work life

Working at Artistry Bakery and Cafe - Madaline Dreyfus

Submitted by Recomposition on Apr 13 2013 21:02

In this article, Madaline tells the story of how she fell into organizing and the IWW – pushed both by terrible bosses and by amazing solidarity among her coworkers.

If the first week of work at Artistry Bakery and Cafe was any indication, there was no way this four-month experience should ever have resulted in two of the strongest friendships in my life. I was introduced on the first day to a group of men and women, mostly about University age, who were also going to be working with me at the restaurant.

How to be idle - Tom Hodgkinson

Sleep in, drink in the day and have sex at 1 in the morning, How to be Idle argues that we reject work ethic for a life of leisure.

Work - reading guide

Libcom.org's guide to reading around the subject of work and wage labour in capitalist society, and struggles against them.

Key texts

  • Work - an introduction - libcom.org's, clear, short introduction to work, what is wrong with it, and what we can do about it.

The road to Wigan Pier - George Orwell

Orwell's examinations of the conditions for the working class in the north of England prior to World War Two and how he became a socialist.

Going postal: rage, murder and rebellion in America - Mark Ames

Mark Ames examines the spate of US workplace killings and the phenomenon of going postal, suggesting falling wages at work and work itself are responsible.

Down and out in Paris and London - George Orwell

Tramping memoirs from Orwell, where he worked in Paris as a dishwasher and then travelled around London, going from one bedsit to another.

O scathful harm, condition of poverte! - Chauser

I

The Rue du Coq d’Or, Paris, seven in the morning. A succession of furious, choking yells from the street. Madame Monce, who kept the little hotel opposite mine, had come out on to the pavement to address a lodger on the third floor. Her bare feet were stuck into sabots and her grey hair was streaming down.

Women's work and capital's use of childhood

An account of working at a daycare center. How privatized childcare both changed and preserved gender roles, how childhood makes alienation normal- and what was the real structural function of all the damn creepy propaganda in the halls?

This past summer, I was a cook at a daycare center in the northeast US. Ultimately, it wasn't viable to stay, and I became homeless, quit, and relocated south, where I found a better housing situation. But for several months, I had the chance to observe the industry of reproductive and caring labor.

Stakhanovism and the British workers

Submitted by wojtek on Nov 11 2012 16:50
Alexei Stakhanov

Marie Louise Berneri's article on Stakhanovism and other methods imposed on workers in order to squeeze more productivity and profit out of them for the Soviet and British war economies. Written in 1942 and reprinted in The Left and World War 2: Selections from the Anarchist Journal 'War Commentary' 1939-1943.

War brings the need for increased production and maximum effort on the part of the workers. This is what all the propaganda nowadays tries to impress on the workers. Since Russia has come into the war it is not surprising therefore that the Russian worker should be given as an example to the British workers in order to induce them to produce more.

Post office - Charles Bukowski

The job as a postal worker is a thankless one as Bukowski tries to keep his sanity delivering mail around Los Angeles. A warning, this piece is misogynistic throughout and features a rape scene.

Pissing blood

Submitted by Recomposition on Nov 8 2012 04:49

An account written by Abbey Volcano about non-profit employment, lack of medical insurance and divisions in the workplace.

This is a story about anger, “non-profits,” and pissing blood. I was in my fifth year working at an independent health food store run by religious fanatics in a suburb outside of the city and I needed more money. I started off part-time at a cultural center, working the events.