In his book Capitalism and Freedom, author Milton Friedman declares that "The basic problem of social organization is how to coordinate the economic activities of large numbers of people...." (p.12) One method of achieving the goal of organization is that of "central direction involving the use of coercion - the technique of the army and the modern totalitarian state. The other is voluntary co-operation of individuals - the technique of the marketplace." (p.13) Friedman maintains that ideas such as those expounded in Karl Marx's treatise The Communist Manifesto exemplify the technique of social organization initiated by a coercive, centralized state. Friedman sees his own work Capitalism and Freedom as a defender of the second technique, social organization willingly initiated by individuals operating within a free marketplace. Friedman thus presents the tracts published by himself and Karl Marx as setting forth the two opposing economic theories of communism and capitalism.
      Communism is a socialist theory in that it asserts that a strong, central state should control the means of production; however, communism insists particularly upon the abolition of private property, and advocates the overthrow of opposing social structures by force. The theory of communism is based on Marxism, or those tenets expounded by Karl Marx and his co-author Friedrich Engels in The Communist Manifesto and other works. Capitalism, in contrast to communism, is characterized by private ownership of property and the means of production. During the Industrial Revolution of the 18th and 19th centuries, wages, working hours, factory conditions, and standards of living for industrial workers became in many situations truly abysmal. Such appalling conditions for laborers led to the development of communism and socialism as theories opposing capitalism. The Communist Manifesto, which was published in 1848, exemplifies the theory of communism, claiming that the impoverished and exploited proletariat will inevitably rise up and overthrow the capitalist bourgeoisie, establishing a new classless society.

      The main premise of Milton Friedman's text Capitalism and Freedom is that there exists an inescapable connection between economics and politics. Friedman states, "Competitive capitalism - the organization of the bulk of economic activity through private enterprize operating in a free market - ...[is] a necessary condition for political freedom." (p.4) The author argues that the economic freedom provided by capitalism is both a prerequisite to and a means of achieving political freedom for the individual within society. Friedman claims that it is not possible to implement a collectivist, centrally planned economic system such as communism and yet still retain political freedom for the individuals who constitute such a society.
      In his text Friedman explains that the concentration of power in the hands of government is a threat to individual freedom. In order to protect freedom, the scope and influence of government must be limited. A powerful private sector of the economy can prevent government from usurping those tasks which can instead be successfully carried out by private enterprise, and thereby disperse power which might otherwise become concentrated in the hands of government. Friedman says, "By removing the organization of economic activity from the control of political authority, the market eliminates this source of coercive power." (p.15) In the author's argument, the proper role of government is limited to maintaining law and order in order to prevent coercion and ensure that all contracts voluntarily entered into on the open market remain upheld.
      Friedman argues that a capitalist system promotes personal freedom. For example, protection for those who wish to advocate a political cause unfavored by the government (such as citizens of a capitalist country who may wish to advocate communism) is assured by the presence of a private market economy where they will be able to earn a living despite any governmental disapprobation which their beliefs may incur. "An impersonal market separates economic activities from political views..." (p.21) Collectivist economic planning, in contrast, conflicts with the ideal of personal freedom. (One example of this conflict is the centralized allocation of individuals to tasks in the workforce.) A centralized government has the power to bestow or withhold a job, thereby providing or withholding the individual's livelihood, and can thus use economic means as a coercive method in order to counter dissent.
      Although Karl Marx argues for the destruction of the capitalist system in The Communist Manifesto, he does not necessarily disagree with Friedman's conflation of political and economic freedom. The main premise of communist theory is that private property must be abolished in order to end the exploitation of the working class by those individuals who control capital. Says Marx, "...The abolition of this state of things is called by the bourgeoise, abolition of individuality and freedom! And rightly so. The abolition of bourgeois individuality, bourgeois independence, and bourgeois freedom is undoubtedly aimed at... By freedom is meant, under the present bourgeois conditions of production, free trade, free selling and buying." (p.485)
      Marx rails against the exploitation of the proletariat by the capitalist system and the bourgeois industrialists whom it serves. "Does wage-labor create any property for the labourer? Not a bit. It creates capital, i.e., that kind of property which exploits wage-labour." (p.485) "The proletariat, the modern working class...[is] a class of labourers,who live only so long as they find work, and who work only so long as their labor increases capital. These labourers, who must sell themselves piece-meal, are a commodity, like every other article of commerce, and are consequently exposed to all the vicissitudes of competition, to all the fluctuations of the market." (p.479) Marx intends to end the exploitation of the working class by removing capital - the means of production - from the control of bourgeois individuals and placing it under the centralized control of the state. Marx does not intend to deprive any individual of those essential goods which are necessary to maintain life. He does, however, intend to provide an equivalent level of subsistence for each member of society by confiscating all surplus property, or capital. "The average price of wage-labor is the minimum wage, i.e., that quantum of the means of subsistence, which is absolutely requisite to keep the labourer in bare existence as a labourer... We by no means intend to abolish this personal appropriation of the products of labour, an appropriation which is made for the maintenance and reproduction of human life, and that leaves no surplus wherewith to command the labour of others." (p.485)

