The final stage of the revolution:
A life beyond the market and economic growth
We stand on the threshold of a world in which everything necessary for life is available. For the first time in history, digital connectivity allows for direct provision without the intermediary of prices, wages and profits. What sounds like a utopia is a technically realistic prospect.
1. Where we stand:
The paradox of progress
This revolution in human history began 8,000 years ago:
For the first time, we produced more than we needed to survive. Millennia later, inventions such as the printing press, the steam engine and the decoding of DNA catapulted us into a world of abundance.
Although productivity is sufficient to enable everyone to live in dignity, the struggle for economic survival continues to overshadow our daily lives. Strikes for higher wages, debates over social benefits and the fear of unemployment dominate the headlines – whilst at the same time the planet’s ecological limits are being exceeded.
The vicious circle of growth
2. The crux of the problem:
Exchange value trumps use value
Why does the struggle for existence persist? Because our provision is mediated through the market. As long as we need wages to buy goods, profits inevitably arise on the other side. The system generates a self-reinforcing inequality, which Karl Marx described precisely.
The gap between corporate profit and workers’ wages is growing ever wider.
“Must we really start thinking about expropriation and revolution right now? Could we not try to bring employees and employers together to discuss whether it might be possible to do without both profits and pay slips?”
3. The vision:
Direct provision without the market
“The simple economy”
“Simplicity is the highest form of perfection.”
Leonardo da Vinci“Perfection is not achieved when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away.”
Antoine de Saint-Exupéry
The goal: Making products and services free of charge. When prices are eliminated, the market loses its function as an intermediary. It is replaced by direct, demand-driven logistics.
How does coordination work without price tags?
Instead of relying on price signals and competition, we focus on:
- Global connectivity: 96% of the world’s population can be reached via mobile.
- Just-in-time production: Production only begins when a need is registered.
- AI-supported logistics: A democratically controlled artificial intelligence optimises regional cycles and transport routes.
🌍 Why must it happen globally and simultaneously?
Our supply chains are international. If raw materials from South America or electronics from Asia continue to cost money, the system remains trapped in the old logic. A transformation must take place synchronously – similar to the synchronised standstill of air traffic during the first COVID-19 lockdown. Logistically, this is a challenge, but no longer a utopia.
4. What would change in concrete terms?
For entrepreneurs:
From competition to responsibility
Entrepreneurs do not lose ownership of factories or fields. They merely lose the necessity of having to generate profits, as they themselves (like everyone else) have free access to all goods. Their role changes: instead of competing, they can use their creativity to develop truly sustainable and repairable products – freed from the pressure of cost optimisation.
Won’t production then come to a halt?
Won’t everyone then loot the shops?
Isn’t this simply another form of socialisation?
5. A three-stage plan for the transition
- Global discussion: Raising awareness that the compulsion to grow is the problem, not the individual entrepreneur or worker.
- Collective decision: A synchronised resolution by the economy: “We are abandoning financial accounting. From now on, goods are freely available to all.”
Will business owners give up their profits?It’s really just a matter of making a living. Most small business owners are no better off financially than many employees. So why shouldn’t they make sacrifices?
The ‘super-rich’ have invested their wealth, but they wouldn’t be able to buy anything with the returns if everything were free. We produce so much surplus today that there would even be enough potential to maintain their lavish lifestyle until they realise that nobody needs to stand out anymore. - Social support: A global general strike could serve as a final signal to show that people are ready for this step.
6. Life after the transition:
From GDP to Gross National Happiness
The effects would be felt quickly:
- Radical reduction in working hours: Because only what is necessary is produced and automation no longer threatens jobs.
- End of gender injustice: The distinction between ‘paid’ and ‘unpaid’ care work disappears.
- Circular economy without cost traps: As development time is no longer a cost factor, full recycling becomes the norm.
- True freedom: Everyone can follow their talents because the compulsion to engage in wage labour is eliminated.
The family is already the model today: in the family, nobody issues invoices. Food is cooked when people are hungry. Things that are broken are repaired. This principle, scaled up to global society – that is the revolution that is yet to come.
Summary: The fear of the world’s demise is real [4]. But we are not facing the end; rather, we are facing the final logical step in an 8,000-year-old revolution of humanity.
- The technology is here.
- The productivity is here.
- The necessity for an end to growth is here.
All that is missing is collective insight:
We do not have to buy everything. We have long had enough.
Call to action
Please help spread the word about this plan worldwide!
Sources & further links
[1] https://www.klimasofa.org/infothek/bekleidungskonsum/
[2]https://de.statista.com/infografik/16586/lebensmittelverschwendung/
[3]https://www.nationalobserver.com/2026/03/05/news/canadians-electronic-waste-study
[4]https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.2311400122#:~:text=Worry%20and%20planning%20for%20the,SI%20Appendix%2C%20Appendix%20E)
Free download: 
A short explanatory video (5 minutes)
Berlin, 10 April 2026 Eberhard Licht