work and rhetoric

[Justin Schwartz]

Hey, we got TV, what do we need night classes and political meetings for? 
Fact is, most workers, including most white collar workers, would probably 
prefer a longer workweek to night classes, reading, or political meetings. 
Especially political meetings. So where does that leave us?


>From: Doug Henwood <dhenwood at panix.com>
>Reply-To: lbo-talk at lists.panix.com
>To: lbo-talk <lbo-talk at lists.panix.com>
>Subject: work and rhetoric
>Date: Thu, 5 Apr 2001 15:12:30 -0400
>
>"The sea change in teh conflict over a shorter workweek is captured
>by the current union refrain that '[t]he question is...[s]hould
>workers be forced to work or should they be given the choice to spend
>time with their families?' This individualistic 'family values'
>public relations approach stands i nsharp contrast to the ninettenth-
>and early twentieth-century collectivist context, when labor
>'predicated its demand for leisure as a means to the creation of a
>better social order. To produce intelligent citizens, essential to
>the existence of a democracy, everybody should have sufficient
>leisure to permit attendance at night schools, time for reading,
>discussion, and attendance at political meetings.' Around the time of
>the Civil War, the eight-hours movement was in part driven by the
>demand that a bright line be drawn between the time during which
>workers were wage-slaves to capital and the time during which they
>were free...."
>   - Marc Linder, Moments are Elements of Profit (Iowa City, Fanpihua
>Press, 2000), pp. 6-7.

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