rc-am wrote:
> I know all work is compelled; but does the return of
> explicitly-officially sanctioned and organised slave-like forms of
> work such as these tell us something - this 'something' being related
> to increases in work time, maybe?
>
It probably is more connected to keeping wages low and unions under control. If workfare workers and prison labor are subsidized by the government, they do the work for less than the "regular" worker (in some cases threaten their jobs) and in turn this drives the wages down and preserves social control, does it not?
Marta Russell