Free association, also known asfree association of producers, is a relationship among individuals where there is noprivate ownership of themeans of production. A key feature ofsocialist economics, it has been defined differently by different schools of socialism, entailing either theindividual,collective orcommon ownership of the means of production.
The free association of producers is a defining characteristic ofsocialism. It entails the abolition ofprivate ownership of themeans of production and its transfer to the ownership of workers, either as individuals or asself-managed collectives.[1]Social equality,cooperation andworkers' self-management are the main conditions required for the development of a free association of producers. Under free association, workers themselves determine what to produce, as well as why, how and for whom they will produce it.[2]
The French socialistPierre-Joseph Proudhon defined socialism as a free association of producers andsmallholders. Proudhon argued for the abolition ofcapitalism, under which private ownership of the means of production had imposed "wage slavery" onartisans andfarmers. He believed that socialism would end the capitalistmonopoly over the means of production and thereby allow both free competition and cooperation to flourish.[3]
In contrast, the German communistKarl Marx defined socialism as the abolition of allprivate property, rather than a redistribution of it as proposed by Proudhon. Marx considered free association to entail thecollective ownership of the means of production and the abolition ofprofit, rather than association between competing small property owners, and opposed Proudhon's ideas on competition as antithetical to socialism.[3]
The Russian anarchistMikhail Bakunin also considered a free association of producers to entail the abolition of private property, and instead advocated that the means of production be brought undercommon ownership. He also called for the abolition of thestate and the construction of free associationfrom the bottom-up.[4]
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