Marxian

This site and blog will explore openly what individual freedom beyond capitalist liberalism might mean, if anything.

The communitarian critique of capitalist liberalism is that it threatens communities and fragments society into competing individuals. This leftist analysis is correct, but the implied negativity is misguided. Capitalism has indeed broken up old forms of community, but in doing so has freed individuals from the traditional ties that once held people physically and perceptually in their thrall.

The liberalist critique of communitarianism (socialism, communism etc) is that it oppresses individual liberty; a collectivist altruism places the group before the individual, severely curtailing the freedom of the latter. To the liberalist, rational egoism is human nature, which explains the failure of altruistic systems like communism in contrast to the success of capitalism.

However, the rightist critique does not recognise the collectivist nature of capitalism – the greatest force for collectivisation the world has ever seen or will see. Under capitalism, the individual is enslaved and oppressed by the seemingly autonomous force that is society.

The liberalist critique of communitarianism must, therefore, be turned against itself and freedom’s apparent apogee, capitalism, if we are to envisage a form of individuality beyond capitalism.

Those individuals who think they have freedom now, are simply going to have to be greedy for more in the future.