In her book “The Mushroom at the End of the World,” Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing explores the idea of “salvage capitalism,” a concept that refers to taking advantage of value produced without capitalist control. The book delves into the ecology, community, and history around the matsutake mushroom, but this leads Tsing into a much larger and extraordinary set of ideas, including the multiple natures of the commons, interspecies interdependence, cultivating forests, noticing, and salvaging. Tsing argues that salvage accumulation is a feature of how capitalism works, in which capitalists exploit ecologies by taking advantage of their capacities, leading to the ongoing exploitation of resources and workers. On the other hand, The Salvage Collective, as seen in “The Tragedy of the Worker,” emphasizes the importance of rescuing and preserving items from their surroundings. While Tsing’s and The Salvage Collective’s notions of “salvage” differ in their focus and approach, they are compatible with each other in their recognition of the value of objects and the importance of their preservation. In this essay, I will compare and contrast the notions of “salvage” used by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing in The Mushroom at the End of the World and by Jamie Allinson, China Miéville, Richard Seymour, and Rosie Warren in The Tragedy of the Worker: Towards the Proletarocene. Based on this comparison, I will assess to what degree they are compatible.
It’s intriguing to consider the word “salvage,” which implies to save, in this setting. For example, one “salvages” a ship that has gone down in the water. Similarly, the compensation for holding a ship’s cargo is known as “salvage.” But the goods on board a vessel are already part of the capitalist system, so saving them means more money is needed. Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing defines “salvage capitalism” as a process of capital accumulation in which capitalists exploit ecologies by taking advantage of the value they produce without capitalist control.[1] Tsing uses the term “salvage” to describe “salvage accumulation” through a capitalist lens as “the process through which lead firms amass capital without controlling the conditions under which commodities are produced. Salvage is not an ornament on ordinary capitalist processes; it is a feature of how capitalism works”. To illustrate this concept, she uses the example of the nineteenth-century ivory supply chain connecting central Africa and Europe, which Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness depicts. According to Tsing, ivory is “salvaged” from its natural state into the grip of capitalism, which she contrasts with the ongoing “salvage accumulation” process through global supply chains. Tsing further explains that matsutake mushrooms, a much-loved Japanese delicacy, are also “salvaged,” but only briefly before they become a capitalist commodity.
Since first encountering this term, I’ve started to see salvage everywhere, not only in the dirt: a marketplace like Etsy salvages the culture and objects of craftwork to amass wealth for its investors. Platforms salvage the web for the same ends. Advertising salvages attention and identity. In light of that, Tsing’s notion of “salvage” sheds light and emphasizes taking advantage of value produced without capitalist control. This process of salvage accumulation is a feature of how capitalism works, which involves the ongoing exploitation of resources and workers. Tsing continues by saying that the famous Japanese delicacy of matsutake mushrooms is likewise “salvaged,” if temporarily before it becomes a capitalist commodity. Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. “The Mushroom at the End of the World.” In The Mushroom at the End of the World. Princeton University Press, 2015.
Here, Tsing uses the example of the matsutake mushroom, which cannot be cultivated, to show how capitalism exploits ecologies by exploiting their capacities. The gatherers of these mushrooms expect to sell them, but their primary motivations for hunting them are not financial. They find a sense of community and belonging while gathering mushrooms and feel a spiritual connection to the land. Salvage translates violence and pollution into profit.[2] In light of this, Tsing takes her readers on what is, sometimes, a dizzying ride through time and space to tease out connections between political economy, ecology, history, and multispecies interactions.
In The Tragedy of the Worker, Jamie Allinson, China Miéville, Richard Seymour, and Rosie Warren propose Salvage Communism as a way of restoring the world and repairing the ravages of capitalism. This Salvage Communism is a complete transformation of “our ways of making, thinking, eating, moving and living.”[3] It is the only viable mitigation and adaptation to the new ecological context. In contrast to Tsing’s notion of “salvage,” the authors of The Tragedy of the Worker view it as a “self-falsifying pessimism” that recognizes the damage done and to come but also seeks a rupture with the greed of capitalism. As seen in “The Tragedy of the Worker,” the Salvage Collective emphasizes the importance of rescuing and preserving items from their surroundings.[4] This group attempts to preserve historical items, such as the murals in Grenfell Tower, and use them to raise awareness of the tragedies that occurred. The collective’s notion of salvage is more focused on preserving the past and using it to inform the future.
