Convention of the CPUSA stressed the interconnection between the rapidly evolving climate crisis and multiple other social crises that have reached tipping points; these global systemic crises have a more severe impact on developing countries, intensifying social contradictions and ethnic conflicts worldwide, and leading to complex refugee problems. Some CPUSA theorists believe that the ecological crisis caused by human activity must be reflected upon from the perspective of social problems, and that attention should be paid to the issues of class and power involved in this process. It can be seen that the CPUSA emphasizes global cooperation and an internationalist spirit in addressing the ecological crisis of contemporary capitalism, arguing that only if the whole of human society acts in concert according to the timetable and scale required to address the ecological crisis can low-carbon transformation and sustainable development be effectively promoted.

此外，美共还强调对当代资本主义生态危机的批判必须具有全球视野。美共一些理论家把当代资本主义生态危机的地位提升到“星球紧急情况”（planetary emergency）的层面，认为气候危机和核危机具有威胁全人类生存的破坏力，必须从“星球尺度”（planetary scale）来反思这些问题。因此，相关对策必须基于更广泛的国际合作加以谋划。美共第三十一次全国代表大会报告强调迅速演变的气候危机及其他多个达到临界点的社会危机之间相互关联，这些全球性系统危机给发展中国家带来了更为严重的影响，在世界范围内激化了社会矛盾、族群冲突，并导致了复杂的难民问题。有美共理论家认为，人类活动导致的生态危机必须从社会问题的视角加以反思，而且应当关注这一过程中所涉及的阶级与权力问题。可以看到，美共强调应对当代资本主义生态危机的全球合作与国际主义精神，认为只有整个人类社会都按照应对生态危机的时间表和规模协力行动，才能有效推动低碳转型与可持续发展。

In sum, on the basis of absorbing and drawing on American environmentalist thought, the CPUSA has maintained its own distinct radicalism, and has further elevated theoretical reflection grounded in American reality to a global level, considering capitalism's environmental problems from the perspective of a "planetary crisis," thereby expanding the spatial horizon of theory and laying the foundation for the CPUSA's policy stance on environmental issues.

总的来说，美共在吸收借鉴美国环境主义思潮的基础上保持了自身鲜明的激进性，并将基于美国现实的理论反思进一步上升到全球层面，从“星球危机”的角度思考资本主义的环境问题，扩展了理论的空间视野，为美共在环境议题上的政策立场奠定了基础。

(3) A Reality-Oriented Approach to Environmental Politics

（三）面向现实的环境政治理路

Exploring lines and strategies oriented toward real struggle is the purpose and destination of the CPUSA's theoretical construction of environmental politics. Because the CPUSA's theoretical construction of environmental politics particularly emphasizes reality and highlights the effectiveness of theoretical analysis, exploring realistic strategies for environmental struggle and finding and mobilizing the real subjects capable of driving green change have become core issues in its theoretical construction.

探索面向现实斗争的路线与策略，是美共进行环境政治理论建构的目的与归宿。由于美共的环境政治理论建构特别强调现实性，突出理论分析的实效性，因此，探索环境斗争的现实策略、寻找并动员能够推动绿色变革的现实主体，成为其理论建构中的核心问题。

The CPUSA emphasizes that the working class remains the key subject driving the transition from capitalism to socialism in the contemporary era. Unlike the so-called "farewell to the proletariat" and "diversification of revolutionary subjects" that have emerged in Western countries since the 1970s, the CPUSA, as a party representing the interests of the proletariat, has always focused on the core role of the working class in the environmental movement and the contemporary significance of communist theory for the environmental movement. The CPUSA's theoretical construction of environmental politics and its strategies for real struggle highlight characteristics distinct from those of the Green Party or other left-wing green groups, displaying a relatively distinct Marxist theoretical character, and on this basis it has innovatively proposed concepts such as "working-class environmentalism," emphasizing the need of the times to integrate environmental issues into the class struggle in contemporary America.

