“In Praise of Bartleby”, by Apio Ludd

(Nick’s Notes: This is the first of two reviews by Apio Ludd that highlight some books that I think us anti-work people may find interesting.) In Praise of Bartleby*   Guillaume Paoli Demotivational Training Cruel Hospice, 2013   I approached Demotivational Training with low expectations. I have found most recent radical theory out of France…

“Long Live Work”, by Vivo Covi

(Nick’s Notes: Okay, so realized that I am cheating a bit here. Technically this is just an article by someone else that was published in Apio Ludd’s publication “My Own” and isn’t by Mr. Ludd himself. But I think it’s still well within Mr. Ludd’s spirit all the same!) I don’t charitably sing the praises of…

“Jobs” as a Red Herring: The Dangers of Make-Work Bias”, by Nathan Goodman

In the ongoing debate over the crony capitalist “Export-Import” bank, job statistics get thrown around a lot. On its website, the bank boasts that “Ex-Im Bank’s mission is American jobs,” claiming to have “supported 1.2 million private-sector, American jobs since 2009, supporting 205,000 jobs in 2013 alone.” Economist Veronique de Rugy points out that these job numbers…

“The Firewall”, by Aragorn!

(Nick’s Notes: This piece can be originally found here) This has been a harder piece to write than I expected it to be, since the point I want to discuss is relatively simple. What isn’t simple is the supporting material: the bits around the central bit. There is this larger piece I’m in the middle…

Stress, Labor & Play

Written by Willaim Gillis There’s a lot of talk in anarchist circles about abolishing work. Some of it in line with the dream of a high-technology path to post-scarcity. But a lot of it takes an alternative route and settles for simply building a ludic society — that is to say a culture that adapts…

The Revolution of Everyday Life, Chapter Five: The Decline and Fall of Work by Rauol Vaneigem

(Nick’s Notes: Taken from here.) The duty to produce alienates the passion for creation. Productive labour is part and parcel of the technology of law and order. The working day grows shorter as the empire of conditioning extends. In an industrial society which confuses work and productivity, the necessity of producing has always been an…