      Dostoevsky's short story The Legend of the Grand Inquisitor, which is incorporated into the novel which he titled The Brothers Karamazov, consists of a dialogue, only partially vocalized, between Jesus and the character known as the Grand Inquisitor. The story can be interpreted as a parable discussing whether humanity can find fulfillment by exercising its freedom to choose between good and evil, or whether humanity will only find happiness by giving up its powers of discernment and unquestioningly following the leadership of an authoritarian governing body such as the Catholic Church. Jesus is thus seen as a proponent of the freedom to choose between good and evil, whereas the Grand Inquisitor represents the case in which paternal authoritarian governance rescinds the freedom of choice in an attempt to promote mankind's contentment. However, the Legend of the Grand Inquisitor can also be read as a parable detailing a more specific confrontation between freedom and authoritarian paternalism.
     Imagine that the character of Jesus represents free market capitalism, while the Grand Inquisitor speaks for communism. Says the Grand Inquisitor to his protagonist, "Thou mayest not add to what has been said of old, and mayest not take from men the freedom which Thou didst exalt when Thou wast on earth... For...the freedom of their faith was dearer to Thee than anything in those days fifteen hundred years ago." (p.298) Capitalism and the free market system have had their chance, and, implies the Inquisitor, have failed to make men happy. Communism has therefore stepped in to remedy the ills fostered upon mankind by indiscriminate freedom of choice. "For fifteen centuries we have been wrestling with Thy freedom, but now it is ended and over for good... Let me tell Thee that now, to-day, people are more persuaded than ever that they have perfect freedom, yet they have brought their freedom to us and laid it humbly at our feet." (p.298) The communist party convinces the masses to implement a centralized state by teaching that therein lies deliverance from the exploitation of capitalism. The communist leaders are aware that within this system of social organization also lies the way to censorship, enforced conformity, and an end to personal freedom. However, they nonetheless believe that communism offers the means by which mankind may achieve a state of contentment. "[The Grand Inquisitor] claims it as a merit for himself and his church that they have vanquished freedom and have done so to make men happy." (p.298)
      In Dostoevsky's story the Inquisitor tells Jesus, "'The wise and dread spirit, the spirit of self-destruction and non-existence,... the great spirit talked with Thee in the wilderness, and we are told in the books that he "tempted" Thee... And could anything be truer than what he revealed to Thee in three questions and what Thou didst reject?" (p.299) In the wilderness Jesus, representing the governing body of a capitalist nation, undergoes the temptation to arrogate power unto himself. A free market capitalist government must resist the temptation thus offered, and refrain from acquiring power at the expense of economic and political freedom. However, the Grand Inquisitor (communism) counsels Jesus (capitalism) that in his opinion the latter should have embraced the power offered to him and thereby developed a centralized, authoritarian state. "Judge Thyself who was right - Thou or he who questioned Thee then?... 'Thou wouldst go into the world, and art going with empty hands, with some promise of freedom which men in their simplicity and their natural unruliness cannot even understand, which they fear and dread - for nothing has ever been more insupportable for a man and a human society than freedom. But seest Thou these stones in this parched and barren wilderness? Turn them into bread, and mankind will run after Thee like a flock of sheep, grateful and obedient, though forever trembling, lest Thou withdraw Thy hand and deny them Thy bread. ' But Thou wouldst not deprive man of freedom and didst reject the offer, thinking, what is freedom worth, if obedience is bought with bread? Thou didst reply that man lives not by bread alone." (p.299) Communism offers the masses subsistence; bread. Free market capitalism demands that individuals take economic risks and seek to earn the necessary bread on their own merits. Jesus (capitalism) believes that offering individuals bread without allowing them the privilege and responsibility of earning it in the manner they see fit will deprive them of their freedom. Says the Inquisitor, "Thou wouldst not enslave man by a miracle, and didst crave faith given freely... Thou didst crave free love and not the base raptures of the slave before the might that has overawed him for ever. But Thou didst think too highly of men therein... I swear, man is weaker and baser by nature than Thou hast believed him!"" (p.304) Jesus (capitalism) did not want to impose a highly centralized government merely in order to provide the economic security of a welfare state. Communism, however, listened to the argument of the wise, dread spirit in the wilderness, and embraced the temptation to accept unto itself centralized, authoritarian power. "We...preach a mystery, and...teach them that it's not the free judgement of their hearts, not love that matters, but a mystery which they must follow blindly, even against their conscience." (p.305) Authoritarian power will provide individuals with economic security - for the price of their freedom and their individuality. The imposition of censorship and the loss of political and individual freedom, individual rights, and private ownership of property - all these have been accepted in return for welfare and egalitarianism. As Milton Friedman feared, welfare and egalitarianism, state intervention and paternalism, have in the parable of the Grand Inquisitor been embraced as alternatives to freedom.
      Says Friedman, "The paternalistic ground for governmental activity is in many ways the most troublesome to a liberal; for it involves the acceptance of a principle - that some shall decide for others - which he finds objectionable in most applications and which he rightly regards as a hallmark of his chief intellectual opponents, the proponents of collectivism." (p.33) Friedman claims that paternalism "is at odds with the free man's belief in his own responsibility for his own destiny". (p.1) In contrast to Friedman's doctrine, Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor is a proponent of paternalism. The old man has "reached the clear conviction that nothing but the advice of the great dread spirit could build up any tolerable sort of life for the feeble, unruly, 'incomplete, empirical creatures completed in jest'. And so, convinced of this, he sees that he must follow the counsel of the wise spirit, the dread spirit of death and destruction, and therefore accept lying and deception, and lead men consciously to death and destruction, and yet deceive them all the way so that they may not notice where they are being led, that the poor blind creatures may at least on the way think themselves happy." (p.310) Marx too demonstrates the paternalism behind his economic philosophy. "The Communists, therefore, are... the most advanced and resolute section of the working-class parties of every country, that section which pushes forward all others;... they have over the great mass of the proletariat the advantage of clearly understanding... the conditions and the ultimate general results of the proletarian movement... The immediate aim of the Communists is the... formation of the proletariat into a class, overthrow of the bourgeois supremacy, conquest of political power by the proletariat." (p.484) The Grand Inquisitor believes that he knows what is best for mankind; Marx argues that the theorists of communism will guide and govern the proletariat in order to make a success of its struggle against capitalism. Says Friedman, "The central defect of these measures is that they... substitute the values of outsiders for the values of participants; either some telling others what is good for them, or the government taking from some to benefit others." (p.200)