美共强调，工人阶级在当代仍然是推动资本主义向社会主义转变的关键主体。不同于20世纪70年代以来西方国家出现的所谓“告别无产阶级”“革命主体多元化”等论调，作为代表无产阶级利益的政党，美共始终聚焦工人阶级在环境运动中的核心作用以及共产主义理论对于环保运动的时代意义。美共关于环境政治的理论建构与现实斗争策略凸显出不同于绿党或其他左翼绿色团体的特质，体现出较为鲜明的马克思主义理论特色，并在此基础上创新性地提出了“工人阶级环境主义”等概念，强调将环境议题融入当代美国阶级斗争的时代需要。

On the basis of carrying out environmental struggle with the working class as the main subject, the CPUSA also focuses on combining theory and practice with other left-wing forces in the United States. The CPUSA has formed broad alliances with the labor movement, peace movement, student movement, environmental movement, and immigrant rights organizations active in American society today, emphasizes international cooperation, and actively expresses solidarity with workers' movements in other countries. The CPUSA believes that a completely new green strategy is needed to bring about a powerful global movement. This green strategy must link environmental problems with other social struggles; this united movement will change the current political and economic landscape of the world and help address the increasingly severe ecological crisis. It is worth mentioning that the call for broad alliances in the field of the environmental movement has been written into the CPUSA's National Convention reports and policy resolutions on multiple occasions. For example, in its 2008 Global Warming Report, the CPUSA proposed that Cuba is an excellent model for addressing the environmental crisis, arguing that the changes that have taken place in that country in agriculture, transportation, waste recycling, and other areas have already proven that the socialist system has the potential to effectively improve the relationship between humanity and the natural environment.

在以工人阶级为主体开展环境斗争的基础上，美共也注重在理论与实践方面同美国其他左翼力量相结合。美共与当今活跃于美国社会的劳工运动、和平运动、学生运动、环境运动以及移民权利组织进行了广泛的联合，注重国际合作，积极声援其他国家的工人运动。美共认为，需要一种全新的绿色战略来促成一场强大的全球运动。这种绿色战略必须将环境问题与其他社会斗争联系起来，这种联合起来的运动将改变当前世界的政治经济格局，有助于应对日益严峻的生态危机。值得一提的是，在环境运动领域进行广泛联合的主张已多次被写入美共全国代表大会报告和政策议案。例如，美共在《2008年全球变暖报告》中提出，古巴是应对环境危机的优秀样板，该国在农业、交通、废物循环利用等方面所发生的变化已经证明，社会主义制度具备有效改善人类与自然环境之间关系的潜力。

II. The Policy Stance of the Communist Party of the United States of America on Environmental Issues

二、美国共产党在环境议题上的政策立场

Within the spectrum of contemporary American politics, especially the left-wing political spectrum, the CPUSA's policy stance on environmental issues possesses a distinct social identity; it is relatively active in shaping public opinion, participating in public debate on major policies, and other activities. The CPUSA's strategy of combining radical left-wing thought with real politics has won its environmental policy stance a certain degree of public recognition. In terms of concrete policies, the CPUSA emphasizes "people and planet before profits," posits the intrinsic unity of the people's interests and environmental protection, and demands the protection of the environmental rights and interests of the working class. The CPUSA also pays attention to marginalized groups, emphasizes internationalism, demands adherence to the position of the unity of the world's working class in environmental struggle, and advocates providing green technology transfer and development assistance to developing countries. These policy proposals have played an important role in the CPUSA's conduct of real social struggle and its promotion of the development of left-wing politics.

在当代美国政坛特别是左翼政治谱系中，美共在环境议题上的政策立场具有鲜明的社会辨识度，它在塑造社会舆论、参加重大政策的公共辩论等活动中表现得较为活跃。美共将激进左翼思想与现实政治相结合的策略使其环境政策立场获得了一定的公众认可。在现实政策中，美共强调“人民与地球先于利润”，提出人民利益与环境保护的内在统一性，并要求保障工人阶级的环境权益。美共也关注边缘群体，强调国际主义，要求在环境斗争中秉持全世界工人阶级联合的立场，并主张对发展中国家提供绿色技术转移与发展援助。这些政策主张对美共开展现实社会斗争、推动左翼政治发展都发挥了重要作用。

(1) The Ecological Priority Stance of "People and Planet before Profits"

（一）“人民与地球先于利润”的生态优先立场

The priority of the people and the environment reflected in "people and planet before profits" is the basic viewpoint of the CPUSA's environmental policy since the 21st century. In recent years, the CPUSA has successively put forward the propositions of "people and nature before profits" and "people and planet before profits," both of which embody a priority concern for the people's interests and environmental protection and reflect its basic value orientation on environmental issues.

