NEGATIVE - CRITIQUE - CRITIQUE OF WORK 321

IMPACT: WORK IS PART-TIME SLAVERY

THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN SLAVERY AND WAGE WORK IS THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN FULL AND PART TIME SLAVERY

L. Susan Brown, Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, 1993; Does Work Really Work? Kick It Over #35 // acs

What is a slave? A slave is commonly regarded as a person who is the legal property of another and is bound to absolute obedience. The legal lie that is created when we speak of a worker's capacity to sell property in the person without alienating her or his will allows us to maintain the false distinction between a worker and a slave. A worker must work according to the will of another. A worker must obey the boss, or ultimately lose the job. The control the employer has over the employee at work is absolute, There is in the end no negotiation -- you do it the boss' way or you hit the highway. It is ludicrous to believe that it is possible to separate out and sell "property in the person" while maintaining human integrity. To sell one's labour power on the market is to enter into a relationship of subordination with one's employer -- it is to become a slave to the employer/master. The only major differences between a slave and a worker is that a worker is only a slave at work while a slave is a slave twenty-four hours a day, and slaves know that they are slaves, while most workers do not think of themselves in such terms.

THE WORK ETHIC IS THE ETHIC OF THE SERF AND SLAVE

Leisure Party, 1999; Beyond the Work Ethic http://freespace.virgin.net/sarah.peter.nelson/menu3a.html // acs

The work ethic is the ethic of the slave, the drudge, the drone, the serf, the helot, the peasant, invented by his master to keep his nose to the grindstone. Having been born and bred for centuries to be a beast of burden, the working man is at a loss to know what else to do with his time. Even his leisure hours he has to fill with work, thus perversely making the leisure industry the biggest in the world. The superior man seeks a life of leisure and freedom from the tedium of work which he leaves to donkeys who have nothing better to do with their time.

WORKERS ARE PART-TIME SLAVES, AND THEN RAISE THEIR CHILDREN TO BE THE SAME

Bob Black, the abolition of work, 1992, FringeWare Review, 01:25 Bob Black, PO Box 2159, Albany, NY 12220; http://www-personal.usyd.edu.au/~sfraser/cat/dwu/ // acs

A worker is a part-time slave. The boss says when to show up, when to leave and what to do in the meantime. He tells you how much work to do and how fast. He is free to carry his control to humiliating extremes, regulating, if he feels like it, the clothes you wear or how often you go to the bathroom. With a few exceptions he can fire you for any reason, or no reason. He has you spied on by snitches and supervisors, he amasses a dossier on every employee. Talking back is called "insubordination," just as if a worker is a naughty child, and it not only gets you fired, it disqualifies you for unemployment compensation. Without necessarily endorsing it for them either, it is noteworthy that children at home and in school receive much the same treatment, justified in their case by their supposed immaturity. What does this say about their parents and teachers who work?

THE EMPLOYMENT RELATIONSHIP ENSLAVES AND EVENTUALLY DESTROYS THE WORKER

L. Susan Brown, Ph.D. from the University of Toronto, 1993; Does Work Really Work? Kick It Over #35 // acs

No matter what kind of job a worker does, whether manual or mental, well paid or poorly paid, the nature of the employment contract is that the worker must, in the end, obey the employer. The employer is always right. The worker is told how to work, where to work, when to work, and what to work on. This applies to university professors and machinists, to lawyers and carpet cleaners: when you are an employee, you lose your right to self-determination. This loss of freedom is felt keenly, which is why many workers dream of starting their own businesses, being their own bosses, being self-employed. Most will never realize their dreams, however, and instead are condemned to sell their souls for money. The dream doesn't disappear, however, and the uneasiness, unhappiness, and meaninglessness of their jobs gnaws away at them even as they defend the system under which they exploitedly toil.