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How, then, do things stand with [[freedom]]? Here is how [[Lenin ]] stated his [[position ]] in a polemic against the Menshevik and Socialist-Revolutionaries’ critique of Bolshevik [[power ]] in 1922:

Indeed, the sermons which … the Mensheviks and Socialist-Revolutionaries preach express their [[true ]] [[nature]]: “The [[revolution ]] has gone too far What you are saying now we have been saying at[ the [[time]], permit us to say it again.” But we say in reply: “Permit us to put you before a firing squad for saying that. Either you refrain from expressing your views, or, if you insist on expressing your [[political ]] views publicly in the [[present ]] circumstances, when our position is far more difficult than it was when the white guards were directly attacking us, then you will have only yourselves to blame if we treat you as the worst and most pernicious white guard elements."”

This Leninist freedom of [[choice ]] — not “Life “[[Life]] or [[money]]!” but “Life or critique!” — combined with Lenin’s dismissive attitude towards the “liberal” [[notion ]] of freedom, accounts for his bad reputation among [[liberals]]. Their [[case ]] largely rests upon their [[rejection ]] of the standard [[Marxist]]-Leninist opposition of “formal” and “actual” freedom: as even [[Leftist ]] liberals like Claude [[Lefort ]] emphasize again and again, freedom is in its very notion “formal“[[formal]],” so that “actual freedom” equals the [[lack ]] of freedom.” That is to say, with [[regard ]] to freedom, Lenin is best remembered for his famous retort “Freedom yes, but for WHOM? To do WHAT?” — for him, in the case of the Mensheviks quoted above, their “freedom” to criticize the Bolshevik [[government ]] effectively amounted to “freedom” to undermine the workers’ and peasants’ government on behalf of the counter-revolution … Today, is it not obvious after the terrifying [[experience ]] of Really Existing [[Socialism]], where the fault of this reasoning resides? First, it reduces a historical constellation to a closed, fully contextualized, [[situation ]] in which the “objective” consequences of one’s [[acts ]] are fully determined (“independently of your intentions, what you are doing now objectively serves . . . “); second, the position of [[enunciation ]] of such statements usurps the [[right ]] to decide what your acts “objectively mean,” so that their [[apparent ]] 11 objectivism” (the focus on “objective “[[objective]] meaning”) is the [[form ]] of [[appearance ]] of its opposite, the thorough subjectivism: I decide what your acts objectively mean, since I define the context of a situation (say, if I conceive of my power as the immediate equivalent/expression of the power of the [[working ]] [[class]], then everyone who opposes me is “objectively” an [[enemy ]] of the [[working class]]). Against this [[full ]] contextualization, one should emphasize that freedom is “actual” precisely and only as the capacity to “transcend” the coordinates of a given situation, to “posit the presuppositions” of one’s [[activity ]] (as [[Hegel ]] would have put it), i.e. to redefine the very situation within which one is [[active]]. Furthermore, as many a critic pointed out, the very term “Really Existing Socialism,” although it was coined in [[order ]] to assert Socialism’s success, is in itself a proof of Socialism’s utter failure, i.e. of the failure of the attempt to legitimize Socialist regimes — the term “Really Existing Socialism” popped up at the historical [[moment ]] when the only legitimizing [[reason ]] for Socialism was a mere fact that it [[exists ]] . . . “

