Labor and Anti-Work

Labor and Anti-Work Kiosk

Welcome to Infoshop’s resource portal for all issues relating to labor, class struggle, and the revolt against work.

Labor news

Labor magazines and newspapers

I’m too light for heavy work and too heavy for light work.
WOBBLY WISECRACK

Labor blogs

Radical labor unions and organizations

Other labor organizations

Resources on labor

History of labor

Anti-work and zerowork – the ultimate goals

Further Reading

Against the Corpse Machine: Defining A Post-Leftist Anarchist Critique of Violence
Sometimes anarchists are slow learners. Disregarding the famous, definitive and prognostic Marx-Bakunin split in the First International near the end of the 19th century, anarchists overall have continued to cling to the obsolete notion that anarchy is best situated within the otherwise statist Leftist milieu, despite the bourgeois democratic origins of the Left-Right spectrum. Since then communists and Marxists, liberals and conservatives alike have had us right where they want us – and it’s shown in our history. In continuing to view ourselves as Leftists, despite the glaring contradictions in such a stance, we have naturally relegated ourselves to the role of critic within larger movements, and often found ourselves either marching towards goals which stand in direct opposition to our own interests or suckered by counter-revolutionary appeals to anti-fascist or anti-capitalist unity.

An Anarchist Program For Labor
Today there is a general unrest and anger among working people, even though most workers continue to hold usual “American” views (support of capitalism, the two parties, racism at some level, patriotism, etc.). This unorganized discontent has resulted in a change in the hierarchy of the unions, a move toward a more liberal, more active group of bureaucrats, under John Sweeney. The new leaders are worried about their loss of membership (bureaucrats who cannot even keep their dues base are pretty pathetic). They have managed to link up with college activists (especially on the more affluent campuses) to oppose sweatshop labor, in the U.S. and abroad, and to include environmentalism.

Fair Trade for Sale
Coffee is among the most exploitative products traded on the international market today. This luxury beverage is attended in its regions of production with every conceivable form of oppression, environmental destruction, and economic exploitation. While companies like Starbucks reap massive profits, coffee farmers and plantation workers live on starvation wages. Sometimes not even that much.

Temporary Insanity
Recently I was trying to determine my official employment status. Colloquially, I’m a temp. Or rather, “temp” is the nominal designation assigned to my current circumstances—just graduated, and affiliated with sundry temporary job-placement agencies in hopes of finding work. I have spent inordinate amounts of time filling out tax forms and taking skills tests to assess my knowledge of Microsoft Word, mail merges and spreadsheet proficiency. Doing so has resulted in two one-day assignments in the last four weeks and one lingering question: “Am I employed or not?” I suppose I should have realized earlier that job security in temporary work is a contradiction in terms.