>All of this debate regarding the proper way to institute socialism and
>whatnot seems to avoid a critical issue and perhaps the biggest problem all
>the variously nuanced ideologies avoid dealing with- WORK. The dreary
>reality of performing the same mindless routine for 40 hours or more a week
>so someone else can become obscenely wealthy. What would happen if a
>movement started to organize around the idea of, say, a 20 hour work week?
>Wouldn't that gain more adherents that talking about worker councils and
>self-managed assets?
It's a real puzzle why the demand for a shorter work week has not caught on here in the US, particularly because ir has been successful in France and Germany, It;s worth noting that the European social democracies average about 6 weeks of paid vacation a year, mandated by law. Yet in the US work hours have been steadily rising, while wages have been falling since '73, except for a period in the 90s, when they ticked up on the bubble. The downward trend has now resumed, isn't that right, Doug? In my grim, dour, Puritan way, I think people do need negative incentives like the threat of bankruptcy and lost profits, and indeed lawsuits, to keep their mind on their work, as well as positive incentives like profits, which many of you regard as even worse than the negative ones. But I think we could do with a 3-4 day work week, or a five-six hr workday. German and freench workers have hammered their workweeks down to 35 and 39 hrs respectively. Why not us?
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