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Abolition of Labor Makes you Free–Labor as Mystification, Practice and Process

The author tries to articulate a rational demand for the expansion of free time and transformation of wage labor. Firstly, the author demontrates that the internalization of fetishized capitalist relations is an integral part of capitalism. He demonstrates that both the capitalist and worker construct the meaning of the world through arbitrary forms of perception, and that in this process the work itself is a vital factor that generates, modifies and reproduces these forms themselves. Bourdieu’s concept of habitus and Foucault’s investigations about body and norm complement Marx’s theorization of abstract labor. This complement is then a focal point of phenomenological critique of the abstract labor practice. In the second part of the article, the author presents a strategic proposal of the French economist Michel Husson, whose arguments defend a specific transgression of capitalism: shorter working week through the socialization of products and services. Husson’s strategic proposition is also complemented. The author complements it with the ideas of how class struggle can be expanded beyond the borders of professional solidarity to the terrain of universal suffrage. He rethinks living space in a universal and unconditional manner, which can substantially reduce the subordination to economic necessity. His argument postulates that apartments as well as other housing units must be rethought outside of value form. In the last part of the article, the author tries to crystalize his line of arguments by addressing some of Husson’s implicit as well as explicit assumptions. Through critique of capitalism as a systemic totality, the author tries to fully articulate his demand for historical and material conditions of autonomy, which is structured and conditioned by limitations of capitalist system.

 


Article inside journal

Issue No. 259 - Political Economy of Communication
Source
Časopis za kritiko znanosti
Numbering
2015 , volume volume 43 , issue issue 259