>Why does the prospect of doing ones fair share of unpleasant work have to
>come across as some sort of dystopian nightmare out of science fiction?
Aside from the principle of it, its the mechanics of it. Who decides what is a fair share of the unpleasant work and how do they decide, how are these decisions enforced and how are people's work going to be monitored? As Justin says, the whole thing would entail a large manpower of administrative lawyers and massive bureaucracies.
But the notion is ill-conceived to begin with, the object of socialism is not to reduce the ruling class to proletarians, but to make the proletariat as free as the present ruling class. This proposal is utterly reactionary, its inherent premise is that people cannot responsibly exercise freedom and that we therefor need an egalitarian society - where everyone has equality as a slave. The premise seems to be that socialism is impossible, the people who advocate such a twisted version of socialism don't really believe in their hearts that the majority of people are fit for any life except that of slave.
At least the capitalist system gives people a dim hope of achieving freedom, this proposed society is a bleak vision indeed. I would prefer to keep my present life and so would most. These sort of bleak and depressing visions of socialism are a slur, I sometimes wonder if they might not be black propaganda put out by the class enemy.
Bill Bartlett Bracknell Tas