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This book will make you think; thanks boarder dude
Book Review
By Derryll White
Crimethinc Ex-Workers’ Collective (2011). Work.
If hard work were such a wonderful thing, surely the rich would have kept it all to themselves. – Lane Kirkland
This is a different kind of book. My first clue was a small insertion under the copyright information which simply said “property is theft – steal it back.” So, it is clearly a book about capitalism and about liberty. Who owns what, how do each of us contribute to the numbing structure of ownership, how do we free ourselves, and what will it cost? Those are the thoughts I approached this volume with.
For me, how a book comes to me is part of its story. ‘Work’ was loaned to me by a young boarder/artist guy who thinks a lot and drinks coffee at Hot Shots in Cranbrook. He saw me drinking coffee regularly, reading and thinking, and so came up and said, “You might want to try this!” I love it when desire transcends the social norm, when inquiry transcends age and lifestyle differences.
The book is an exhortation to transform reality, to transform one’s self into a civic-minded criminal questioning the state and the system of ownership/exploitation supported by the state.
The basic premise is simple, and undeniable. In order for some to be rich many have to be poor. Really, it’s that simple. Usually our wellbeing is defined relative to others. Work concentrates wealth, therefore the wealthy have a vested interest in maintaining and perpetuating the system. So, work makes us poor. It consumes our time, creates conditions in which we get worn down, sick, addicted and exploited. The Ex-Workers’ Collective asks the reader to consider what the alternatives could be. Big question!
Obviously this book is not for everyone. It declares a polemic, which many will find upsetting and even repugnant. But I would argue that such is a function of reading – to open one to new ideas or, as may be the case here, to get one to re-visit ideas once held when much younger. This book will not make you a Marxist, but it will definitely make you think. I enjoyed it a lot – thanks boarder dude!
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Excerpts from the volume:
OCCUPATION – Sometimes occupations goon so long the tanks become unnecessary. They can be rolled back into storage, as long as the conquered remember that they can return at any time – or behave as if the tanks were still there, forgetting why they do so.
WORK – In a world of “diversity,” one common thread connects us; we’re all subject to the economy. Christian or Muslim, communist or conservative, in Sao Paulo or St. Paul, you probably have to spend the better part of your life trading time for money, or make someone else do it for you, or suffer the consequences.
POVERTY – As profit is accumulated and the minimum threshold of wealth necessary to assert influence in society rises higher and higher, poverty becomes more and more debilitating. It is a form of exile – the cruelest form of exile, for you stay within society while being excluded from it. You can neither participate nor go anywhere else.
WORKERS – Resistance is one of the most powerful forces that drives the development of the economy. As people find new ways to fight or escape the roles imposed on them, the economy changes to suppress, incorporate, or outmode their resistance.
– Derryll White once wrote books but now chooses to read and write about them. When not reading he writes history for the web at www.basininstitute.org.