By Musa T. Bey

Introduction: Burn the Blueprint, Break the Machine

The U.S. economy is not a malfunctioning machine—it is working exactly as it was designed to. It is a system rooted in conquest, slavery, genocide, and exploitation. From the forced removal of Indigenous nations to the commodification of Black bodies, to the modern realities of wage slavery, evictions, ecological devastation, and endless war, capitalism in the United States has always been a tool of domination.

It exists to accumulate wealth by dispossessing life. Every inch of this economy is soaked in extraction—of land, labor, time, care, and breath. The wealth of the ruling class is built on stolen land, stolen labor, and stolen futures. This isn’t a broken version of capitalism. This is capitalism.

We do not want better policies. We do not want a more “ethical” stock market or “diverse” CEOs. We do not want higher wages for a system that still feeds on our time and bodies. We want to abolish the system in its entirety—its property relations, its coercive labor structures, its violent borders, and its genocidal logic of endless growth.

This means burning the blueprint of capitalist economics, not redrafting it. We need to destroy the foundations, not just renovate the house. A socialist economy cannot be a more just version of the current order—it must be a complete reversal.

Where capitalism builds for profit, we build for people.

Where capitalism thrives on inequality, we root our vision in shared power and collective ownership.

Where capitalism turns housing, healthcare, and food into commodities, we declare: life is not for sale.

Where capitalism depends on empire, we insist on land back, reparations, and the right of oppressed nations to self-determination—even to secession.

This article offers not a policy roadmap but a strategic vision: what a socialist economy in the United States could and must look like. Not tomorrow’s ballot line, but the foundation of the world we must fight for—through revolution, not reform.

This is not theory for theory’s sake. It is a weapon. An offering. A call.

To organize, to resist, to imagine—and to build.

I. Abolish Private Property: Socialize the Means of Life

Capitalism begins with the theft of the commons. Socialism begins with their return.

A socialist economy means an end to private ownership of the resources we all need to live: land, housing, industry, energy, infrastructure. We must move from a system where a few hoard everything to one where everything essential is held in common.

That means:

Expropriating landlords, corporations, and large property owners Collectivizing factories, farms, logistics, and infrastructure Transitioning to public and cooperative ownership models, controlled democratically by workers, users, and residents

Ownership is not about paperwork. It is about power. And the power to control land and labor must be taken back from the capitalist class and redistributed to the people.

II. Abolish Wage Labor: Work as Collective Contribution

Under capitalism, we don’t work to live—we live to work. Our time, bodies, and minds are commodities. We are exploited, burned out, and discarded.

Socialist labor is not about getting a fairer wage. It is about abolishing the wage system altogether.

In a socialist economy:

People are guaranteed the means of life—housing, food, care—without selling their labor Cooperative work replaces exploitative employment Labor is shared, dignified, and freely chosen, not coerced by necessity

We eliminate unnecessary labor. We prioritize care work, land stewardship, education, and community well-being. We free ourselves from the tyranny of “full employment” and instead center liberated time and purposeful work.

III. End the Market: Plan the Economy Democratically

Markets are not neutral. They serve capital by rewarding what is profitable—not what is necessary.

A socialist economy rejects the market as the central mechanism of distribution and replaces it with democratic, participatory planning.

That includes:

Local people’s assemblies setting priorities for their communities Federated planning councils coordinating needs and resources across regions Digital and participatory tools to map resources, share information, and ensure transparency

This is not top-down bureaucracy. It is horizontal, decentralized coordination rooted in solidarity, not competition.

IV. Decommodify Life: Make Essentials Free and Universal

The core function of capitalism is to turn life into a product. Under socialism, the essentials of life are non-negotiable rights, not things you can buy—or be denied.

That includes:

Free housing through massive public construction and cooperative control Free, community-run healthcare including mental, reproductive, and disability care Free education that is liberatory, anti-colonial, and life-long Universal food access, through socialized farming and community food systems Free public transit, sustainable and accessible to all

We do not charge people to live. We guarantee life.

V. Reparations, Land Back, and the Right to Secede

Socialism in the U.S. is impossible without decolonization and reparative justice.

That means:

Land Back to Indigenous nations, including territorial governance and full autonomy Reparations to Black communities in the form of land, wealth, housing, healthcare, and education Recognition of Chicano and Puerto Rican sovereignty, with the right to independence and self-governance The right of oppressed peoples and nations to secede and build their own economic systems

The U.S. is not one nation. It is an empire composed of many nations—conquered, colonized, and still struggling for freedom. A socialist economy must recognize their right to break away.

No justice without land. No socialism without self-determination.

VI. Heal the Earth: Build an Ecological Economy

Capitalism is inherently ecocidal. It depends on infinite growth, mass extraction, and planetary destruction. A socialist economy must be built for survival—not profit.

This means:

Shutting down fossil fuel production and military polluters Restoring ecosystems and Indigenous stewardship Socializing and decarbonizing energy systems Prioritizing local, regenerative agriculture Designing circular economies that reuse and repair

We don’t need “green capitalism.” We need ecological socialism that prioritizes the health of the Earth over GDP.

VII. Dismantle Empire: No Socialism Without Internationalism

The U.S. economy thrives off war, debt, and neocolonial exploitation. Socialism must be internationalist or it will be nothing.

This includes:

Ending all military aid and imperialist interventions Abolishing the U.S. war machine, including NATO and overseas bases Canceling Global South debt and paying climate reparations Building solidarity supply chains that do not depend on sweatshops or ecological harm

We stand with peoples resisting imperialism everywhere—from Palestine to Haiti, from the Philippines to the Sahel. Their struggle is our struggle.

VIII. Revolution, Not Reform

This transformation will not come through Congress. It will not be passed into law. It cannot be bought or voted in.

It will come through direct action, expropriation, collective defense, and dual power.

We must build:

Mass rent and labor strikes Workplace and land occupations Autonomous zones, mutual aid networks, and community councils Militant defense of liberated territory Revolutionary infrastructure that can replace the state

No ballot box will give us this world. We must take it, together.

Conclusion: The Future Is Already Starting

The seeds of this economy already exist—in mutual aid kitchens, in worker cooperatives, in land trusts, in occupations, in resistance.

This is not utopian. This is necessary. To survive the 21st century, we need a system built not on extraction, but on solidarity and stewardship.

We have no interest in reforming the economy of death. We are here to build the economy of life.

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