Is this, however, the [[whole ]] story? How does freedom effectively function in [[liberal ]] democracies themselves? Although Clinton’s presidency epitomizes the [[Third ]] Way of today’s (ex-)[[Left ]] succumbing to the Rightist [[ideological ]] [[blackmail]], his health-care reform program would nonetheless amount to a kind of act, at least in today’s [[conditions]], since it would have been based on the rejection of the hegemonic notions of the [[need ]] to curtail Big [[State ]] expenditure and administration — in a way, it would “do the [[impossible]].” No wonder, then, that it failed: its failure — perhaps the only significant, although [[negative]], [[event ]] of Clinton’s presidency bears [[witness ]] to the [[material ]] force of the ideological notion of “free choice.” That is to say, although the large majority of the so-called “ordinary people” were not properly acquainted with the reform program, the medical lobby (twice as strong as the infamous [[defense ]] lobby!) succeeded in imposing on the [[public ]] the fundamental [[idea ]] that, with [[universal ]] health-care free choice (in matters concerning [[medicine]]) will be somehow threatened — against this purely fictional reference to “free choice”, all enumeration of “hard facts” (in Canada, health-care is less expensive and more effective, with no less free choice, etc.) proved ineffective.

Here we are at the very nerve center of the liberal [[ideology]]: freedom of choice, grounded in the notion of the “psychological” [[subject ]] endowed with propensities he or she strives to realize. This especially holds today, in the era of what sociologists like Ulrich Beck call “risk [[society]],” when the ruling ideology endeavors to sell us the insecurity caused by the [[dismantling ]] of the [[Welfare ]] State as the opportunity for new freedoms: you have to [[change ]] jobs every year, relying on short-term contracts instead of a long-term [[stable ]] appointment. Why not see it as the liberation from the constraints of a fixed job, as the [[chance ]] to reinvent yourself again and again, to become aware of and realize hidden potentials of your [[personality]]? You can no longer rely on the standard health insurance and retirement plan, so that you have to opt for additional coverage for which you have to pay. Why not perceive it as an additional opportunity to choose: either better life now or long-term security? And if this predicament causes you [[anxiety]], the [[postmodern ]] or “second modernity” ideologist will immediately accuse you of [[being ]] unable to assume full freedom, of the “escape from freedom,” of the immature sticking to old stable forms … Even better, when this is inscribed into the ideology of the subject as the [[psychological ]] [[individual ]] pregnant with [[natural ]] abilities and tendencies, then 1 as it were automatically [[interpret ]] all these changes as the results of my personality, not as the result of me being thrown around by [[market ]] forces.

Phenomena like these make it all the more necessary today to REASSERT the opposition of “formal” and “actual” freedom in a new, more precise, [[sense]]. What we need today, in the era of liberal [[hegemony]], is a “Leninist” traité de la servitude libérale, a new version of la Boétie’s Traiti de la servitude volontaire that would fully justify the apparent oxymoron “liberal [[totalitarianism]].” In experimental [[psychology]], Jean-Léon Beauvois took the first step in this direction with his precise exploration of the paradoxes of conferring on the subject the freedom to choose. Repeated experiments established the following [[paradox]]: if, AFTER getting from two groups of volunteers the agreement to participate in an experiment, one informs [[them ]] that the experiment will involve something unpleasant, against their [[ethics ]] even, and if, at this point, one reminds the first group that they have the free choice to say no, and says [[nothing ]] to the [[other ]] group, in BOTH groups, the SAME (very high) percentage will agree to continue their [[participation ]] in the experiment.

What this means is that conferring the formal freedom of choice does not make any [[difference]]: those given the freedom will do the same [[thing ]] as those (implicitly) denied it. This, however, does not mean that the reminder/bestowal of the freedom of choice does not make any difference: those given the freedom to choose will not only tend to choose the same as those denied it; they will tend to “rationalize” their “free” decision to continue to participate in the experiment — unable to endure the so-called cognitive dissonance (their [[awareness ]] that they FREELY acted against their interests, propensities, tastes or norms), they will tend to change their opinion [[about ]] the act they were asked to accomplish.

