The neoliberal hymn to the individual has always been a lie dressed in idealism. Under capitalism, the individual is not liberated but crushed, flattened into a commodity, her desires subordinated to the logic of accumulation, her capacity for self-expression hollowed out by the relentless demand to sell herself piece by piece. What passes for individualism in free‑market ideology is merely the abstract isolation of the wage laborer, a collective system of slavery that masquerades as freedom. True individualism, the kind Marx glimpsed in the possibility of a society where human flourishing is the measure of production, is not opposed to communism, it is its final realization. The individual shines not when she is set against the collective, but when the collective is empowered to free her from the commodified life that capitalism mistakes for existence.
>>Wage slavery is not individualism, it is the systematic destruction of the individual reduced to an economic unit of labor, stripped of autonomy, creativity, and the capacity for self‑determination. The neoliberal ideologue mistakes the atomized, precarious worker for a liberated subject, when in fact that worker is merely a node in capital’s collective apparatus. True individuality emerges only when the collective is organized not to exploit but to emancipate when labor is no longer a commodity, when the means of production are in common hands, when the individual’s unique capacities are cultivated rather than consumed. Communism does not erase the individual it makes individual flourishing on a societal level possible for the first time.
2 posts and 2 image replies omitted.It is genuinely entertaining to watch the ideological defenses of capitalism crumble under the weight of materialist analysis. The standard refrain that the abundance and innovation we enjoy are products of capitalist competition and individual genius ignores what becomes of art, culture, science and craft when profit becomes the sole organizing principle. Commodification does not simply cheapen material life; it strips culture of its soul, directs the science towards fields that don't always benefit us as a whole. Music, video games, cinema, any creative field subsumed by the hyper‑ late stage - capitalist model tends toward mechanic formula, risk aversion, and the relentless pursuit of the bottom line. The most enduring games, the most resonant albums, were rarely born from quarterly earnings projections; they emerged from spaces where passion, not profit, drove production. Capitalism did not invent creativity; it commodified it, then proceeded to enclose it, standardize it to bourgeoisie norms, and drain it of everything that made it vital. Individual artists and developers who once worked for love of the craft are now pushed to the margins, their visions chopped into marketable fragments, their names buried under corporate branding. The decline in quality is not incidental it is the necessary outcome of a system that treats creativity as a product and inventors as interchangeable labor. The evidence is everywhere, a gaming industry once animated by basement coders and small teams now churns out hollow sequels and micro transactions; a music industry once capable of producing genuine cultural movements now cycles through algorithm‑generated disposable pop. The moment capital fully colonizes a creative field, the field loses its capacity to surprise, to challenge, to reflect anything beyond the logic of accumulation. This is yet again, an example of capitalism crushing every aspect of the individual.
>>2749821Frederick Douglass was a liberal, by the way
>>2749828>A capitalist society is ruled by liberalism which sets the interests of the community against those of individuals, and places the interests of individuals above those of the community.Yes, that is called universality by the rule of law; the alternative is to be enslaved by custom and tradition, as it persists in more patriarchal societies. Homosexuality, for example, can only have civic protection, where the individual's claim to liberty, is superior to the community (e.g. the family). If 99% of people are against you, yet you are protected by the law, then the individual is in fact facilitated by legality, which conserves the preservation of their being. Universality must then begin in concerns for minorities, with the individual being the ultimate minority.
>inequality>jucheright, because no inequality exists in north korea… 🤣
>>2750305>>Frederick Douglass was a liberal, by the way>>upset with the juche quoteDefinitely a white man.
>>2750346based on post style and image choice, i'm assuming this is adam smith anon who is an avowed liberal so he's actually trying to reclaim douglass for himself. also he is british if i recall. no idea if he's white.