By: Michael A. Lebowitz
As May Day approaches, it is worth remembering four things that day:
1. For l @ s @ s workers on May Day is not holding a state holiday or a gift from him, but commemorates the struggle, from below-de l @ s @ s. worker
2. Initially, the first of May focused on the struggle for a shorter workday.
3. The struggle for shorter working hours is not an isolated struggle but the struggle against capitalist exploitation.
4. The struggle against capitalist exploitation is an essential part but not the only part of the general struggle against capitalism.
Today I present some ideas relating to working hours both capitalist and socialist, and I hope that they can be useful in the current struggles in Venezuela and serve, more immediately, the discussions today.
the capitalist workday
What is the relationship between the capitalist workday and exploitation? When @ l @ s worker s labor to capital, they receive a wage that allows them to buy a certain quantity of goods. How much is the salary? The level of wages has not been automatic but nothing has been determined through the struggles of working @ s @ s into the capital.
These goods are the wages of workers l @ s @ s contain a certain amount of work and often call these hours of work "needed work" l @ s @ s worker, namely: - hours of work that is required for worker l @ s @ s produce the goods they consume each day.
However, under capitalism workers l @ s @ s not just work their hours of work required. No, the capitalist may be required to work more hours because, in order to survive, have been forced to sell their ability to work. The difference between the hours of work required and the total hours worked l @ s @ s worker for the capitalist work is over - and it is ultimately the source of capital gains. That is, the profits of the capitalists is based on the difference between working time and work required: are based on the surplus labor, unpaid labor, ie, exploitation.
Now, the more the capitalist is able to extend the workday, the greater the exploitation and the greater their profits. Marx observed that "the capitalist constantly tending to reduce wages to their physical minimum and extend the working day to its physical maximum." That's true! But Marx later said that "the working man constantly presses in the opposite direction." That is, the class struggle: l @ s @ s workers struggle to increase wages and reduce working hours, they struggle to reduce exploitation by capitalists.
course, your workday is broader than just the time spent between clocking in and out to work. Is the time it takes to reach their place of work, the time needed to buy enough food to survive, the time it takes to cook it - all this is also really necessary labor and an integral part of the day the labor force. However, given that this work is free capitalist seen that he is not a cost, it is invisible. Then, when the capitalists to reduce the work required by a reduction in wages (or by an increase in productivity relative to wages) is not that want to reduce the job does not pay, but you just want the maximum possible free labor, the maximum amount of unpaid labor.
No wonder why worker l @ s @ s want to reduce the unpaid work they do to the capital and try to do struggling to reduce the capitalist workday. However, not only unpaid work than it is a burden for worker l @ s @ s, so is the paid work are obliged @ sa do for capital. That is, the exploitation is not the only problem. It is the way in which capitalist production workers distorts the @ s @ s. In the capitalist workplace, l @ @ worker works in terms of goals capital, under the control of capital and where production is organized in a way that does not allow the worker s @ @ s to develop their skills but their only goal is to make profits. "All methods to develop production, cripple the worker making it a part worker," he said about capitalism Marx, "they degrade and alienate him the intellectual potentialities of worker labor process." This means that the capitalist production process cripples us as human beings. Life in the capitalist workplace is a life in which we are commanded from above, where we are nothing more than tools to manipulate the capital to make profits.
why we want to reduce working time. For this we can not wait to escape. Not only do we want to escape exploitation and injustice in income distribution. Time away from the capitalist production appears as the only time when we can be ourselves, times when our activity can be free, time for the full development of the individual.
necessarily have to be well within capitalism. However, we must recognize that many of our ideas are infected. The most obvious example is that of consumerism - we have to buy all these things. What defines us is ours. The socialist answer, however, is not that everyone should have the same thing-namely, equality of alienation. Rather, the socialist idea is to end the situation in which things possess us and define us.
