JWL.Freakwitch.net

Abolition of work?

An old speech by Bob Black from 1980 has been published on Alternative Press Review. Here are the first three paragraphs:

No one should ever work.

Work is the source of nearly all the misery in the world. Almost any evil you'd care to name comes from working or from living in a world designed for work. In order to stop suffering, we have to stop working.

That doesn't mean we have to stop doing things. It does mean creating a new way of life based on play; in other words, a ludic revolution. By "play" I mean also festivity, creativity, conviviality, commensality, and maybe even art. There is more to play than child's play, as worthy as that is. I call for a collective adventure in generalized joy and freely interdependent exuberance. Play isn't passive. Doubtless we all need a lot more time for sheer sloth and slack than we ever enjoy now, regardless of income or occupation, but once recovered from employment-induced exhaustion nearly all of us want to act.

This reminds me of other theories by the Zerowork collective from the 1970s. I particularly like the Brezsnian emphasis on "freely interdendent exuberance." The world definitely needs more of it. This is a very interesting read.

posted by JWL at 8:25 PM |