Letters from Tomis

My Socialist Hall of Fame

During this chaotic era of vile rhetoric and manipulative tactics from our so-called bourgeois leaders, I am invigorated by the opportunity to reflect on Socialists, Revolutionaries, Philosophers, Guerrilla Leaders, Partisans, and Critical Theory titans, champions, and martyrs who paved the way for us—my own audacious “Socialism’s Hall of Fame.” These are my heroes and fore-bearers. Not all are perfect, or even fully admirable, but all contributed in some way to our future–either as icons to emulate, or as warnings to avoid in the future.

Personal and Educational Background

John Bellamy Foster was born August 19, 1953, in Seattle, Washington.   He pursued his graduate studies at York University in Toronto, obtaining an M.A. in 1977 and a Ph.D. in 1983.  

Academic Positions and Editorial Roles

After completing his doctoral work, Foster joined academia as a Visiting Member of the Faculty at Evergreen State College (circa 1985), before moving to the University of Oregon, where he has been a professor of Sociology.   He is also the editor of Monthly Review, a longstanding journal associated with Marxist political economy and socialist critiques.  

Research Foci and Intellectual Contributions

Foster’s work spans critical political economy, Marxist theory, environmental sociology, and the ecological contradictions of capitalism. Key themes in his research include:

• Monopoly Capitalism & Financialization: Early work concentrated on the theory of monopoly capital, excess capacity, accumulation under monopoly, and capital’s evolving forms.  

• Ecology, Environmental Crisis, and Marxist Ecology: From the late 1980s onward, Foster has become a prominent figure in bringing ecological concerns into Marxist theory: metabolic rift (the idea of a rupture between human societies and the natural metabolic processes of the earth under capitalism), nature–society relations, and the environmental consequences of capitalist production.  

• Imperialism, Ecology, and Social Theory: His more recent work integrates global political economy, ecological degradation, imperialism, and social theory. He aims to bridge normative, historical, and theoretical dimensions—arguing for an ecological revolution or ecosocialism as necessary in light of climate breakdown and capitalist crisis.  

Recognition and Awards

Foster has received several honors for his contributions. Among them is the Deutscher Memorial Prize (2020) for his work The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology.   His book Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature won the book award from the American Sociological Association’s Section on Marxist Sociology.  

Select Bibliography

Below is a list of major works by John Bellamy Foster, along with some representative articles and interviews, useful for understanding his work at graduate level.

Major Books

The Theory of Monopoly Capitalism: An Elaboration of Marxian Political Economy (1986) Political economy; monopoly, accumulation, capitalism’s internal contradictions.  

The Vulnerable Planet: A Short Economic History of the Environment (1994) Early examination of environment & economic history; sets stage for his ecological work.  

Marx’s Ecology: Materialism and Nature (2000) Systematic exploration of Marx’s environmental thinking; metabolic rift.  

Ecology Against Capitalism (2002) Critique of capitalism from the standpoint of environmental crisis; political ecology.  

The Ecological Revolution: Making Peace with Nature (2009) Outlines crisis dimensions and possibilities for radical change.  

The Ecological Rift: Capitalism’s War on the Earth (with Brett Clark & Richard York, 2010) Joint work expanding the metabolic rift idea; ecological political economy.  

The Endless Crisis: How Monopoly-Finance Capital Produces Stagnation and Upheaval from the USA to China (with Robert W. McChesney, 2012) Analysis of the financialized form of capitalism; global economic crises.  

Marx and the Earth: An Anti-Critique (with Paul Burkett, 2016) Defense of Marx’s ecological credentials; response to critiques.  

Trump in the White House: Tragedy and Farce (2017) More political-commentary oriented, situating recent developments in U.S. politics within broader crises.  

The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology (2020) Intellectual history of ecosocialism; tracing themes from Marx and Engels through later thinkers; won Deutscher Prize.  

Capitalism in the Anthropocene: Ecological Ruin or Ecological Revolution (2022) A newer framing: the Anthropocene as epoch of crisis and possibility; ecological revolution.  

Key Articles & Interviews

• Foster’s article “Marx’s Theory of Metabolic Rift: Classical Foundations for Environmental Sociology” (American Journal of Sociology, 1999) is foundational to his ecological sociology work.  

• Numerous interviews, e.g. “Ecology, Capitalism and the Socialization of Nature” (Monthly Review, 2004) and “Interview with John Bellamy Foster, author of The Return of Nature: Socialism and Ecology” (New Books in Critical Theory, 2022), provide accessible expositions of his evolving views.