“人民与地球先于利润”所反映的人民与环境优先的立场，是21世纪以来美共环境政策的基本观点。近年来，美共先后提出“人民与自然先于利润”“人民与地球先于利润”的主张，都体现了对人民利益和环境保护的优先关注，反映了其在环境议题上的基本价值导向。

On the one hand, the CPUSA emphasizes fully protecting the people's interests in the process of addressing the contemporary ecological crisis. On the issue of environment and health, the CPUSA points out that contemporary capitalist industrial production has introduced a large number of new chemical compounds that pose serious and unknown environmental and health risks; therefore, stricter policy measures are needed to strengthen regulation, prevent workers from being exposed to untested chemicals with unknown health consequences, thereby protecting workers' physical health and safeguarding the interests of the working class.

一方面，美共强调在应对当代生态危机的过程中要充分保护人民的利益。在环境与健康问题上，美共指出，当代资本主义工业生产引入了大量新的化学合成物，它们存在严重且未知的环境和健康风险，因此，需要通过更为严格的政策手段加强监管，避免让工人接触未经测试且健康后果未知的化学物质，从而保护工人的身体健康、维护工人阶级的利益。

On the other hand, the CPUSA pays close attention to the rights and interests of workers and peasants in contemporary American agricultural and forestry policy. The CPUSA supports sustainable forest management, arguing that this policy is not contrary to the interests of forestry workers and can create new employment opportunities for laid-off timber workers through the intensive use of forestry resources. The CPUSA also focuses on issues of public interest in agricultural policy, arguing that contemporary commercial agriculture is overly dependent on single crops, making agricultural production vulnerable to pests and diseases; and that the agricultural model overly reliant on chemical fertilizers and pesticides is also ecologically unsustainable, causing serious harm to the health of farmers and community residents. Therefore, the CPUSA demands the addition of more provisions in agricultural policy that are conducive to safeguarding the rights and interests of farmers and community residents.

另一方面，美共高度关注当代美国农业与林业政策中的工农权益问题。美共支持可持续森林管理，认为这一政策与林业工人的利益并不相悖，并且可以通过对林业资源的集约化利用，为下岗的木材工人创造新的就业机会。美共也关注农业政策中的公众利益问题，认为当代商品化农业过度依赖单一作物，从而导致农业生产易受病虫害影响；而过度依赖化肥和杀虫剂的农业模式在生态方面同样是不可持续的，会对农民和社区居民的健康造成严重危害。因此，美共要求在农业政策中进一步增加有利于维护农民和社区居民权益的条款。

(2) Strengthening the Role of the Working Class in the American "Green New Deal"

（二）在美国“绿色新政”中强化工人阶级的作用

Strengthening the influence and role of the working class in environmental policy is a core policy concern of the CPUSA on environmental issues since the 21st century. The "Green New Deal" promoted by the Biden administration has become a major topic in the field of American environmental policy today and has attracted the attention of a wide range of left-wing political groups; some scholars have even begun to reflect on the role and limitations of the Green New Deal from the perspective of ecological Marxism. The CPUSA demands that the stance and values of the working class be highlighted within this policy program and that workers' influence on environmental policy be strengthened. The theme of the first workshop held during the 31st National Convention of the CPUSA was "The American Working Class, Climate Change, and the Green New Deal," highlighting the great importance the CPUSA attaches to bringing the role of the working class into play in the implementation of environmental policy.