Let us say that an individual is first asked to participate in an experiment that concerns changing eating habits in order to fight against famine; then, after agreeing to do it, at the first [[encounter ]] in the laboratory, he will be asked to swallow a [[living ]] worm, with the [[explicit ]] reminder that, if he finds this act repulsive, he can, of course, say no, since he has the [[complete ]] freedom to choose. In most cases, he will do it, and then rationalize it by way of saying to himself something like: “What I am asked to do IS disgusting, but I am not a coward, 1 should display some courage and [[self]]-[[control]], otherwise scientists will perceive me as a weak person who pulls out at the first minor obstacle! Furthermore, a worm does have a lot of proteins and it could effectively be used to feed the poor who am 1 to hinder such an important experiment because of my petty sensitivity? And, finally, maybe my disgust of worms is just a prejudice, maybe a worm is not so bad — and would tasting it not be a new and daring experience? What if it will enable me to discover an unexpected, slightly [[perverse]], [[dimension ]] of myself that 1 was hitherto unaware of?”

Beauvois enumerates [[three ]] modes of what brings [[people ]] to accomplish such an act which runs against their perceived propensities and/or interests: authoritarian (the pure command “You should do it because I say so, without questioning it!”, sustained by the reward if the subject does it and the [[punishment ]] if he does not do it), totalitarian (the reference to some higher [[Cause ]] or common [[Good ]] which is larger than the subject’s perceived interest: “You should do it because, even if it is unpleasant, it serves our [[Nation]], Party, Humanity!”), and liberal (the reference to the subject’s inner nature itself. “What is asked of you may appear repulsive, but look deep into yourself and you will discover that it’s in your true nature to do it, you will find it attractive, you will become aware of new, unexpected, dimensions of your personality!”).

At this point, Beauvois should be corrected: a direct [[authoritarianism ]] is practically nonexistent — even the most oppressive [[regime ]] publicly legitimizes its reign with the reference to some Higher Good, and the fact that, ultimately, “you have to obey because I say so” reverberates only as its [[obscene ]] [[supplement ]] discernible between the lines. It is rather the specificity of the standard authoritarianism to refer to some higher Good (“whatever your inclinations are, you have to follow my order for the sake of the higher Good!”), while totalitarianism, like [[liberalism]], interpellates the subject on behalf of HIS OWN good (“what may appear to you as an [[external ]] pressure, is really the expression of your objective interests, of what you REALLY WANT without being aware of it! “). The difference between the two resides elsewhere: totalitarianism” imposes on the subject his or her own good, even if it is against his or her will — [[recall ]] King Charles’ (in)famous [[statement]]: “If any shall be so foolishly unnatural s to oppose their king, their country and their own good, we will make them happy, by God’s blessing — even against their wills. “ (Charles I to the Earl of Essex, 6 August 1 644. ) Here we encounter the later Jacobin theme of [[happiness ]] as a political factor, as well as the Saint-Justian idea of forcing people to be happy … Liberalism tries to avoid (or, rather, cover up) this paradox by way of clinging to the end to the [[fiction ]] of the subject’s immediate free self-[[perception ]] (“I don’t [[claim ]] to [[know ]] better than you what you [[want ]] — just look deep into yourself and decide freely what you want!”).

The reason for this fault in Beauvois’s line of argumentation is that he fails to recognize how the abyssal tautological [[authority ]] (“It is so because 1 say so!” of the [[Master]]) does not [[work ]] only because of the sanctions (punishment/reward) it implicitly or explicitly evokes. That is to say, what, effectively, makes a subject freely choose what is imposed on him against his interests and/or propensities? Here, the empirical inquiry into “pathological” (in the Kantian sense of the term) motivations is not sufficient: the enunciation of an [[injunction ]] that imposes on its addressee a [[symbolic ]] engagement/ commitment evinces an inherent force of its own, so that what seduces us into obeying it is the very feature that may appear to be an obstacle — the [[absence ]] of a “why.” Here, [[Lacan ]] can be of some [[help]]: the [[Lacanian ]] “Master-Signifier” designates precisely this hypnotic force of [[the symbolic ]] injunction which relies only on its own act of enunciation — it is here that we encounter “symbolic efficiency” at its purest. The three ways of legitimizing the exercise of authority (“authoritarian,” “totalitarian,” “liberal”) are nothing but three ways of covering up, of blinding us to the [[seductive ]] power of the abyss of this empty call. In a way, liberalism is here even the worst of the three, since it NATURALIZES the reasons for obedience into the subject’s [[internal ]] psychological [[structure]]. So the paradox is that “liberal” [[subjects ]] are in a way those least free: they change the very opinion/perception of themselves, accepting what was IMPOSED on them as originating in their “nature” — they are even no longer AWARE of their subordination.

