Free Software Magazine: Is Free Software “Communist”? Maybe Yes…

“Some prominent people have called free software ‘communist’ in
an attempt to bring Cold War bugaboos to bear against the
movement–a kind of ‘nuclear option’ of FUD. I remember the
paranoia of the Cold War personally, and I thought then (and I
still do now) that it was ‘just stupid.’

“So rather than react as some have done with a knee-jerk ‘no
it’s not!’, I propose to accept the label and see where that
insight takes us. Maybe there is something communist about free
software? I think we will see, however, that the idea behind free
software is far more radical: no less ‘communist’ than
‘capitalist,’ but no more so, either…”

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