在环境政策中强化工人阶级的影响和作用，是21世纪以来美共在环境问题上的核心政策关切。拜登政府主推的“绿色新政”已经成为当今美国环境政策领域的主要议题，并引起广大左翼政治团体的关注，甚至有学者开始从生态马克思主义的视角来反思“绿色新政”的作用与局限。美共要求在这一政策纲领中凸显工人阶级的立场与价值观，强化工人对环境政策的影响。美共第三十一次全国代表大会召开期间举办的第一次工作坊的主题就是“美国工人阶级、气候变化和绿色新政”，凸显出美共非常重视在环境政策的落实过程中发挥工人阶级的作用。

The CPUSA’s attitude toward the “Green New Deal” should be viewed with a twofold analysis. On the one hand, the CPUSA holds a “reservedly approving” stance toward the “Green New Deal” and politically cooperates with this policy in practice. This is because the CPUSA believes that although the “Green New Deal” cannot be regarded as a policy that can fundamentally promote a green social transformation, it is to a certain extent beneficial for protecting workers’ interests and the environment. From the perspective of promoting unity among left-wing political forces, the CPUSA holds that the “Green New Deal” should receive the support and participation of the working class. On the other hand, the CPUSA also recognizes the policy limitations of the “Green New Deal,” emphasizing the need to attach importance to protecting workers’ rights and interests in all aspects, and to further revise and adjust this policy during its implementation in accordance with the interests and standpoint of the working class. The CPUSA believes that although the “Green New Deal” is primarily initiated by Congress, trade unions, environmentalists, and other green groups should be brought into the policy-making process to establish a pluralistic cooperation mechanism, promote effective legislation, and safeguard workers’ rights; it also demands that during the legislative process of the “Green New Deal,” the legal achievements already won by the workers’ movement in safeguarding workers’ related interests be maintained.

美共对“绿色新政”的态度应当一分为二地看待。一方面，美共对“绿色新政”持“有保留地赞同”态度，并在现实中对这一政策进行政治上的配合。因为美共认为“绿色新政”虽然不能被视为一种可以从根本上推动社会绿色转型的政策，但它却在一定程度上有利于维护工人的利益和保护环境。从促进左翼政治力量团结的角度出发，美共认为“绿色新政”应当得到工人阶级的支持和参与。另一方面，美共也意识到“绿色新政”的政策局限性，强调必须重视保护工人各方面的权益，要在这一政策的实施过程中根据工人阶级的利益和立场对它进一步修订与调整。美共认为，虽然“绿色新政”主要由国会发起，但应当在政策制定过程中引入工会、环保主义者以及其他绿色团体，建立多元合作机制，促进有效立法，保障工人权益；同时还要求在“绿色新政”的立法过程中，继续维护此前工人运动已经取得的维护工人相关利益的法律成果。

(III) Protecting the Environmental Rights of Marginalized Groups

（三）保护边缘群体的环境权益

Focusing on socially marginalized groups, opposing environmental racism, and emphasizing international solidarity are the basic policy orientations of the CPUSA’s participation in real-world environmental politics since the 21st century. Adhering to the principle of “people and planet before profit” and emphasizing the protection of the interests of workers, women, youth, immigrants, and other groups, the CPUSA fully demonstrates its practical concern for socially vulnerable groups in its environmental policies.

关注社会边缘群体、反对环境种族主义、强调国际联合，是21世纪以来美共参与现实环境政治的基本政策导向。由于秉持“人民与地球先于利润”的宗旨，强调维护工人、妇女、青年、外来移民等群体的利益，美共在环境政策中充分展现出对社会弱势群体的现实关切。

On the one hand, the CPUSA emphasizes protecting the environmental rights of socially marginalized groups. The CPUSA pays close attention to workers in impoverished communities affected by environmental pollution, demanding that the rights and interests of these groups be prioritized in the policy-making process, and striving to implement the provisions of the “Green New Deal” concerning the protection of the interests of indigenous peoples, ethnic minorities, immigrants, and low-income groups, particularly requiring that landfills, pollution-emitting chemical plants, water pollution, and other factors be avoided as much as possible from adversely affecting socially vulnerable groups.

