True freedom requires transcending capitalism, says Prabhat Patnaik

Capitalism cannot ensure individual freedom because all agents act under systemic compulsion. True freedom requires transcending capitalism, by creating a system based on collective ownership and genuine cooperation, free from economic coercion and alienation, said Marxian economist and political commentator Prabhat Patnaik.

Participating in a discussion on “Beyond Liberalism”, his latest book that offers a Marxist critique of liberalism in Vijayawada on Friday, the former professor of Economics asserted that socialism, under which common ownership of the means of production is possible, is thus the only framework where real individual freedom can exist.

He said given the current day’s crisis of neoliberal capitalism and suppression of freedom worldwide, the need for collective action and socialist transformation was urgent. He said his book challenges two common liberal propositions — that liberalism values individual freedom, while Marxism does not, and that capitalism ensures individual freedom, whereas socialism suppresses it.

“Both claims are false,” he argued, stating that Marxism is deeply concerned with individual freedom, and genuine freedom can only be achieved under socialism, not capitalism.”

Mr. Patnaik, who taught at the Centre for Economic Studies and Planning in the School of Social Sciences at Jawaharlal Nehru University in New Delhi, spoke about the Marxist view of the Individual under capitalism. He said individuals under capitalism do not act freely; they are driven by systemic compulsion and competition. He said capitalism depends on a “reserve army of labour” (the unemployed) to discipline workers through the “threat of job loss”. This creates ‘economic coercion’, as production requires strict coordination without physical force but under the fear of unemployment. “Hence, individuals, including capitalists, are ‘alienated and unfree’, compelled to act by market forces,” he said.