On Wed, 2 Oct 2002 billbartlett at dodo.com.au wrote:
> Miles Jackson wrote:
>
> >Moreover: what a strangely capitalist view of work. Work is--
> >only what you're paid for? What, Bill, you do no socially
> >useful labor at all?
>
> I didn't mean that literally, I meant I refuse to work for a living.
> Even that is an exaggeration of course, since I'd obviously be open to
> an offer too good to refuse.
>
> As to your question, perhaps I do some voluntary work, that isn't the
> point. The point is I don't feel any need to justify my existence on
> that basis. My right to exist is an entirely different issue to whether
> or not I contribute to society.
You misconstrue my point. I'm not asking you to justify your existence. Hell, I agree being on the dole's far preferable to carrying out many forms of legitimate work (say, production and sales of military weapons). I'm just wondering why you render invisible the economic activities you do every day that you don't get paid for. "Maybe" you do unpaid work? No, you do socially necessary, unpaid labor every day: cooking, cleaning, laundry, car/bike repair, grocery shopping, etc.
Granted, women bear the brunt of this, but virtually everybody participates in this necessary labor. It's ironic that even some Marxists tacitly accept the capitalist definition of work as paid labor and take for granted a huge amount of work that you and I do every day to keep society going.
Miles