Back in the 1970s, did you and your leftist friends discuss the possibility of the collapse of the non-capitalist socialist or second world behind the Iron Curtain? I bet you didn't because you thought that it was inevetable, world wide. Because that collapse actually happened, right? I didn't happen in gradual spirals either, but with a sudden bang because people were sick of a system that wasn't working for them. The ecological damage that was done in the USSR and its colonies was generally much greater than in the free world, by the way. Even the Chinese traded the Mao suit for Hugo Boss eventually..

Leftists were wrong then and they are wrong now.