The minute anyone mentions the term ‘the economy’, minds turn toward markets, money, profits, and terms such as GDP (Gross Domestic Product) and GVA (Gross Value Added). However, working within that framework is not the aim of this paper. As ecosocialists we are interested in trying to ensure that what is created and produced by our individual and cooperative labour is used to further the ‘needs of people, planet, peace and not profit’. What is important is that the creative abilities and skills of all are supported, enabled and recognised for the benefit of all. What this might mean in practice has been explored in our previous six workshops. More are to come. However, it seems about right to start to rethink what ‘economic’ activity might be about, and deal with, but also go beyond, questions of ‘can these aims be afforded’, toward taking steps now to make the radical transition to a society that is not based on exploitation, where the planet is not burning and the reasons for genocidal imperial wars are directly challenged.

Just how the power of profit and exploitation works in current capitalism come from this report in the Guardian newspaper where under pressure from a New York based hedge fund, the current chair of BP is being forced to resign as he previously supported some moves to green energy resources, the hedge fund want a return to oil and its speculative power is the tail wagging the company dog. 

In Cymru we are surrounded not just by the power of these new forms of finance capital but also by the markets and neoliberal philosophy that underpins them. The hedge fund above is powerful, as it is raising the question with shareholders about how best to sustain and maximise BPs profits. And it is that question, with profit rates under pressure globally, that is leading to increasingly vicious market rivalry as well as states, like the US, retreating into nationalism or what some of us call ‘state capitalism’. As ecosocialists our trick is to do our best to survive in this situation, whilst at the same time taking all the political steps we can that challenge and start to show to workers across the UK and internationally, that a people before profit is possible.

In terms of surviving now we should not do the existing productive capacity in Cymru down. Much is made of the apparent fiscal deficit that exists between the spending needs of our public services and how much we raise in taxation, thus we could afford to be independent, and certainly not socialist, as we depend on the generosity of other UK taxpayers. Recent analysis such as in the Doyle report convincingly demonstrates that this would not be the case with independence. Similarly the most recent figures on the general state of the economy show that Cymru has a wealth and income that is more than comparable with other independent states with a similar population size. They also show that although wealth exists it does not benefit all, and poverty and affluence exist side by side as we demonstrated in our discussion paper on poverty. Finally, even in terms of imports and exports – the balance of payment – Cymru international trade is a significant part of the economy and although imports are about 6% higher than exports in terms of physical trade, if the service sector was fully taken into account, there would be a surplus. 

The current Welsh Government has a whole range of policies aimed at trying to sustain the position of Cymru within the current market based status quo. Plaid and the Green Party also address many of these issues and have proposed ways of more effectively addressing social and climate change issues, without necessarily directly challenging production for profit. The failure of all the parties to take up the fight against austerity by voting against budget cuts that followed on the bail out of the banks in 2008, effectively wedded them politically to the status quo. I remember being at a union meeting with elected representatives of all parties in the Senedd around 2009, and one after another they said the banks had to be bailed out, not one suggested or even argued for their nationalisation. Compared to this political failure, the arguments about the Barnett formula, Crown Estates and rail infrastructure funding, whilst right, are largely about redistributing existing funding. Many of the other specific policies raised, such as the enhancing the role of Cymru higher education research in new products and services, most could only be effectively implemented if Cymru was an independent state and had the a government that was prepared to use its power, to bring production under collective and democratic public control to start to move toward production for the needs of people, planet, peace and not profit. One way of envisaging how this might happen is through the idea of the doughnut economy, but again, to even start to think about moving in this direction requires the collective power and political will to do so.

The key issue is to ask, what is the economy for, and not just to accept the market based profit making concepts growth. Even the word ‘economy’ can limit thinking. Hence an ecosocialist emphasis on production in a wider sense, meaning people working creatively together to produce use value – products and services that collectively benefit people and society- and not exchange value – which is about producing solely for a surplus that can become a private profit after being sold in the market. What we have suggested is that the use values produced and prioritised should be those that go toward achieving the demands and policies in previous workshop papers: net zero, homes, health, support and care, lifelong learning, an end to poverty, and others. In essence ‘from each according to their abilities, to each according to their needs’. Success in achieving these aims would be the social and political indicators of our politics not gross value added. 

