196

would the popular conception of mondays, ie. the start of an oppressive five day work week still exist if capitalism is abolished?

I guess it depends on what alternatives are sprung up in its place.

Since this meme mentions anarchism, I’ll take an anarcho-communist perspective. This is obviously an oversimplified idealistic view. There is so much variance in ideas for organisation, distribution, and association of labour in anarcho communist societies you could fill libraries with all the different sub movements.

A few reasons why in an anarcho-communist society, the concept of “hating Mondays” might not really apply at nearly the same extent it does in current capitalistic society:

• Work life balance. the abolishment of capitalist structures, the focus would shift from profit to community well-being. Work would be more about contributing to the community rather than fulfilling corporate demands, leading to a more balanced and fulfilling daily routine.
• Flexible Schedules. Anarcho-communism encourages self-management and collective decision-making, allowing people to create their own schedules. If Mondays are tough for someone, they could adjust their week to suit their needs without the rigid 9-to-5 grind.
• Meaningful Work. The emphasis would be on work that is fulfilling and meaningful, rather than merely a means to survive. If people enjoy what they do and see its value in their community, the dread of returning to work on a Monday would likely diminish.
• Community Support: In an anarcho-communist framework, community bonds would be strong. People would likely have better support systems, making transitions back to work easier and more enjoyable.
• Lack of Hierarchical Pressure: Without hierarchical pressures and corporate stressors, the anxiety and negativity often associated with the start of the workweek would be significantly reduced. People would feel empowered to engage in their labor voluntarily and collaboratively.

So, instead of dreading Mondays, people might look forward to contributing to their communities in ways that align with their passions and values!

In a truly anarchist society with voluntary free association, you could even change your “commune” or move to somewhere that aligns more with your values.

When someone profits from your labor, it's in their interests to make sure that you labor as much as possible.

In a politically and economically egalitarian society, not only do you need to work fewer hours to meet your basic needs, but society as a whole will be much more interested in "the asymptotic abolition of work", through investment in automation technology and other means.

Under capitalism there is significant conflict over automation (see the current discourse over AI, for example), since the benefits go primarily to the capitalists, who are willing to let everyone else starve if they can get away with it.

Bakunin had said that everyone would be obliged to do manual work under socialism(I think I read that in Statism and Anarchy, don't quote me on it, but it makes sense, someone has to do that, might as well all of us contribute), which is fair.

Also you can never get rid of logistics and factory related work imo, because concentrating the production means and scaling up factories is proven to be overwhelmingly more efficient in producing goods than producing them locally and independently. Producing flour in a big factory reduces the manual labour hours by tens and hundreds of times. So as I see it, these jobs will still be there.

The fundamental difference would be that people would actually work these jobs for like 2-3 hours every couple of days or so. This is because we have the capacity to cover everyone's needs several times over, that's how immensely huge our economy is. The west has to scale down a lot the economy cause we are producing way too much, that's how much we produce. We would be able to cover our needs with so much less work than now.

Any system that concentrates power in the hands of the few is bad for the many.

Capitalism is just what most of the world calls it at the moment.

Capitalism and authoritarian Marxist-Leninist states are not the only alternatives. There are other alternatives like Georgist economic democracy. In such a system, everyone would be either individually or jointly self-employed while receiving their share of the value derived from natural resources

@196

"But hey guys, there's this other kind of social order that was also bad!"

I mean, yes? Maybe we should try to build a society that minimizes the amount of work that needs to be done. In order to do that, we have to recognize that capitalists would fight against our efforts, because they profit off of our labor.

And yes, the rulers of a USSR-style authoritarian socialist society would also fight against that kind of change, so maybe let's not go that route.

I too work in IT support and this is so true... But I do hate capitalism.

You might be talking about me here, but I drive a lot of sales and keep us going.

Tell me where to send the donuts, I got you guys covered.

Why would you hate Mondays if it didn’t mean you needed to start your soulless week of work?