Let us take the situation in the Eastern European countries around 1990, when Really Existing Socialism was falling apart: all of a sudden, people were thrown into a situation of the “freedom of political choice” — however, were they REALLY at any point asked the fundamental question of what kind of new order they actually wanted? Is it not that they found themselves in the exact situation of the subject-[[victim ]] of a Beauvois experiment? They were first told that they were entering the promised land of political freedom; then, soon afterwards, they were informed that this freedom involved wild privatization, the dismantling of the [[system ]] of [[social ]] security, etc. etc. — they still have the freedom to choose, so if they want, they can step out; but, no, our heroic Eastern Europeans didn’t want to disappoint their Western mentors, they stoically persisted in the choice they never made, convincing themselves that they should behave as mature subjects who are aware that freedom has its price … This is why the notion of the psychological subject endowed with natural propensities, who has to realize its true Self and its potentials, and who is, consequently, ultimately [[responsible ]] for his failure or success, is the key ingredient of liberal freedom. And here one should risk reintroducing the Leninist opposition of “formal” and “actual” freedom: in an act of actual freedom, one dares precisely to BREAK the seductive power of symbolic efficiency. Therein resides the moment of [[truth ]] of Lenin’s acerbic retort to his Menshevik critics: the truly free choice is a choice in which I do not merely choose between two or more options WITHIN a pre-given set of coordinates, but I choose to change this set of coordinates itself The catch of the “transition” from Really Existing Socialism to [[capitalism ]] was that people never had the chance to choose the ad quem of this transition — all of a sudden, they were (almost literally) “thrown” into a new situation in which they were presented with a new set of given choices (pure liberalism, nationalist conservatism … ). What this means is that the “actual freedom” as the act of consciously changing this set occurs only when, in the situation of a [[forced ]] choice, one ACTS AS IF THE CHOICE IS NOT FORCED and “chooses the impossible.”

This is what Lenin’s obsessive tirades against “formal” freedom are about, therein resides their “rational “[[rational]] kernel” which is worth saving today: when he emphasizes that there is no “pure” [[democracy]], that we should always ask who does a freedom under consideration serve, which is its [[role ]] in the class [[struggle]], his point is precisely to maintain the possibility of the TRUE radical choice. This is what the [[distinction ]] between “formal” and “actual” freedom ultimately amounts to: “formal” freedom is the freedom of choice WITHIN the coordinates of the existing power relations, while “actual” freedom designates the site of an [[intervention ]] which undermines these very coordinates. In short, Lenin’s point is not to [[limit ]] freedom of choice, but to maintain the fundamental Choice — when Lenin asks about the role of a freedom within the [[class struggle]], what he is asking is precisely: “Does this freedom contribute to or constrain the fundamental revolutionary Choice?”

