The Many Benefits of Society Going Moneyless

When money is exchanged for a good or service, surplus value is generated between the exchange value in the sale and the labor value spent in the creation of that product. This is what happens when people get what they need or want under capitalism. It is an inevitability when products come at a price measured by currency. Surplus value becomes a goal in and of itself, so instead of focusing on making sure everyone is thoroughly satisfied, markets focus on gaining as much surplus value as possible. Business owners (i.e., those who buy business property) dedicate these profits to themselves instead of workers or the broader community. This capitalist habit sometimes even leaves customers unsatisfied. Here are prominent problems that would be sharply reduced if we all shirked this greedy, misanthropic impulse:

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1. Debt: Credit card debt? Gone. National debt? Null. Mortgage debt? Void. Indebtedness is the core of capitalism by requiring exchange; however, it is redundant. People need to pay for products only because other people along the supply chain need to pay for what they need to live and work. We could instead simply give people what they demand — usually what they need. We can forgive and forget debt. “All is for all!” as Peter Kropotkin wrote in The Conquest of Bread, a book that explains the functions and issues of a moneyless society.
2. Inflation: If there are no prices, there are no agonizing price hikes. Inflation is inevitable only when capitalist businesses see opportunities to keep making money by selling fewer products at higher prices. Doing that is more profitable than selling more products at lower prices due to risen costs of production.
3. Corruption: The profit motive leads both big and small entities to collude in illegal ways, in spite of what citizens and neighbors need. Without that greed, governments and corporations would stop swindling constituents and getting away with unfair advantages.
4. War: The military weapons industry thrives on selling products to states in spite of the reckless destruction they cause. Additionally, conquered regions become homes of cheap labor and commodities such as opium, bananas, and oil. War relies on market forces and citizens too weary from work and bills to realize their manufactured consent for it.
5. Poverty: Billions of people struggle to afford what they need in capitalist society. Their employers keep wages from rising, and local businesses keep prices of necessities such as housing, medical care, and advanced education from falling. A world without money is a world that does not demand too much from consumers.
6. Violent Crime: Some people who are desperately poor rely on crime to survive. They steal food or join gangs to take over property. The end of that poverty greatly limits that violence by preventing that desperation.
7. Climate Change: The fossil fuel, agriculture, and cement industries function by selling a lot of carbon-burning products for low prices, thus reaching economies of scale. In a world without that market incentive, these businesses would avoid polluting for cheap. They would pay much more attention to their impacts on the more important people and ecosystems around them and therefore avoid emitting greenhouse gases during production.
8. Class Conflict: Socialists are well aware of how investors keep profits away from workers. A moneyless society would not leave workers out of the bottom line. Profits would no longer exist, so neither would greedy investors. Workers would be free to work as they please, proudly satisfying customers without overworking on the behalf of bosses.
9. Waste: Containers, vehicles, and electronics have shorter useful lives than they could have because of capitalist waste. Selling more of these for low prices is more profitable than selling far fewer at high prices, despite how little they are used. This causes decreased levels of reuse and recycling. Spacious waste dumps won’t fill up so quickly.
10. Car Space: Cars also take up space by requiring roads, parking, and dealerships. They are more profitable than trains and buses because people buy them more. An economy without money would instead have more train and bus routes and car sharing for the sake of efficiency. The vehicles might even be automated.
11. Innovations: Yes, innovation itself is considered a problem, as it means less human labor is needed to perform tasks. But when society is moneyless, job losses are no longer problems stemming from the need to afford. Everything would be free. In that case, we would implement robots, artificial intelligence, and other innovations that efficiently do jobs for us.
12. Non-Essential Labor: Accountants, financiers, and some lawyers would find themselves joining the broader labor pool if the economy became moneyless. This means more focus would be placed on the movement of goods and services themselves, not money. This increase in the labor force helps ease the biggest potential issue of a moneyless society: laziness.

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In spite of the concern around undesirable unemployment, I present a quote from Kropotkin’s The Conquest of Bread. He wrote in Chapter 12: Objections, “Somebody has said that dust is matter in the wrong place. The same definition applies to nine-tenths of those called lazy.” Plenty of people deem their work to be redundant or irrelevant, so they might instead have a more interesting variety of jobs with more agency. Karl Marx wrote in The German Ideology that a moneyless society “makes it possible for me to do one thing today and another tomorrow, to hunt in the morning, to fish in the afternoon, rear cattle in the evening, criticize after dinner, just as I have in mind, without ever becoming hunter, fisherman, shepherd or critic.”

With more people doing essential jobs and greater efficiency from worker self-direction, all necessary work would get done. People would then have more spare time on average, so we would partake in more valuable recreation and communication. As you can see, laziness would likely not be a problem that would outweigh the problems removed by a moneyless society.

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So, how is a moneyless society achieved? It takes collaboration between communes, possibly created through a general strike of non-work. If allowed, such a strike could even keep stores open but free of charge, so people still get their necessities while starting a trend of moneyless business. What matters is the stoppage of exchange value, the root problem. The Moneyless Society organization helps to foster that by using various media to inform people. To help it, you can share posts on social media, read the Moneyless Society book, watch its upcoming films, and support it on Patreon. A better world is possible through a critical mass of people.

If you’d like to get involved in helping to make a “moneyless society” a reality in your local community, you can sign up to be a volunteer here, join our discord, and/or connect with us on social media by following @MoneylessSociety.

We also encourage you to check out the new book by our co-founder, Matthew Holten, Moneyless Society: The Next Economic Evolution, and our podcast to learn more about who we are, what we do, and how you too can help create a new, better, and more sustainable future.