Anarchy #118: the meaning of work today and tomorrow
The last issue of Anarchy magazine from December 1970 with articles about work at the time and in the future.
What will we do if the system can no longer create jobs? An interview with Anselm Jappe – Alexandra Prado Coelho
A 2013 interview with Anselm Jappe in which he discusses the crisis of the society of labor, the logic of the commodity and exchange value and its disastrous consequences for an increasingly larger part of humanity, and perspectives for positive social change.
Palestinian migrant workers in Israel: from repression to rebellion - Toby Shelley
Article on the Apartheid-like conditions which Palestinian migrant workers labour under, the obstacles which the Israeli occupation puts on their ability to organise and the ways in which they have attempted to overcome it. Also looks at how the Zionist trade union, the Histadrut, is one of the main exploiters of Palestinian labour.
Why hunter-gatherers' work is play - Peter Gray
Excellent article by Dr Peter Gray, explaining how hunter-gatherer societies lack a conception of "work" as they make no distinction between work and play. Whilst we harbour no desire to return to hunter-gatherer lifestyles, their existence proves that work and wage labour is unnecessary.
Unproductive bodies, part 1: narcotisation of dependency
Submitted by sometimes explode on Apr 25 2014 22:59
A schematic look at positive psychology's deployment within the UK's workfare regime and the position of the substance-dependent body as a model in the production of subjectivity. This forms the first part of a short series on positive psychology, work, and the production of unproductive bodies.
Stone age economics - Marshall Sahlins
Ambitiously tackling the nature of economic life and how to study it comparatively, Stone Age Economics includes six studies which reflect the author's ideas on revising traditional views of the hunter-gatherer and so-called primitive societies, revealing them to be the original affluent society.
Nothing in common: unions as bosses
Submitted by Phil on Mar 31 2014 18:25
Some cursory thoughts on the contradictions created by trade unions, as the collective voice of organised workers, also being employers.
Italy: Renzi government reforms jobs and cuts rights
Submitted by StrugglesInItaly on Mar 28 2014 16:35
At first glance, Giuliano Poletti, Minister of Labour and Social Policy in the Renzi government, could look like an old-fashioned left-wing politician: born into a farming family in the “red” Emilia-Romagna region, raised in the Communist Party, president of Legacoop, the main national organisation of cooperatives. He could be someone to provide a contrast to the Prime Minister’s attitude towards jobs (modelled on the inspiring figures of Margaret Thatcher and Tony Blair). But appearances can be deceptive.
Our Temporary Supervisor - Thomas Ligotti
Thomas Ligotti is one of the greatest living authors of the Weird Tale. His take on the genre dominated by the right wing conservative HP Lovecraft takes a different approach. Referred to as "Corporate Horror" by some his more recent tales focus on the mind numbing horror of work in a capitalist society. Whilst never explicitly anti-capitalist, or even political, the horror here, whilst drenched in the supernatural, is found in the familiar. The familiar viewed from a slightly odd perspective, true, but familiar all the same.
