A man living in modern society is characterized by his subjection to both external (sociological) and internal (psychological) forces which control him and thereby thwart his desire to be free. Freedom will require men to gain control of these forces which determine his existence and behavior.
The internal forces which influence and determine behavior were recognized by Freud as subconscious forces. He realized many people became ill because they feel driven by subconscious forces to do things while at the same time they feel another subconscious repulsion from doing these same things. Feeling they have no control whatsoever over their behavior they become mentally ill. To free man from these inner forces psychoanalysis attempts to make him aware of these unconscious energies on the assumption that such awareness is the first step, toward controlling them, rather than being controlled by them. Such a man then experiences a feeling of freedom. This is in keeping with the primary drive of mans history-the desire to be free and have the power to create---or the power to produce creatively.
Marx realized the same thing: that man has a basic desire to be free of the external forces which determine his behavior and put these forces under his control. Marx analyzed the situation and concluded that the external environment influences the life of man through his relationship to production. As he gains freedom from the dictates of coercive institutions then he is in a position to experience the power of production creatively and this is the godliness and holiness of man to man and man to the creator.
Man’s drive to reach this plateau of freedom in a class or capitalistic society is a historical fact. Under capitalism the private owners who are interested only in making profit for themselves are in control of society. The people are subjected to them and have to rely upon them for a living and are in fact slaves. Since the owners are only interested in profits they use the people as tools to increase their riches, with little consideration of the effect this will have upon humanity
i.e. an obstruction of man the creator.
This makes it necessary to destroy the private ownership of the means of production because it has such a great effect upon all people. Everyone has to live and in order to live everyone has to produce. In a capitalistic society, however man does not produce for use he produces for profit. This again is a slave situation.
Huey P Newton (co-founder of the Black Panthers)
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