The relationship between landscape architecture and politics has in the past decade or so been the subject of much discussion within the discipline. Recent articles on this matter argue for the discipline to recover its engagement with politics, mostly in the form of the Green New Deal, legislation, advocacy, and policy. However, many of those same scholars have noted the difficulties of the discipline achieving just ends within the context of capitalism. This thesis attempts to situate landscape design as a professional body which has historically mediated the outward consequences of the central contradictions of capitalism while lacking an analysis which posits their abolition. The intention of the thesis is to begin with a historical analysis that provides the basis for the larger argument that the discipline can and should attempt to overcome its limitations within capitalism by allying itself with and contributing toward the collective and emancipatory political project of socialism.