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Sometime ago I read an article about working conditions in Finland (that developed, modern, free Nordic country). It described how utterly depressed Finnish workers are, being forced to chase income in second or third part-time jobs, then returning home exhausted and crying. Needless to say, try to imagine the situation in places like the USA. No free time, only work. What’s the ideological connection between work and free time? Let’s take a closer look at systems that valorize and promote work versus free time, to get a better feel of the situation.

Some Real-Life Examples

Example 1:
Arbeit macht frei
(the work shall set you free)

Example 2:
I do not know anyone who has got to the top without hard work. That is the recipe. It will not always get you to the top, but should get you pretty near

Example 3:
В ПОРУ РАБОЧУЮ ПАШУТ И НОЧЬЮ
(Ploughing time doesn’t stop at night)

Example 4:
Only in America can someone start with nothing and achieve the American Dream. That’s the greatness of this country

Example 5:
οἱ δ´ ἐξ ἀρχῆς ἔταξαν ἐν παιδείᾳ διὰ τὸ τὴν φύσιν αὐτὴν ζητεῖν, ὅπερ πολλάκις εἴρηται, μὴ μόνον ἀσχολεῖν ὀρθῶς ἀλλὰ καὶ σχολάζειν δύνασθαι καλῶς. Αὕτη γὰρ ἀρχὴ πάντων μία· καὶ πάλιν εἴπωμεν περὶ αὐτῆς. εἰ δ’ ἄμφω μὲν δεῖ, ᾶλλον δὲ αἱρετὸν τὸ σχολάζειν τῆς ἀσχολίας καὶ τέλος, ζητητέον ὅ τι δεῖ ποιοῦντας σχολάζειν.
(those who originally made [music] part of education did it because, as has been already said, nature requires that we should not only be properly employed, but to be able to enjoy leisure honorably: for this – to repeat what I have already said – is of all things the principal. But, though both labor and rest are necessary, yet the latter is preferable to the first; and by all means we ought to learn what we should do when at rest)

Picking Work over Free Time: An Ideological Matter

I think we all know where example 1 comes from. Example 2 is a quote by Thatcher-the-milk-snatcher. The third example is from a 1947 Soviet poster, while example 4 is a quote by Rafael Cruz (though honestly, it’s merely a random representative of the entire American Dream mythology).

Example 5 is from Aristotle’s Politics. Like so many others of its kind, this is a work that is freely available on the Internet. Still, millions of people will not read it because they are too preoccupied with mediocrity.

The Ideological Rift

Have you noticed how all totalitarian regimes (and I include neoliberal capitalism in this) valorize work, while true democracies – the precious few examples in human history – promote free time? It is because only through acquiring free time humans have the ability to become better citizens, to engage in activities that promote their sense of culture, their sense of solidarity, their sense of creating something better; ultimately, their sense of freedom and self-determination.

And if people woke up (realizing, to quote George Carlin, that it’s called the American Dream because you have to be asleep to believe in it), the consequences would be rather serious for systems promoting submission and idiocy (from ancient Greek ιδιώτης: someone too self-centered to bother with the common good).