The battle of ideas, which is essential in the struggle for socialism, is based on the alternative conception of socialism. Its central idea is not to reform this or that idea that has evolved within capitalism but rather, to replace capitalism with some ideas of appropriate conceptions of socialism. Now, our idea of \u200b\u200bthe working day, is it infected? Moreover, can we fully understand the working day thinking about working hours under socialism?
the socialist workday
First, what do we mean by socialism? The goal of socialists has always been to create a society that would allow the full development of human potential. Never conceived as a society where some people can develop their capabilities and others can not do. This is what Marx meant when he stated clearly that the goal is "an association which the free development of each depends on the free development of all." And it is pointing toward this goal when he emphasizes the Bolivarian Constitution, in Article 20 "Everyone has the right to free development of his personality", as explicitly recognized in Article 299 that the goal of human society should be to "ensure full human development."
As Marx pointed out, unlike a capitalist society, where l @ s @ s workers exist to meet the need "for capital to expand, in a socialist society the wealth l @ s @ s workers have been" there for meet the need of the development work. " But what is the nature of working in a society that is geared to ensuring overall human development?
Let's start talking about the work required - quantity. There is work that is in the products we consume every day, just like before. But must add to this the work worker l @ s @ s want to devote to the expansion of future production. Under socialism, there is no obligation on a worker capitalists @ sa perform surplus labor, and investors a share of the profits in the search of future profits. Instead of the above, l @ s @ s mism @ worker s in the workplace and in society decide if they want to devote time and effort to expand the satisfaction of their needs in the future. If so decide, this job is no surplus to their needs, is part of what @ s ell as their necessary labor. Thus, the concept of the work necessary changes.
addition, in a socialist society, we recognize explicitly that a necessary part of our work is at home. That is, we recognize that our workday does not begin after we leave the house but includes what we do at home. Article 88 of the Bolivarian Constitution recognizes the importance of this when he said that housework is "economic activity that creates added value and produces wealth and welfare."
The concept of the work required of our workday in a socialist society also includes the work that is required to self-govern our communities. After all, if socialism is about the choices we make in our communities democratically, then the time required to participate in part of our work involved. Similarly, if socialism is about creating the conditions in which tod @ s we can develop our potential, then the process to educate and develop our skills is an activity that is integrated into our work necessary.
In short, when we think of the socialist workday, think about it differently. Our opinion on the amount of work required, for example, is not distorted by the capitalist perspective as only the work necessary capital must pay. This is the difference between political economy capital and the political economy of the working class. From the perspective of worker l @ s @ s, we recognize and work needed all this work that is necessary for "the need for development work."
But the difference is only quantitative. Under socialism, the workday can not be a day where you receive orders from above (even in strategic industries) Rather, it is only through our activity, our practice and our role that we can develop our capabilities. Article 62 of the constitution emphasizes this point when he says that people's participation "is the necessary means of achieving the involvement to ensure their complete development, both individual and collective. " That is, in every aspect of our lives (the traditional workplace, community, home), democratic decision-making is a necessary feature of the socialist workday; through worker councils @ s, community councils, student councils, family councils, we produce as new socialist subjects.
Therefore, when we look at the workday from the perspective of socialism, we see that the simple demand to reduce the workday is a demand from within capitalism. Its message is simple - stop this horror! It refers to a concept of "infected" working time. Because its starting point a view of labor as something so horrible that the only thing you can think of doing is reducing and ending.
When we think about building socialism, however, recognize that the demand is to transform the working day - is to recognize explicitly all parts of our workday and transform it qualitatively. Instead of seeing the "free time" as the only time we can develop, from the perspective of socialism is essential to make the whole day time to build human capacity.
In summary, there are two ways to see the demand for reduced working hours: a speaks simply of a reduced working week and therefore holiday extended weekend, in contrast, the second stresses the reduction of traditional working hours to free up time for education, for our work at home and in our communities is ie the demand to redefine and transform our workday.
The first way to see the working day is to see it simply as a reform that should be in capitalism
l @ s For socialists, the first of May should be the day that we fight for the whole day l @ s worker @ s, in which we fight for the socialist workday.