一方面，美共强调保护社会边缘群体的环境权益。美共高度关注那些受到环境污染影响的贫困社区工人，要求在政策制定过程中优先考虑这些群体的权益，争取落实“绿色新政”中关于维护原住民、少数族裔、外来移民以及低收入群体利益的条款，特别要求尽可能避免垃圾场、排放污染的化工厂、水源污染等对社会弱势群体产生不利影响。

On the other hand, the CPUSA focuses on the environmental well-being of marginalized groups in the international community, arguing that the resource plundering by transnational corporations in the neoliberal era on a global scale, especially in former colonial countries in Africa and Asia, has caused environmental pollution and ecological destruction, exacerbated the vulnerability of disadvantaged groups in developing countries to ecological problems, and significantly affected their production and livelihoods. To address these global threats, the working class should uphold the tradition of international solidarity, which is of great significance for combating the “new economic colonialism” that causes environmental pollution and for safeguarding their own rights and interests.

另一方面，美共聚焦于国际社会中边缘群体的环境福祉，认为新自由主义时代的跨国公司在全球范围内特别是在非洲和亚洲的前殖民地国家所进行的资源掠夺造成了环境污染与生态破坏，加剧了发展中国家弱势群体面对生态问题的脆弱性，明显影响了其生产和生活。为了应对这些全球性威胁，工人阶级应秉持国际团结传统，这对于同会造成环境污染的“新经济殖民主义”做斗争、维护自身权益具有重要意义。

Overall, the CPUSA is committed to implementing, within its own capacity, the basic environmental policy stance of “people and planet before profit,” promoting the construction of a sustainable society through environmental politics, striving to eliminate the various structural ills brought about by capitalism, and pushing American society toward socialist transformation.

总的来说，美共致力于在自身能力范围内落实“人民与地球先于利润”的基本环境政策立场，通过环境政治促进可持续社会的构建，争取消除资本主义所带来的种种结构性弊病，推动美国社会走向社会主义变革。

III. Action Methods of the Communist Party USA in Participating in Real-World Environmental Struggles

三、美国共产党参与现实环境斗争的行动方式

As a communist party in a developed capitalist country, the CPUSA has not only put forward theories on contemporary American environmental politics and held distinct policy positions but has also actually participated in environmental struggles in American society. The CPUSA believes that the irresponsible plundering behavior of the capitalist system on a global scale has brought chaos, placing both the people and the planet in a dangerous state, with all life on Earth facing unprecedented challenges. Based on this, the CPUSA, through actions such as organizing environmental marches and demonstrations, conducting environmental education and shaping public opinion, and promoting international cooperation in relevant fields, hopes to save the planet and the future shared by all humanity.

作为发达资本主义国家的共产党，美共不仅提出了关于美国当代环境政治的理论，拥有鲜明的政策立场，而且还实际参与了美国社会的环境斗争。美共认为，资本主义制度在全球范围内不负责任的掠夺行为带来了混乱，使人民和地球均处于一种危险状态，所有地球生命都面临着前所未有的挑战。基于此，美共通过发动环境游行示威、开展环境教育与塑造舆论环境、推动相关领域的国际合作等行动，希望拯救全人类共同拥有的星球和未来。

(I) Organizing and Participating in Environmental Strike and March Activities

（一）组织并参与环境罢工游行活动

Organizing or participating in mass march activities on environmental issues is an important form of the CPUSA’s participation in real-world struggles. In recent years, with the frequent intrusion of extreme weather disasters such as hurricanes and floods, the climate issue has become an important topic of public concern, while the U.S. government and capital interest groups have repeatedly failed to fulfill their climate governance commitments, even withdrawing from the Paris Agreement. [1]1 The Paris Agreement is an international treaty on climate change adopted in 2015, from which the United States withdrew in 2017 under the Trump administration before rejoining in 2021. Against this backdrop, a series of “People’s Climate Marches” broke out in the United States in 2014 and 2017, affecting the entire country and even some cities outside the U.S. The CPUSA actively participated in the climate march activities and carried out extensive propaganda, mobilization, and organizational work before and after the events. The CPUSA believes that as the harm caused by climate change intensifies, social movements and struggles centered on environmental issues are becoming increasingly important. In addition, the CPUSA has supported and participated in global climate strikes, urging authorities to take action on the issue of global warming.

