On failure: the persistence of (ecological) modernism

This Forum Article addresses the current schism within and between degrowth and Marxist (eco)modernism. At its root is whether emancipation requires completing modernity through state-led industrial transformation or composting modernity through anti-authoritarian, place-based autonomy. Identifying a strand of leftist ecomodernism, we engage recent works by Jason Hickel and Max Ajl, who advance socialist modernist and communist agendas. After summarizing their key claims, we diagnose two intertwined failures of (eco)modernism: technological optimism and the state. First, industrial and digital systems are treated as neutral solutions, obscuring the extractive and fossilized supply-webs that high technology requires. Second, the state-form is not neutral; it depends on colonial coercion, militarism, and extractivism, while generating psychosocial pathologies. Against managerial state projects, ecological breakdown, and techno-authoritarianism, we propose a libertarian ecosocialist horizon: degrowing coercive power, prioritizing convivial technologies, and federating commons from below.