[This paper was presented as an initial comment discussion at the "Roundtable on the reduction of working hours" held at the Centro Internacional Miranda on April 24, 2008. Translated by J. Duckworth]
As May Day approaches, it is worth remembering four things that day:
1. For l @ s @ s workers on May Day is not holding a state holiday or a gift from him, but commemorates the struggle, from below-de l @ s @ s. worker
2. Initially, the first of May focused on the struggle for a shorter workday.
3. The struggle for shorter working hours is not an isolated struggle but the struggle against capitalist exploitation.
4. The struggle against capitalist exploitation is an essential part but not the only part of the general struggle against capitalism.
Today I present some ideas relating to working hours both capitalist and socialist, and I hope that they can be useful in the current struggles in Venezuela and serve, more immediately, the discussions today.
the capitalist workday
What is the relationship between the capitalist workday and exploitation? When @ l @ s worker s labor to capital, they receive a wage that allows them to buy a certain quantity of goods. How much is the salary? The level of wages has not been automatic but nothing has been determined through the struggles of working @ s @ s into the capital.
These goods are the wages of workers l @ s @ s contain a certain amount of work and often call these hours of work "needed work" l @ s @ s worker, namely: - hours of work that is required for worker l @ s @ s produce the goods they consume each day.
However, under capitalism workers l @ s @ s not just work their hours of work required. No, the capitalist may be required to work more hours because, in order to survive, have been forced to sell their ability to work. The difference between the hours of work required and the total hours worked l @ s @ s worker for the capitalist work is over - and it is ultimately the source of capital gains. That is, the profits of the capitalists is based on the difference between working time and work required: are based on the surplus labor, unpaid labor, ie, exploitation.
Now, the more the capitalist is able to extend the workday, the greater the exploitation and the greater their profits. Marx observed that "the capitalist constantly tending to reduce wages to their physical minimum and extend the working day to its physical maximum." That's true! But Marx later said that "the working man constantly presses in the opposite direction." That is, the class struggle: l @ s @ s workers struggle to increase wages and reduce working hours, they struggle to reduce exploitation by capitalists.
course, your workday is broader than just the time spent between clocking in and out to work. Is the time it takes to reach their place of work, the time needed to buy enough food to survive, the time it takes to cook it - all this is also really necessary labor and an integral part of the day the labor force. However, given that this work is free capitalist seen that he is not a cost, it is invisible. Then, when the capitalists to reduce the work required by a reduction in wages (or by an increase in productivity relative to wages) is not that want to reduce the job does not pay, but you just want the maximum possible free labor, the maximum amount of unpaid labor.
No wonder why worker l @ s @ s want to reduce the unpaid work they do to the capital and try to do struggling to reduce the capitalist workday. However, not only unpaid work than it is a burden for worker l @ s @ s, so is the paid work are obliged @ sa do for capital. That is, the exploitation is not the only problem. It is the way in which capitalist production workers distorts the @ s @ s. In the capitalist workplace, l @ @ worker works in terms of goals capital, under the control of capital and where production is organized in a way that does not allow the worker s @ @ s to develop their skills but their only goal is to make profits. "All methods to develop production, cripple the worker making it a part worker," he said about capitalism Marx, "they degrade and alienate him the intellectual potentialities of worker labor process." This means that the capitalist production process cripples us as human beings. Life in the capitalist workplace is a life in which we are commanded from above, where we are nothing more than tools to manipulate the capital to make profits.
why we want to reduce working time. For this we can not wait to escape. Not only do we want to escape exploitation and injustice in income distribution. Time away from the capitalist production appears as the only time when we can be ourselves, times when our activity can be free, time for the full development of the individual.
necessarily have to be well within capitalism. However, we must recognize that many of our ideas are infected. The most obvious example is that of consumerism - we have to buy all these things. What defines us is ours. The socialist answer, however, is not that everyone should have the same thing-namely, equality of alienation. Rather, the socialist idea is to end the situation in which things possess us and define us.
