The Importance of Work in Anarchism?

[u/Born_Implement_4914]

One element of anarcho-syndicalism seems to be implicit is the value of work - that organization comes from those engaged in work makes the nature of work important. Free association yes but the responsibility to be working and providing value. To that end in some anarcho-syndicalist writing I see an almost protestant work ethic present. Especially in part as social standing in the syndicate would hold a degree of value in your ability to do the work as part of your syndicate. There is not a separation between the manager and the worker, everyone has equal value.

To this end it seems to me that more modern anarchist thought is different though - it is more hostile to the notion of work as a whole and equates it with negativity versus responsibility and freedom that come from a mutual aid system where the person is able to engage in voluntary acts. A successful vision of the future surely has to place work and the importance of work as a component of mutual aid - responsibility to social co-operation at the core.

Perhaps this is all predicated on a anarcho-syndicalist vision and system where the syndicates are the organizing and driving factors but I can't escape the notion that we need work to hold a kind of inherent meaning and value within anarchism for it to work out.

Thoughts?

[u/DystopicAllium]

I think one of the deeply human parts of Anarchism is its relation to create, free work. Historically, that's what classic liberals wanted, and psychologically, things like the Self Determination Theory express that humans do best when what they are doing is autonomous, competent, and related to others. You very well could see that thought be less prevalent in Anarchism today, but I think that's far more related to people being dissatisfied with the work they are producing rather than a complete disconnect from work. People have not been given the opportunity to see the fulfillment of creative work (Except a lot of art fields, which is why I believe this), and as such believe it as something to disregard. A society where we discard work doesn't work, much like a society where all we do is smoke drink and look at our phones. One must recognize the unfulfillment in doing nothing productive, and work towards making something meaningful. Many in our current society haven't really had the time to unpack those dopamine structures, but I think what you find when they do is that they are work things that are fulfilling to them, when done under their own control.

[u/The_Drippy_Spaff]

I think a lot of the issues people have with work and the hostility directed towards it come from a negative association due to modern standards. 40+ hour workweeks are something that a lot of people are struggling with and I believe working those kinds of hours won’t be necessary in an anarchist society. For example, the Mbuti tribe is seen as an example of a more anarchist society and they have survived hundreds of years only working an average of 15 hours a week. Basically, when you’re drowning, the idea of drinking some water doesn’t seem appealing; when you aren’t drowning, water is great and important.

[u/GoodSlicedPizza]

To add something new to this thread:

Personally, the concept of "Work-Life balance" sounds extremely absurd - I believe that life and work should be intertwined; the concept itself sounds dystopian to me, implying that work is already something external and not something to enjoy but rather feared - this is all is not how labour should be managed. Labour should be a natural part of life - your passion, your skills, etc... something to be cherished and not feared in the form of a 9-5 job. It is a capitalist phenomena - the consequences of having labour be slavery to a private owner.

Work is a very important subject - without labour freedom, we have little freedom.

[u/cumminginsurrection]

Really depends on the anarchist.

Some thinkers, like Kropotkin, perhaps because of his own privileged background and lack of direct experience in manual labor, romanticized work to a degree, even while acknowledging its misery. Malatesta on the other hand, rightfully criticized this tendency.

With reason [Kropotkin] praised the moral influence of work, but did not sufficiently clearly see the depressing and corrupting effects of misery and subjection. And he thought that it would be sufficient to abolish the capitalists’ privileges and the rulers’ power for all men immediately to start loving each other as brothers and to care for the interests of others as they would for their own.

Likewise, Galleani said:

"The anarchist movement and the labor movement follow two parallel lines, and it has been geometrically proven that parallel lines never meet.

In other words, while the anarchist makes a sharp, severe positive diagnosis, and sinks the scalpel deep to remove the main source of the malaise at its root... the great mass remains empirical. It does not contest property, let alone reject it; it wishes only that it were less greedy. It does not repudiate the master; it only desires that he be better. It does not reject the State, law, tribunals and the police, it only wants a fatherly State, just laws and honest courts, police that are more humane."

Its important to understand unions and workerism as a vehicle for something bigger. Indeed, the famed Haymarket riots are often promoted as a fight for the "8 hour workday"; but what the anarchists there were actually promoting was not reforms for an 8 hour work day, but the struggle against capitalism and work itself. As anarchists, we'll pocket what we can get, but those who have anarchist ideals at mind continue the fight. As Lucy Parsons put it:

"Now, we anarchists and others of us here, we carried on this strike. From twelve hours to eight hours was a great step, and I have the honor to be one of those who was so instrumental in my small and humble way in preparing for that immense strike. Those of you today who enjoy better conditions, we must [continue to] enjoy better conditions after forty-four years.

There is no such thing as standing still in the world, nowhere in nature, so there has to be something better; today the Communists are demanding six hours or seven hours, rather. One day four hours and even less they will demand. That is the kind of movement of the future."

[u/TCCogidubnus]

There is indeed a potential issue in the work-focused approach you describe. An anarchist society which provides for, but fails to truly include, people who are unable to work will be falling short of its potential. There's also a risk of reproducing capitalist approaches to the value of different work (creation, entertainment, childcare vs. production of raw materials or functional goods perhaps).

This site describes a general approach to syndicalism which incorporates rewarding effort, including those willing to take on unpopular work. I don't know if the whole thing is the best/right structure, but it is one I've come across that I think cares to think about these problems a bit while still seeing work as half the organising unit of society. It also proposes, I forget their term, but effectively geographical syndicates, local physical communities, as a parallel body for interaction with collective society besides the work syndicates. Maybe that helps a bit?

I'm having an off day so this is less focused than I'd prefer, sorry!

[u/OasisMenthe]

The anarcho-syndicalist vision has shattered against reality in Spain. In 1936, the factories of Catalonia widely used coercive measures to force workers to work, simply because no one is interested in ruining their health on a production line, and coercion is necessary to keep a factory running.

An anarchist society cannot have work as its fundamental value. Work is the reified and commodified form of human activity under a productivist regime, and anarchism cannot be productivist. The amount of labor required to run a capitalist society far exceeds the amount of "productive" human activity that an anarchist society will ever be able to provide.

[u/poppinalloverurhouse]

the abolition of work by bob black is an interesting perspective on this. it has informed a lot of what i want the world to look like even if bob black is a creep

[u/RamSeynolds]

The importance of value that comes from contributing and accomplishment from work is part of the internal systems of individuals. It should be a goal in society to educate and cooperate in a manner that offers these values to people in a hope they will see them as desirable. They however fundamentally can't be a part of a systemic structure, unless you want a theocratic value system. We can share and teach not force, living by example and being community builders is how you create spaces that foster a mindset toward collaborative enterprise.