组织或参与关于环境议题的群众游行活动，是美共参与现实斗争的重要形式。近年来，随着飓风、洪水等极端天气灾害的频繁侵扰，气候问题成为民众关注的重要话题，而美国政府和资本利益集团却迟迟未能兑现其气候治理承诺，甚至退出了《巴黎协定》。在这一背景下，美国于2014年和2017年先后爆发了一系列波及全美乃至美国之外一些城市的“人民气候游行”行动。美共积极参与了气候游行活动，并在活动前后广泛开展宣传动员与组织工作。美共认为，随着气候变化所造成的危害日益加剧，围绕环境问题所开展的社会运动与抗争正变得愈发重要。此外，美共还支持并参与了全球气候罢工，敦促当局对全球气候变暖问题采取行动。

(II) Conducting Environmental Education and Influencing Public Opinion

（二）开展环境教育、影响舆论环境

Influencing public opinion, raising public awareness of the ecological crisis and environmental protection consciousness through methods such as releasing environmental reports and conducting environmental education, is also an important means for the CPUSA to participate in real-world struggles. The CPUSA has released a series of environmental reports and advisory documents on environmental issues, disseminating its views to the public, enhancing public awareness of environmental protection, and exerting certain public opinion pressure on the formulation and supervision of environmental policies. A typical example is the “2008 Global Warming Report” reviewed and approved by the CPUSA National Committee, which introduced the CPUSA’s stance on the climate issue to the public and generated a certain degree of social and public opinion impact.

通过发布环境报告、开展环境教育等方式影响社会舆论，提高公众对生态危机的认知与环境保护意识，也是美共参与现实斗争的重要手段。美共围绕环境问题发布了一系列环境报告与咨询文件，向公众传播了其观点，提高了公众对于环境保护的认知，并对环境政策的制定与监督施加了一定的舆论压力。一个典型实例是美共全国委员会审议通过的《2008年全球变暖报告》，向公众介绍了美共在气候问题上的立场，造成了一定的社会舆论影响。

The CPUSA also actively organizes Marxist educational activities at the national, regional, and local levels, expanding the channels of Marxist education through podcasts, reading groups, and other means. In these activities, environmental education is an important component. Environmental issue groups represented by the CPUSA Environmental Action Discussion Group are a beneficial exploratory achievement of the CPUSA in conducting environmental education and ecological knowledge seminars. The CPUSA also regularly holds a series of online educational activities to publicize and exchange ideas on Marxist theory, working-class struggle strategies, environmental justice, and other issues, achieving good dissemination results. The CPUSA has become an important force in conducting environmental education for the public. In addition, “International Publishers,” [2]2 International Publishers is a publishing house historically associated with the Communist Party USA, founded in 1924, known for publishing Marxist and leftist literature. which has close ties with the CPUSA, has published a large number of popular books related to environmental issues since the beginning of the 21st century. Many of these works analyze environmental issues using a distinct Marxist standpoint, enhancing the public’s understanding of left-wing environmental theory, policy, and movements. In summary, the CPUSA, by actively conducting environmental education and publishing related environmental-themed books, has disseminated its environmental protection concepts to society and promoted the evolution of contemporary American environmentalist thought.

美共还在国家、地区和地方等不同层面积极举办马克思主义教育活动，通过播客、读书会等方式拓展马克思主义教育的渠道。在这些活动中，环境教育是重要内容。以美共环境行动讨论小组为代表的环境议题群组，是美共进行环境教育、生态知识研讨的有益探索成果。美共还通过定期举办一系列在线教育活动，对马克思主义理论、工人阶级斗争策略、环境正义等问题进行宣传与交流，取得了较好的传播效果。美共已经成为对公众开展环境教育的重要力量。此外，与美共关系密切的“国际出版社”进入21世纪以来陆续出版了大量与环境问题相关的通俗读物，其中的许多作品运用鲜明的马克思主义立场分析环境问题，增进了社会公众对左翼环境理论、政策与运动的了解。总的来说，美共通过积极开展环境教育、出版相关环境主题读物等方式，向社会传播了其环境保护理念，推动了美国当代环境主义思潮的演化。

(III) Promoting International Cooperation in Environmental Protection and Green Development

（三）推动环境保护和绿色发展的国际合作

Promoting the transfer of technology from the United States to developing countries in the fields of environmental protection and ecological agriculture and carrying out international cooperation is an important strategy for the CPUSA in real-world environmental struggles. The CPUSA advocates for promoting cooperation between developed and developing countries in the environmental field, demanding that developed countries provide developing countries with green technologies conducive to promoting sustainable development, and increase investment in areas such as sustainable agriculture and clean energy. Given the role of tropical rainforests in regulating the climate and reducing the greenhouse effect, the CPUSA strongly supports the protection of tropical rainforests and advocates that developed countries provide corresponding financial assistance to developing countries.

