'Freedom through social knowledge is the path of the human race.' -Michael Polanyi. This is why the road to socialism runs through the reformation of the systems of communication. What he called 'socialism at its highest stage' is only possible in an 'economy with overview'.
Each of us must be able to understand how we fit into the production-consumption process, so that we can assert effective control over what we are morally responsible for. At the moment we are offered a choice of reluctant, hand-wringing complicity and the thrills of nihilism.
'Freedom through social knowledge can never mean a specific state of affairs; rather, it is a programme, a goal which is constantly re-establishing itself.' The first task of socialism is to make social knowledge possible, to establish its institutional conditions.
In this sense #mediareform is not a nice-to-have supplement to the serious business of fiscal redistribution. It is central to any attempt to assert democratic control over the future of the species.
For an introduction to Polayni's ideas about socialism and freedom, this is a usefl piece - lareviewofbooks.org/article/social… h/t @martin_oneill
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