Capitalist development reduces the social labor time necessary for the reproduction of labor power, creating a vast amount of disposable time, but harnesses it as surplus labor. In an alternative political economy of time, capitalist "production of wealth" would be replaced by the postcapitalist "wealth of production." Marx famously saw the "true realm of freedom" as arising beyond that of "necessity," i.e., beyond humans' interaction with nature. He thus distinguished between forms of activity that produce means of production and consumption, and those that are ends in themselves. But what of those forms of activity that are both means and ends? An example is the work of care, a form of activity not explored by Marx. Consideration of disposable time and care suggests that true freedom may not so much blossom beyond the realm of necessity, but instead involve an expansion and complexifi cation of the human relationship with and within nature. T HE POWER OF MARX'S WORK resides in the inextricable bond between his analysis of capital and his vision of its supersession: in fostering the enormous development of productive forces, capitalism gives rise to the potentiality of "disposable time" for all, which is the only possible ground for human freedom. Yet, capitalism thwarts the latter by recycling freed-up time into the everexpanding accumulation of capital. True freedom, for Marx, can only be achieved beyond capitalism. It means not only putting the producers in charge of the production and circulation of goods, but also rethinking and reshaping the productive forces themselves and, thus, the relationships among human beings, nature, and time. This * This article is dedicated to the memory of Bill Livant. Many thanks to Michelle Weinroth for her invaluable comments on various drafts of this paper.