Shawgi Tell asked,
>Tom what do you think is needed to move society forward? I posed
>this question to Michael yesterday. Hope to hear from the both of you and
>others.
I will begin with a brief citation, which not only sums up my own position
but states the practical program drafted by Karl Marx and adopted by the
Congress of the International Working Men's Association at Geneva in 1866:
"The limitation of the working day is a preliminary condition without which
all further attempts at improvement and emancipation must prove abortive."
A U.S. resolution to the same aim, also adopted in 1866, concluded with the
following oath: "We are resolved to put forth all our strength until this
glorious result is attained."
What is needed is a broad popular movement to limit the working day. No one
has asked me what my program would be if I found myself suddenly the
socialist prime minister of France. But I'll answer anyway. My program would
be based on the principle that so long as a single person is unable to find
sustaining work, the hours of labour are too long. My program would also be
based on dismantling the state apparatus that has been built up for the sole
purpose of artificially prolonging the working day (and thereby underwriting
the accumulation of capital and fostering division among workers).
I wouldn't bother expounding on whether such policies are social democratic,
socialist or communist. I would defend them on the sole grounds that they
are necessary and just. I would be shot within a few weeks.
Regards,
Tom Walker
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