UBI dismantles capitalism from the roots

The idea that an expansive UBI program could not be a direct challenge to capitalism is frankly laughable. There are two main reasons why a subsistence UBI (or higher) could be a challenge to capitalism, but it is important to note that in the very short-term there is the chance of some increase in stability brought to the capitalist system by the Keynesian effects of the policy, if enacted in even a single globally-crucial economy like the US, the EU, or even China or India.5 This stability would be short-lived and could lead to progress towards socialism, for the reasons that follow.

The first reason builds on the points made under the previous section: a subsistence UBI that did not replace existing, or was implemented alongside expanded, social welfare programs would require a mass movement in order to be achieved. It would also take workers in enormous numbers out of the realm of necessity and closer to the realm of freedom (as described by Marx). With a subsistence UBI, workers would no longer be forced to work at low-paying, degrading, unsafe, or mindless jobs. These jobs would then likely become the first sites of full automation. If systematically-compelled wage-labor is the sine qua non of the capitalist mode of production, then a subsistence-or-above UBI would be a direct challenge to the foundation of capitalism.

Secondly, a thick UBI could change how people think about their value in society. By declaring, not with mere rhetoric, but with serious policy, that all people, regardless of status, effort, place of birth, gender, race, sexuality, or any other category, are worthy of the dignity of the means to support themselves, society has a powerful opportunity to evolve in a more just and democratic direction. It wouldn’t necessarily be a smooth transition, but it would certainly provide the basis for a practicable transition from capitalism to an egalitarian democratic postcapitalism (i.e., socialism).

These two points are in direct opposition to the position articulated by Daniel Zamora in Jacobin. 6 Zamora argues that UBI reinforces the market ideology by simply allowing more people to participate in consumption. What Zamora misses (though this is basically true of most socialist critics of UBI) is the progressive decommodification of work and life in general that UBI can contribute to. If I don’t have to work or don’t want to work under undemocratic or unsafe conditions, I wouldn’t have to. Yes, labor would still be commodified to some degree— but not universally or necessarily. In the same way that we could imagine a world where basic necessities are not commodified but luxury goods could be. With an expansive UBI, I wouldn’t be required to sell my labor to survive. And while there would certainly still be a market for consumer goods at this stage, buying goods in the market is not the defining trait of capitalism. With an expansive UBI, the connection between structurally-coerced labor and one’s ability to live a (decent) life—the foundational relationship of the capitalist mode of production—would be progressively severed.7 Imagine the creative “work” people could participate in of their own accord if they didn’t have to “get a job” to survive.

Remember, not all UBI proposals are created equal and therefore not all UBI plans should be supported by those on the left. There are however very good reasons why a thick conception of UBI should be part of any socialist project aiming beyond capitalism but moving forward from within capitalism. There are no guarantees here, and it is imperative to think UBI within a much broader left program. There is, after all, no good reason to think that any one or two policies or demands would ever be successful on their own, especially not without the mass movement any one of them would necessarily need to have behind them in order to be achieved.