The Illusion Of Freedom
Starting a business is often sold as freedom. “Be your own boss,” they say. But behind that shiny slogan hides a harder truth. For most people, entrepreneurship isn’t a choice born from power—it’s survival in a system that offers no security.
In a world where wages stagnate and rent rises, small business dreams often fill the void left by broken labor structures. The worker, abandoned by the state and exploited by corporations, is told to “create opportunity” for themselves. What looks like empowerment is often the face of neoliberal abandonment.
The Weight Of Capital
The reality is brutal. To start a business, you need resources: savings, credit, space, and time. But the system rewards those who already have money. Banks lend to the secure. Investors back the privileged. The working class gets motivational quotes.
The entrepreneur from a wealthy family can fail and try again. The one from a poor background can’t afford a single mistake. That’s not freedom—it’s class war disguised as ambition. Real independence can’t exist when survival depends on private credit and state neglect.
Between Passion And Exploitation
Many small entrepreneurs begin with passion: a bakery, a crafts shop, a digital project. But soon, passion collides with the market. Long hours, unpaid labor, and constant stress replace creativity. The business becomes another boss—only this time, you exploit yourself.
The irony is that the self-employed are often the hardest-working members of the labor force. They pay taxes, hustle constantly, and carry risks that corporations externalize. Yet they receive none of the protections—no paid leave, no union, no safety net. Independence becomes isolation.
The Trap Of Self-Made Myths
The ideology of the “self-made” business owner is one of capitalism’s strongest illusions. It teaches people to blame themselves for systemic failures. If you struggle, you “didn’t work hard enough.” If you fail, you “lacked discipline.” The system stays clean while individuals carry the shame.
This narrative destroys solidarity. Instead of collective struggle, it promotes competition among the poor. Every failed entrepreneur becomes another reminder that the market always wins. The working class is divided into “winners” and “losers” when, in truth, both are trapped in the same machinery.
Bureaucracy And Control
Even when people manage to start their business, they face endless bureaucracy. Licensing, taxes, registration—every step filters out those without time, knowledge, or influence. The state, instead of protecting small producers, serves corporate interests. Laws are written for those who can afford lawyers.
Access, too, becomes digital. To register, apply, or even advertise, you’re pushed through private online platforms that collect data and profit from your activity. The economy of small entrepreneurship feeds the surveillance system. Something as simple as the TonyBet Latvija login reminds us how digital control structures shape even the smallest economic act.
Collective Alternatives
There’s another path—one that doesn’t treat business as personal escape but as collective creation. Worker cooperatives, mutual aid networks, and community economies show what’s possible. They distribute risk, share profit, and reject the toxic myth of individual success.
In a cooperative, the bakery belongs to its workers. The profits stay local. Decisions are made democratically. No boss, no investor breathing down your neck. The goal is stability and dignity, not endless growth. That’s what a truly free economy would look like—one that values human life over market gain.
Toward A Democratic Economy
If we want real independence, we must rebuild the structures that allow people to work with dignity. Public funding for local projects. Debt-free microloans managed by communities. Education that teaches cooperation, not competition.
Starting a business could be a radical act—if it breaks the cycle of exploitation instead of feeding it. But that means rejecting the capitalist narrative of success. The goal isn’t to climb above others, but to rise together.
The Future Beyond The Market
A society built on solidarity can turn small business into something else entirely: shared labor, shared joy, shared survival. The left must reclaim entrepreneurship from neoliberal propaganda and restore its social meaning.
When people create together—outside the grip of banks, corporations, and endless debt—they don’t just build businesses. They build communities that can endure. That’s not a dream. It’s a political necessity. Because in a world designed to divide, cooperation remains the most radical business of all.