The battle of ideas, which is essential in the struggle for socialism, is based on the alternative conception of socialism. Its central idea is not to reform this or that idea that has evolved within capitalism but rather, to replace capitalism with some ideas of appropriate conceptions of socialism. Now, our idea of \u200b\u200bthe working day, is it infected? Moreover, can we fully understand the working day thinking about working hours under socialism?
the socialist workday
First, what do we mean by socialism? The goal of socialists has always been to create a society that would allow the full development of human potential. Never conceived as a society where some people can develop their capabilities and others can not do. This is what Marx meant when he stated clearly that the goal is "an association which the free development of each depends on the free development of all." And it is pointing toward this goal when he emphasizes the Bolivarian Constitution, in Article 20 "Everyone has the right to free development of his personality", as explicitly recognized in Article 299 that the goal of human society should be to "ensure full human development."
As Marx pointed out, unlike a capitalist society, where l @ s @ s workers exist to meet the need "for capital to expand, in a socialist society the wealth l @ s @ s workers have been" there for meet the need of the development work. " But what is the nature of working in a society that is geared to ensuring overall human development?
Let's start talking about the work required - quantity. There is work that is in the products we consume every day, just like before. But must add to this the work worker l @ s @ s want to devote to the expansion of future production. Under socialism, there is no obligation on a worker capitalists @ sa perform surplus labor, and investors a share of the profits in the search of future profits. Instead of the above, l @ s @ s mism @ worker s in the workplace and in society decide if they want to devote time and effort to expand the satisfaction of their needs in the future. If so decide, this job is no surplus to their needs, is part of what @ s ell as their necessary labor. Thus, the concept of the work necessary changes.
addition, in a socialist society, we recognize explicitly that a necessary part of our work is at home. That is, we recognize that our workday does not begin after we leave the house but includes what we do at home. Article 88 of the Bolivarian Constitution recognizes the importance of this when he said that housework is "economic activity that creates added value and produces wealth and welfare."
The concept of the work required of our workday in a socialist society also includes the work that is required to self-govern our communities. After all, if socialism is about the choices we make in our communities democratically, then the time required to participate in part of our work involved. Similarly, if socialism is about creating the conditions in which tod @ s we can develop our potential, then the process to educate and develop our skills is an activity that is integrated into our work necessary.
In short, when we think of the socialist workday, think about it differently. Our opinion on the amount of work required, for example, is not distorted by the capitalist perspective as only the work necessary capital must pay. This is the difference between political economy capital and the political economy of the working class. From the perspective of worker l @ s @ s, we recognize and work needed all this work that is necessary for "the need for development work."
But the difference is only quantitative. Under socialism, the workday can not be a day where you receive orders from above (even in strategic industries) Rather, it is only through our activity, our practice and our role that we can develop our capabilities. Article 62 of the constitution emphasizes this point when he says that people's participation "is the necessary means of achieving the involvement to ensure their complete development, both individual and collective. " That is, in every aspect of our lives (the traditional workplace, community, home), democratic decision-making is a necessary feature of the socialist workday; through worker councils @ s, community councils, student councils, family councils, we produce as new socialist subjects.
Therefore, when we look at the workday from the perspective of socialism, we see that the simple demand to reduce the workday is a demand from within capitalism. Its message is simple - stop this horror! It refers to a concept of "infected" working time. Because its starting point a view of labor as something so horrible that the only thing you can think of doing is reducing and ending.
When we think about building socialism, however, recognize that the demand is to transform the working day - is to recognize explicitly all parts of our workday and transform it qualitatively. Instead of seeing the "free time" as the only time we can develop, from the perspective of socialism is essential to make the whole day time to build human capacity.
In summary, there are two ways to see the demand for reduced working hours: a speaks simply of a reduced working week and therefore holiday extended weekend, in contrast, the second stresses the reduction of traditional working hours to free up time for education, for our work at home and in our communities is ie the demand to redefine and transform our workday.
The first way to see the working day is to see it simply as a reform that should be in capitalism
l @ s For socialists, the first of May should be the day that we fight for the whole day l @ s worker @ s, in which we fight for the socialist workday.
[This paper was presented as an initial comment discussion at the "Roundtable on the reduction of working hours" held at the Centro Internacional Miranda on April 24, 2008. Translated by J. Duckworth]
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