Capitalism was born from revolution.
The fall of feudalism promised liberty, equality, democracy, and an end to the hierarchies that bound people to land and lineage. But more than two centuries later, the gap between those ideals and our economic reality could not be starker.
In this episode of FREE – The Forum for Real Economic Emancipation, host Clara Mattei sits down with world-renowned economist Richard D. Wolff to explore why capitalism has consistently failed to deliver on its promises — and why system change may be the only way forward.
From Feudalism to the “Freedom” of the Market
Wolff traces the historical shift from lords and serfs to employers and employees. While capitalism broke the chains of hereditary servitude, it replaced them with a new kind of dependency: the necessity to sell one’s labor to survive. This “freedom of choice” in the marketplace, Wolff argues, masks the reality of economic coercion.
The Silence Around Capitalism
Why is the word “capitalism” absent from most economic textbooks and mainstream media? Mattei and Wolff discuss how mainstream economics hides the structural inequalities baked into the system, focusing public attention on surface-level freedoms rather than deeper systemic constraints.
Inflation, Unemployment, and Class Power
Inflation and unemployment aren’t just technical economic problems — they are political tools. Wolff reveals how capitalists and policymakers shape these phenomena to maintain control, often blaming workers for problems rooted in the profit-driven nature of the system.
The Role of Technology
While technological innovation could reduce working hours and improve quality of life, under capitalism it’s used primarily to cut labor costs and increase profits. In a worker cooperative model, the same technology could be used to shorten workdays without sacrificing income — benefiting everyone rather than a small ownership class.
The Cooperative Alternative
The conversation points toward a vision where enterprises are run democratically by their workers, aligning production with human needs rather than shareholder returns. Such a shift wouldn’t happen overnight, but, as Wolff notes, every economic transformation in history began with small, localized experiments that grew into new systems.
Listen to the full conversation to hear how a Marxian perspective illuminates the path toward a truly democratic economy — and why recognizing the political nature of economics is the first step toward real change.
📚 Richard Wolff’s latest book: Understanding Capitalism
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