Economic freedom as defined by experts required curtailing political freedoms across ideological lines

Evidence

Th roughout these pages an interesting theme will come to the fore: economic experts, whether Fascist or liberal, recognized that in order to secure economic freedom— i.e., the market freedom of the “virtuous” saver/entrepreneur— countries had to forgo, or at minimum marginalize, political freedoms. Th is was apparent especially in Italy during the country’s “red years” of 1919 to 1920, when the majority of the country’s workers demonstrated their unwillingness to accept a notion of economic freedom that presupposed their subordination to hierarchical relations of production. Th ese workers fought for the liberation of the majority and espoused an understanding of economic freedom that was antithetical to that of experts, one that presupposed the overthrow of private property and wage labor in favor of shared means and democratic control of production. … Th e fate of capitalism, for our economists, hung in the balance. A sweeping counteroff ensive— one that transcended party lines— was underway. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 72

Categorization

• DEFINE: Distinguishes the experts’ meaning of ‘economic freedom’ (market freedom of the saver/entrepreneur) from the workers’ meaning (democratic control of production) — the crux definition of the book.
• DEEPTHINKING: The loaded semantic claim that ‘economic freedom’ presupposes a specific class content is a paradigm-shifting analytic frame worth sitting with.
• XREF: connects to: Market ideology functions to repress freedom rather than secure it — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 600; Leading neoliberals defended restricting political freedom to preserve economic freedom — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists: The End of Empire and the…, 500; Early European neoliberals privileged economic over political freedom — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin: The Making…, 188

Broader Connections

• Leading neoliberals defended restricting political freedom to preserve economic freedom #exemplifies (0.95) — Quinn Slobodian, Globalists, 500
• Early European neoliberals privileged economic over political freedom #exemplifies (0.87) — Philip Mirowski & Dieter Plehwe (eds.), The Road from Mont Pèlerin, 188
• Market ideology functions to repress freedom rather than secure it #corroborates (0.78) — Fredric Jameson, Postmodernism, or, The Cultural Logic…, 600