推动美国在环境保护、生态农业方面向发展中国家转移技术并开展国际合作，是美共在现实环境斗争中的重要策略。美共主张推动发达国家与发展中国家在环境领域的合作，要求发达国家向发展中国家提供有利于促进可持续发展的绿色技术，增加对可持续农业、清洁能源等领域的投资。鉴于热带雨林对于调节气候、减少温室效应的作用，美共大力支持保护热带雨林，倡议发达国家向发展中国家提供相应的资金援助。

To be sure, the CPUSA’s decision-making influence on environmental issues within U.S. domestic and foreign policy is very limited. Yet this has not prevented the CPUSA from exploring solutions to environmental problems from a Marxist theoretical perspective, especially as reflected in its attention to ecological agricultural development projects in third-world countries. As early as the 1970s and 1980s, the U.S. Marxist Richard Levins had already conducted research and practice on ecological agriculture in Cuba and Puerto Rico. Inspired by this, the CPUSA recognized the important practical significance of opposing capitalist commodified agriculture. CPUSA theorists emphasize that green agriculture under Marxist guidance has great revolutionary potential for opposing capitalist agricultural models and promoting green social change. Donald Donato, a CPUSA organizer in Massachusetts, has stressed the need to more deeply apply and develop Marxism in contemporary agricultural development, vigorously promote the ecological transformation of agricultural production, and alleviate the soil degradation and ecological imbalance caused by commodified agriculture and the overuse of pesticides.

诚然，美共对美国内外政策中环境议题的决策影响力十分有限，但这并没有阻碍美共基于马克思主义的理论视野探索环境问题的解决之道，尤其体现在美共对第三世界国家生态农业发展项目的关注上。早在20世纪七八十年代，美国持马克思主义立场的理查德·莱文斯就已经在古巴和波多黎各开展了生态农业的研究与实践。在此启发下，美共意识到反对资本主义商品化农业的重要现实意义。美共理论家强调，在马克思主义指导下的绿色农业对于反对资本主义的农业模式、推动绿色社会变革具有较大的革命性潜力。美共在马萨诸塞州的组织者唐纳德·多纳托曾强调，必须在当代农业发展中更深入地运用和发展马克思主义，大力推进农业生产的生态化变革，缓解商品化农业与农药滥用所导致的土壤退化与生态失衡问题。

Although the CPUSA has actively organized and participated in numerous real-world struggles around environmental issues in recent years, due to subjective and objective constraints such as its own weak strength, the impact of its environmental political practice on U.S. environmental policy has been relatively limited. However, it should be noted that because of the CPUSA’s radical left-wing stance and its attention to the real interests of the working class and socially marginalized groups, it possesses a certain degree of social recognition on environmental issues, exerts political influence that exceeds its organizational size, and has become an indispensable component of the spectrum of U.S. left-wing environmental politics.

尽管近年来美共积极组织并参与了大量围绕环境问题的现实斗争，但由于自身力量较弱等主客观条件限制，其环境政治实践对美国环境政策的影响是相对有限的。但应当指出，由于美共的激进左翼立场及其关注工人阶级和社会边缘群体现实利益的态度，它在环境议题上具有一定的社会辨识度，发挥了超越其组织规模的政治影响力，成为美国左翼环境政治谱系中一个不可或缺的组成部分。

