Political freedom is impossible when economic dependence forces people to sell their labor

Evidence

Zini critiqued the abstract, indirect concept of political freedom: in short, he said that political freedom is impossible in the presence of “economic unfreedom,” the state of market dependence in which the majority of people are forced to sell their labor power in order to survive. Th e theories from bourgeois economists oft en concealed such forms of economic coercion, but these were nonetheless felt by workers: “Today all men, if they want to live, if they don’t want to die of hunger and of cold, are obliged . — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 533

Zini critiqued the abstract, indirect concept of political freedom: in short, he said that political freedom is impossible in the presence of “economic unfreedom,” the state of market dependence in which the majority of people are forced to sell their labor power in order to survive. Th e theories from bourgeois economists oft en concealed such forms of economic coercion, but these were nonetheless felt by workers: “Today all men, if they want to live, if they don’t want to die of hunger and of cold, are obliged … to position themselves in the capitalist hierarchy … the number of those who no longer feel able to adapt to the existing social form becomes ever larger” (Togliatti 1920, 249). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 533

Categorization

• DEFINE: Defines ‘economic unfreedom’ as the market dependence that forces most people to sell their labor to survive.
• XREF: Echoes Marx’s critique of formal vs. real freedom under capitalism, and connects to the book’s overall argument about austerity as class weapon against such critiques. — connects to: Economic dependence on wage labor hollows out political citizenship. — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 406; Political freedom is impossible without economic freedom — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 407; Mainstream economics denies workers political agency beyond job choice (+11 more)
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 533

Broader Connections

• Even free labor under capitalism is subject to economic compulsion to sell labor-power. #expands (0.92) — Hall, Stuart, Essential Essays, Volume 1, 599
• Capitalist economic choice was coercive, not genuinely free. #corroborates (0.90) — Yanis Varoufakis, Technofeudalism, 100
• Self-determination cannot precede the abolition of exploitation #corroborates (0.85) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 227
• Freedom must be conceived negatively as freedom from the economy #expands (0.80) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 112
• Political contestation under capitalism cannot challenge the economic system itself #corroborates (0.78)
• Consumer-capitalist integration threatens rather than benefits individual freedom. #corroborates (0.72) — Herbert Marcuse, One-Dimensional Man, 7