The most popular TV show of the fall of 2000 in [[France]], with the viewer rating two [[times ]] higher than that of the [[notorious ]] “Big Brother” [[reality ]] soaps, was “C'est mon choix” (“It is my choice”) on France 3, the talk show whose guest is an ordinary (or, exceptionally, a well-known) person who made a peculiar choice which determined his or her entire life-style: one of them decided never to wear underwear, [[another ]] tries to find a more appropriate [[sexual ]] partner for his [[father ]] and [[mother ]] — extravagance is allowed, solicited even, but with the explicit [[exclusion ]] of the choices which may disturb the public (for example, a person whose choice is to be and act as a racist, is a priori excluded). Can one imagine a better predicament of what the “freedom of choice” effectively amounts to in our liberal societies? We can go on making our small choices, “reinvesting ourselves” thoroughly, on condition that these choices do not seriously disturb the social and ideological [[balance]]. For “C'est mon [[choix]],” the truly radical thing would have been to focus precisely on the “disturbing” choices: to invite as guests people like dedicated racists, i.e. people whose choice (whose difference) DOES make a difference. This, also, is the reason why, today, “democracy” is more and more a [[false ]] issue, a notion so discredited by its predominant use that, perhaps, one should take the risk of abandoning it to the enemy. Where, how, by whom are the key decisions concerning [[global ]] social issues made? Are they made in the public [[space]], through the engaged participation of the majority? If the answer is yes, it is of secondary importance if the state has a one-party system, etc. If the answer is no, it is of secondary importance if we have parliamentary democracy and freedom of individual choice.

Did something homologous to the invention of the liberal psychological individual not take [[place ]] in the [[Soviet Union ]] in the late 1920s and early 1930s? The Russian avant-garde art of the early 1920s (futurism, constructivism) not only zealously endorsed industrialization, it even endeavored to reinvent a new industrial man — no longer the old man of sentimental passions and roots in traditions, but the new man who gladly accepts his role as a bolt or screw in the gigantic coordinated industrial [[Machine]]. As such, it was subversive in its very “ultra-orthodoxy,” i.e. in its over-[[identification ]] with the core of the [[official ]] ideology: the [[image ]] of man that we get in Eisenstein, Meyerhold, constructivist paintings, etc., emphasizes the beauty of his/her mechanical movements, his/her thorough depsychologization. What was perceived in the West as the ultimate [[nightmare ]] of liberal individualism, as the ideological counterpoint to “Taylorization,” to Fordist ribbon-work, was in [[Russia ]] hailed as the [[utopian ]] prospect of liberation: recall how Meyerhold violently asserted the “behaviorist” approach to acting — no longer emphatic familiarization with the person the actor is playing, but ruthless [[bodily ]] [[training ]] aimed at cold bodily [[discipline]], at the ability of the actor to perform a series of mechanized movements . . .” THIS is what was unbearable to AND IN the official Stalinist ideology, so that the Stalinist “socialist realism” effectively WAS an attempt to reassert a “Socialism with a [[human ]] face,” i.e. to reinscribe the [[process ]] of industrialization within the constraints of the traditional psychological individual: in the Socialist Realist [[texts]], paintings and [[films]], individuals are no longer rendered as parts of the global Machine, but as warm, passionate persons.

The obvious reproach that imposes itself here is, of course: is the basic characteristic of today’s “postmodern” subject not the exact opposite of the free subject who experienced himself as ultimately responsible for his fate, namely the subject who grounds the authority of his [[speech ]] on his status of a victim of circumstances beyond his control? Every contact with another human being is experienced as a potential [[threat ]] — if the other smokes, if he casts a covetous glance at me, he already hurts me; this [[logic ]] of [[victimization ]] is today universalized, reaching well beyond the standard cases of sexual or racist harassment — recall the growing financial industry of paying damage claims, from the tobacco industry deal in the USA and the financial claims of the [[Holocaust ]] victims and forced laborers in [[Nazi ]] [[Germany]], and the idea that the USA should pay the African-Americans hundreds of billions of dollars for all they were deprived of due to their [[past ]] slavery … This notion of the subject as an irresponsible victim involves the extreme [[Narcissistic ]] perspective from which every encounter with the Other appears as a potential threat to the subject’s precarious [[imaginary ]] balance; as such, it is not the opposite, but, rather, the inherent supplement of the liberal free subject: in today’s predominant form of individuality, the self-centered assertion of the psychological subject paradoxically overlaps with the perception of oneself as a victim of circumstances.

''pp 113 to 124 reproduced from On [[Belief]].''