This is our ecosocialist transformation and to start to move in that direction requires collective control over the production of those use values away from profit. In Cymru the Tower Colliery workers cooperative was one way of achieving this and currently in local communities the cymunedoli movement is another. As suggested in this paper and in the policies and demands that follow, political initiatives need to embrace local initiatives like these as well as defending and extending the publicly owned services we already have such as the NHS. We can achieve much, although ecosocialism in one country is not possible, we could in Cymru by clearly moving toward our aim in practice to help inspire workers across the UK and international dynamic in this direction. The Cymru Wellbeing of Future Generation Act section relating to the economy is relevant: ‘ “The process of improving the economic, social, environmental and cultural well-being of Wales by taking action, in accordance with the sustainable development principle, aimed at achieving the well-being goals.” As  well as emphasising the need for economic decisions to be linked to the well-being of people, the Act also makes it clear that decisions regarding the economy should take into account not only the needs of current generations, but most importantly, ensure that they also take account of the needs of future generations. 

Cooperative economy – see also defending and extending our democracy workshop 

Collective ownership and democratic control is the key to ‘production for the needs of people, planet, peace and not profit’. The two have to go together as only through democratic control can people articulate and define needs. 

Collective ownership not only maximises the opportunity to decide the best use of any surplus value, say in terms of a ‘doughnut economy’,  but it also helps to ensure that value produced through the labour power in Cymru is ‘anchored’ and protected against exploitative takeovers.

Defending and extending what we currently collectively own and making it subject to democratic control.

1. Opposition to all austerity cuts budgets and defence of all existing benefits.
2. A needs based comprehensive spending review of all public service budgets to form the basis of defending services and sufficient funding from the UK state to repair the damage of austerity cuts since 2009. 
3. Defend and extend all public and cooperative sectors provision from Welsh Government and councils through to cooperative and mutuals.
4. End all privatisation, internal markets, and private investment.
5. Within current forms of collective ownership extend the democratic control of workers, consumers and electors. The key is that the main decision makers are subject to a regular direct vote of workers, consumers and remain accountable. 
6. Union recognition and collective bargaining are seen as an essential part of workplace democracy.
7. Roll back the market by extending the proportion of productive activity (goods and services) under collective ownership and democratic control and control any adverse international market attacks through exchange and other controls. Public control is not a fantasy.
8. Bring all universal basic services that have been privatised back under collective ownership and democratic control such as transport, water, education, housing, post, power generation and distribution, phone networks and end connections. 
9. Welfare not warfare, avoiding and opposing investment in arms manufacture and developing means of a just transition from existing forms of work in these industries along with the development of renewable energy. 

Extending

1. Systematically replace private finance, shares and bonds, with a Welsh Government state bank and support system and be empowered to support new and innovative ideas with R&D investment, particularly those that could have global niche high value. 
2. Create new collectively owned and democratically controlled areas of production that support the universal basic services, such as a Cymru construction and servicing.
3. Ensure that collectively higher education in Cymru covers all the research assessment exercise research areas, and any new products or services are owned as knowledge cooperatives with a third each, Welsh Government, academic staff and the university sharing ownership.  
4. Legally ensure that at start up or change of ownership such as at succession, sold or facing closure, that workers and/or consumers, have the first say in taking control, before other options are considered.
5. Support community collective ownership and control particularly in the production and provision of essential services such as power, food, mobility, and housing services. 
6. Provide support to enable everyone to apply their creativity, skills and interests to help fulfill their, the communities and the wider society needs: ‘from each according to their abilities to each according to their needs’. 
7. Radical progressive income tax; financial transaction and wealth tax; local taxes based on income.
8. Ending war and other wasteful and harmful state spending.