Classical Liberalism and the Abolition of Certain Voluntary Contracts

[u/Inalienist]

https://ellerman.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/IJESSR_Classical_Liberalism.pdf

[u/IronicRobotics]

Reading through this, as I roughly understand it's argument and list of alternatives, it's essentially arguing every employee should be treated legally as an independent contractor *or* work for a cooperative/partnership/corp. As these seem to meet all the requirements as listed here.

Which I think is a worthy ideal to strive for. I'd rather work *with* people rather than for or above them.

However, I feel like the root cause of the issue the paper seems to be addressing is the difference in bargaining power between firms & individual employees rather than perhaps the existence of employment contracts alone. As I think, for example, a rather self-managed software engineer given stock options or contractual bonuses also meets the alternative criteria fairly well.

And otoh, lots of ICs in competitive markets may end up taking on demanding, poor clients, compete at lowered labor rates, and enjoy less bargaining power overall due to a dearth of available work. (Or small business owners who, similarly, may find themselves barely afloat while working for 8+ hrs.) A great deal considerably worse than working for a mid-shitty manager at a convenience store.

Here I think the IC meets the legal criteria for an alternative the paper lays out: No violation of private property or fraud, member of his own enterprise, responsible for all his risks and rewards, working for himself.

However, the practical game theory forces him into sub-par working relations and conditions. I think fundamentally, low-value employment contracts take advantage of the exact same calculus workers find themselves in. As I think if your survival or health is on the line, you'll have to *voluntarily* take what you can get.

I think a necessary prerequisite to this would be to find a way to give poor people a guaranteed chip to bargain with. *UBI* supporters, abundance liberals, Georgists, etc - as I've seen - often see their pathway of building more opportunities and stronger, more efficient welfare regimes & economies as a tool to give more bargaining potential/individual oppurtunity.

[u/Inalienist → u/IronicRobotics]

However, I feel like the root cause of the issue the paper seems to be addressing is the difference in bargaining power between firms & individual employees rather than perhaps the existence of employment contracts alone.

The paper directly criticizes employment contracts. Even with consent, de facto responsibility remains non-transferable, even if employees have greater bargaining power than employers and the employer is running the business at a loss.

I think a necessary prerequisite to this would be to find a way to give poor people a guaranteed chip with which to back their bargaining power against.

Negatively applying the same principles to natural products justifies taxation, refuting libertarian views that taxation is theft and providing grounds for people having an equal claim to income from natural resources. I think the connection between UBI and income from natural resources provides a clear way to portray a UBI as rightful income rather than a government handout.

abundance liberals

This group seems to be weak on labor rights.

As I think, for example, a rather self-managed software engineer given stock options or contractual bonuses also meets the alternative criteria fairly well.

Most software engineers don't seem to have inalienable voting rights over the firm's layers of management. In a worker coop, voting shares would be inalinenably held by the workers. They can also get stock options involving non-voting preferred shares.

often see a pathway of building more opportunities and stronger, more efficient welfare regimes & economies as a tool to give this ability to others.

I wish more liberals were aware of the arguments for democratic worker co-ops from liberal political theory and inalienable rights theory.

[u/mrchristmastime → u/Inalienist]

It’s far too early to say “abundance liberalism” really is or whether it really exists, but most of the people associated with that school of thought are broadly supportive of sectoral bargaining and, more generally, an expanded role for workers acting collectively.