      In The Communist Manifesto, Marx claims that the capitalist economic system is incapable of providing a livelihood for the proletariat. "The bourgeoisie is unfit any longer to be the ruling class in society, and to impose its conditions of existence upon society as an over-riding law. It is unfit to rule because it is incompetent to assure an existence to its slave within his slavery... Society can no longer live under this bourgeoisie..." (p.483) The Grand Inquisitor agrees that Jesus' doctrine of freedom (representing free market capitalism) has been insufficient to provide contentment to men. "Didst Thou not know [mankind] would at last reject even Thy image and Thy truth, if he is weighed down with the fearful burden of free choice? They will cry aloud at last that the Truth is not in Thee, for they could not have been left in greater confusion and suffering than Thou hast caused..." (p.303) The Grand Inquisitor represents the claims of communism as he pronounces: "Oh, never, never can they feed themselves without us! No science will give them bread so long as they remain free. In the end they will lay their freedom at our feet, and say to us, 'Make us your slaves, but feed us.' They will understand themselves, at last, that freedom and bread enough for all are inconceivable together...!" (p.300) The Inquisitor argues that collectivism and the loss of freedom it entails are a prerequisite for the social welfare programs which under communism shall assure subsistence to each member of society.
     In The Communist Manifesto, Marx scolds the bourgeoisie, "You are horrified with our intending to do away with private property. But in your existing society, private property is already done away with for nine-tenths of the population; its existence for the few is due solely to its non-existence on the hands of those nine-tenths." (p.486) The Grand Inquisitor (representing communism) says the same to Jesus (capitalism): "Thou art proud of Thine elect, but Thou hast only the elect, while we give rest to all." (p.306)
      In The Manifesto, Marx claims that capitalism cannot long withstand the forces of revolution it has unleashed among its impoverished proletariat. "Modern bourgeois society with its relations of production, of exchange and of property, a society that has conjured up such gigantic means of production and of exchange, is like the sorcerer, who is no longer able to control the powers of the nether world whom he has called up by his spells... The history of industry and commerce is but the history of the revolt of modern productive forces against modern conditions of production, against the property relations that are the conditions for the existence of the bourgeoisie and of its rule." (p.478) The Grand Inquisitor, too, predicts a revolution which will overturn the doctrines expounded by Jesus and instate the Inquisitor's Church in a position of authoritarian power. "Ages are yet to come of the confusion of free thought, of their science and cannibalism.... Freedom, free thought and science, will lead them into such straits and will bring them face to face with such insoluable mysteries, that some of them, the fierce and rebellious, will destroy themselves, others, rebellious but weak, will destroy one another, while the rest, weak and unhappy, will crawl fawning to our feet..." (p.306)

      Dostoevsky's Grand Inquisitor, who can be interpreted as representing communism, argues for paternalism, for authoritarianism, and for the governance of mankind by a small number of elite. Marx in his tract, The Communist Manifesto, favors paternalism, authoritarianism, and the supremacy of the proletarian masses led by communist theorists. Milton Friedman argues for individual freedom and against paternalism and authoritarianism in Capitalism and Freedom. Friedman seeks cooperation without coercion and believes that the free market system ought to dominate social interactions.

Bibliography:

The Communist Manifesto, authored by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels;
excerpted from The Marx-Engels Reader,
edited by Robert C. Tucker, 1978, W.W. Norton.
Capitalism and Freedom, Milton Friedman, 1982, University of Chicago Press.
Legend of the Grand Inquisitor;
excerpted from The Brothers Karamazov, Dostoevsky.

The title of the essay is taken from p.475 of The Communist Manifesto: "The bourgeoisie...has resolved personal worth into exchange value, and in place of numberless indefeasible chartered freedoms, has set up that single, unconscionable freedom - Free Trade."