The Nature of Work

The Total Departure from Capitalism

Morning Comrades.

Monday’s dispatch, at its core, sparked a little motivation for today - in terms of subject - work - and whilst the very nature of work is a well studied and deeply researched field, I figured we should at the very least touch up on it here. It is very interesting subject and considering that most, if not all of us, work, this touches us all.

To start, this isn’t some juvenile, clickbait-ish piece on why work sucks and how in a post-capitalist society no one will have to work. Quite the opposite to be frank. Obviously, the question of work, the very nature of work is something that has been thought on before Marx and Engels and even more so since they have tackled the subject. We are going to get into that, especially considering the fact that their thoughts on the subject might well come as a surprise. It is a fact, that capitalism, as a system has so deeply shaped our thoughts these past 500 years that we rarely think about work, it appears as a natural state of existence that we have to work and that philosophies on the nature of work all too often merely deal with making work more bearable, from the formations of unions to worker rights, to 4 day weeks to automation. All of those thoughts are valid but I want to dig a little deeper than that. Work, as we know it, is defined by the material realities created by capitalism. Of course, most of you are aware of Graeber’s seminal book “Bullshit Jobs”, a scathing, entertaining analysis of today’s reality and while it has merit, merit in the sense of well-put criticism, it doesn’t deal with the subject at hand. What does work even mean and why do we do it?

Labour? The exchange value created by labour between “consenting” parties? The nature of our existence that “we” have created or was created for us? What function does work offer and is it even necessary? Let’s get into it.