As seen in “The Tragedy of the Worker,” capitalism is immortal like some microbes, and the death drive is immortal. It has constraints and crises yet seems to grow stronger in the face of them. Like the famous vampire squid, it transforms everything it feeds into its substance and moves beyond anything the world can use again at other parts of the cycle. Only an external force, like a revolution or human extinction, communism or the shared disaster of the fighting classes, can stop capital’s constant augmentation, in contrast to the multispecies life systems that power it. Since the promise of ‘Red Plenty’ has been postponed indefinitely, communism’s mission may consist of rescuing what can be saved from destruction. This, as they say, is the tragedy of the worker. But even getting this far will mean shifting our view of the thing we need to get rid of – namely the capitalist class – and putting in its place an understanding of the enemy as the drive towards capital accumulation, which is the actual name of the beast. It functions as a logic or a relentless drive to grow an abstraction – capital – to greater heights. When wealth accumulates, we are all losers. When faced with accounting for fortunes that have increased dramatically for reasons no one can explain or possibly evaporated overnight as the abstraction has upped the stakes and the caravan has moved on, even capitalists can be thrown for a loop.[5] The Tragedy of the Worker is, on the whole, an excellent and rigorously argued pamphlet that reflects the death drive of capitalism, the left’s intricate entanglements with fossil fuels, and the increasing tide of fascism. The authors counter with Salvage Communism, an initiative for renewal and repair that they argue must come before any form of luxury communism.[6]
The two notions of “salvage” are primarily compatible with each other. Both emphasize the need for a complete transformation of our ways of making, thinking, eating, moving and living. Both recognize the damage done and come from capitalist exploitation of the natural world and its resources. However, there is a subtle difference between the two approaches. Tsing’s notion of “salvage” focuses on exploiting resources. At the same time, the authors of The Tragedy of the Worker emphasize the need for a more holistic transformation of our society. While they both recognize the need for a complete change in our ways of making, thinking, eating, moving and living, their approaches to achieving this transformation differ. Tsing’s approach is focused on the exploitation of resources, while the authors of The Tragedy of the Worker emphasize the need for a more holistic transformation of our society. Although Tsing and The Salvage Collective discuss the concept of “salvage,” their notions of the term differ. Tsing’s notion of salvage is more focused on the ongoing exploitation of resources and workers, while The Salvage Collective’s notion is more focused on preserving history. However, both concepts of “salvage” share a common thread of recognizing the value of objects and the importance of their preservation. Tsing argues that salvage accumulation is a feature of capitalism’s work, whereas The Salvage Collective attempts to preserve items forgotten or overlooked by society. A crafty and cunning vibe comes with the word, which could also be seen as heroic or scrappy. Salvage is inevitably part of the capitalist machine, but I also ask: might a salvage mindset or ethos be used outside capitalism? Is salvage a necessary mode?
In a nutshell, the two notions of “salvage” used by Tsing and The Tragedy of the Worker are largely compatible. Both emphasize the need for a complete transformation of our ways of making, thinking, eating, moving and living. Both recognize the damage done and come from capitalist exploitation of the natural world and its resources. However, the two approaches have a subtle difference, as Tsing is focused on exploiting resources. At the same time, The Tragedy of the Worker emphasizes the need for a more holistic transformation of our society. While Tsing’s and The Salvage Collective’s notions of “salvage” differ in their focus and approach, they are compatible with each other in their recognition of the value of objects and the importance of their preservation.
Bibliography
Allinson, Jamie et al. The tragedy of the worker: towards the proletarocene. Verso Books, 2021.
Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. “The Mushroom at the End of the World.” In The Mushroom at the End of the World. Princeton University Press, 2015.
[1] Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. “The Mushroom at the End of the World.” In The Mushroom at the End of the World. Princeton University Press, 2015.
[2] Tsing, Anna Lowenhaupt. “The Mushroom at the End of the World.” In The Mushroom at the End of the World. Princeton University Press, 2015.
[3] Allinson, Jamie et al. The tragedy of the worker: towards the proletarocene. Verso Books, 2021
[4] Allinson, Jamie et al. The tragedy of the worker: towards the proletarocene. Verso Books, 2021.
[5] Allinson, Jamie et al. The tragedy of the worker: towards the proletarocene. Verso Books, 2021.
[6] Allinson, Jamie et al. The tragedy of the worker: towards the proletarocene. Verso Books, 2021.
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