To
the man or woman with imagination, who recognises variety as the
spice of life, there can be little that is more detestible than the
idea of having to hold on to the same job for life. To be chained to
an office desk, or a drilling machine, or a steering wheel, or a
kitchen sink for all one's working days is to know boredom in the
extreme. The worker's eyes wander continuously to the clock, knowing
that the same process will go on day after day, week after week, year
after year, then he or she experiences one of the most cruel curses
of capitalism. Workers
may laugh and joke and appear contented with their jobs, but usually
they are simply resigned to the monotony, making the best of
necessity. The eagerness with which they welcome finishing time is
evidence of their anxiety to escape the boredom.
Even
the worker who is fortunate enough to capture a job where he or she
can still use a little initiative and set their own pace is not free
from the boredom of repetitive tasks. Capitalism calls for
specialised efficiency and that is best obtained by keeping a worker
at one task so that they will become as speedy and faultless as
mechanical action can make them. It is speed of production that
matters, not the nerves of the worker who does the producing. Profit
is the motive, not the satisfying of human wants or the comfort of
the workers. The inventor and the investigator, are being drawn from
their fields of adventurous exploration and discovery into the
laboratory to perform their jobs in a routine repetitive and mundane
manner.
In
addition to the repetitive nature of many of the tasks that
capitalist production demands, the worker is deprived of an interest
in the product of his or her toil. Unlike the craftsman of bygone
days, we can have little joy in our work and even less pride in the
product. The process of production is too impersonal. We perform just
a part, a small part, in the chain of production. Frequently we do
not see the finished product at all and, maybe, does not know how it
will look or be used. We are just a cog in the process of producing
wealth for his employer. There is nothing about our job to stimulate
our enthusiasm and relieve the monotony of our work.
With
the ever increasing sub-division of work that capitalism imposes,
together with the process of making production more and more
automated, there is removed the final remnants of anything that might
have held the worker’s interest and saved us from complete boredom.
In
a world where people can, at any time, lose their livelihood through
no fault of their own, a job that offers a prospect of continuous
employment is one to be sought after, no matter how dull or
monotonous the task to be performed. Such a job implies being a loyal
and docile worker so as not to displease the employer and invite
dismissal.
When
the profit motive is removed from production and men and women
produce things in order that they may enjoy them, they will have a
different outlook on the tasks that they will have to perform. Making
life more pleasurable will involve giving men and women opportunities
for variety in their occupations. High-speed automated production can
still be an asset, but to tie a person to one routine job for years
will be a torment that must be abolished. Interest in the work can be
instilled by allowing people to engage in the various processes
necessary to convert raw materials to finished products, or to
formulate and perform social services. Just as men nowadays can
become highly skilled in the tasks that they undertake as hobbies so
they can become highly skilled in a number of branches of activity
and have changes of job that will retain their interest and
enthusiasm. With variety of occupation boredom will be banished, with
an interest in the work, "auto-monotony” will end. With goods
produced for use instead of for profit, pride in production will
return. An individual can be proud when he or she is doing a socially
necessary job for the society of which they are a member, but not
when toiling to fill the pockets of parasites.
Whilst
the profit motive remains there will still be insecurity and workers
will crucify themselves to their jobs in an effort to avoid it. When
the workers abolish capitalism, the clock-watching commodity,
labour-power, will be abolished with it.
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