A. Capitalism presents itself as an economic and social system that places a great deal of value on personal choice. We are told even the poor have the power to make decisions about the types of breakfast cereal they are able to buy. The key to the amount of personal choice an individual is able to excercise in a capitalist society is tied up with the amount of personal income at their disposal. The more money they have, the greater the degrees of choice individuals are able to exercise in a capitalist society.
The choices that people are able to make under the capitalist system primarily revovle around consumption, real choice is denied to both the poor and to some extent the rich. Anarchists take the matter of choice very seriously, not just the choice to decide what brand of tomato paste an individual is able to consume, but the choice to decide what type of life people want to lead and the ability for the individual to develop their inherent potential. Making acces to wealth the main criteria that determines the amount of choice an individual is able to exercise, denies choice to a significant proportion of the population.
Holding wealth in common and ensuring that everybody in the community, irrespective of what they do or who they are, is able to access that wealth, increases the amount of choice an individual is able to practically exercise. Although the amount of real choice increases in an anarchist society, virtual choice decreases. Although most individuals in an anarchist community may be able to develop their inherent potential, the consumer choices they are able to make may decrease markedly. Instead of having acces to 15 brands of tomato paste, they may have access to maybe one or two. An anarchist society is structured to satisfy human needs, it is not consumer orientated. The main function of function of an anarchist society is to maximise human potential, not increase the number of consemer products individuals have access to. Consumer choice is an illusory proposition that does little, if anything to develop society and the individuals that make up that particular community.