IV. Conclusion

四、结语

Since the 21st century, the CPUSA’s environmental politics has mainly exhibited three characteristics. First, the theoretical construction of CPUSA environmental politics has always served its practical movement, directly confronting hot-button issues of public concern in reality. This reflects the CPUSA’s effort to explore the guiding value of the basic principles of Marxism for solving contemporary ecological problems on the basis of the unity of practice and cognition. Second, although the CPUSA does not yet have the strength to directly influence the planning and decision-making of U.S. environmental policy, it possesses unique advantages in influencing public environmental cognition through public opinion. In particular, its populist line of theoretical propaganda has, to a certain extent, generated social influence that exceeds its organizational size. Third, the theoretical construction of CPUSA environmental politics has already taken on its own distinct characteristics and attained a certain theoretical depth. This is manifested in its broad absorption of other mainstream environmental theories on the basis of applying Marxist standpoints, viewpoints, and methods, while also closely following and reflecting on major real-world environmental policies. This gives CPUSA environmental political theory a dual theoretical approach that combines both U.S. domestic environmental currents and global capitalist ecological critique, making it a unique component of the spectrum of U.S. left-wing environmental political thought. Deepening research on it is of significant value for our understanding and grasp of the new trends and new characteristics in the theoretical and practical explorations of communist parties in developed countries since the 21st century.

21世纪以来，美共环境政治主要表现出三个方面的特征：一是美共环境政治的理论建构始终服务于其现实运动，直面现实中公众关注的热点问题。这体现出美共力图在实践与认识相统一的基础上，探寻马克思主义基本原理对解决当代生态问题的指导价值。二是美共虽尚不具备直接影响美国环境政策规划与决策的实力，但它在通过舆论影响公众环境认知方面具有独特优势，特别是其平民化的理论宣传路线，在一定程度上产生了超越其组织规模的社会影响力。三是美共环境政治的理论建构已经呈现出自身鲜明的特色，具备了一定的理论深度，表现为在运用马克思主义立场、观点、方法的基础上，广泛吸收其他主流环境理论，同时密切关注与反思重大现实环境政策。这使得美共的环境政治理论展现出兼具美国本土环境思潮与全球资本主义生态批判观点的双重理论进路，成为美国左翼环境政治思潮谱系中一个独特的组成部分。加深对其研究对于我们理解与把握21世纪以来发达国家共产党在理论与实践探索方面的新动向与新特征向具有重要价值。

It is worth noting that the CPUSA is an active supporter and practitioner of China’s proposal to “work together for a global ecological civilization,”[3]3 A phrase from Chinese official discourse on global environmental governance, emphasizing international cooperation in building an ecological civilization. and has given high praise to China’s ecological civilization construction, recognizing China’s outstanding achievements in afforestation, pollution control, and clean energy. It believes that “China is accelerating its pace in addressing the climate crisis and is on track to build an ‘ecological civilization.’” In particular, Bachtell[4]4 John Bachtell, chair of the Communist Party USA from 2014 to 2019. has highly evaluated China’s role in global governance, arguing that China will increasingly influence every aspect of human life, and that these are major contributions to Marxism. The Communist Party of China is a model worthy of emulation by other proletarian parties, including the CPUSA. Facing the common environmental problems of human society today, Marxist political parties around the world should strengthen exchanges and cooperation, jointly devise solutions to the global ecological crisis, jointly address global governance deficits including the environmental governance deficit, and jointly advance the cause of human progress in the process of building a community with a shared future for mankind.

值得注意的是，美共是中国提出的“共谋全球生态文明建设之路”的积极支持者与践行者，并对中国的生态文明建设给予了高度评价，认可中国在植树造林、污染治理、清洁能源等方面所取得的突出成就，认为“中国正在加快应对气候危机的步伐，走上建设‘生态文明’的轨道”。特别是巴切特尔曾高度评价中国在全球治理中所发挥的作用，认为中国将越来越多地影响人类生活的每个方面，这些都是对马克思主义作出的重大贡献，中国共产党是值得包括美共在内的其他无产阶级政党借鉴的典范。面对当今人类社会共同面临的环境问题，世界马克思主义政党应当加强交流与合作，共同谋划全球生态危机的解决方案，共同应对包括环境治理赤字在内的全球治理赤字，在携手构建人类命运共同体的进程中共同推进人类进步事业。

Online editor: Tongxin

网络编辑：同心