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“In fact, the realm of freedom actually begins only where labour which is
determined by necessity and mundane considerations ceases; thus in the
very nature of things it lies beyond the sphere of actual material
production.”
-Karl Marx
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Of course, this didn’t happen, and the best example we have of this
proposal was the miserable Soviet experience. What occurred in that
experiment was a glorification of productivity at the expense of freedom.
Just as in capitalist societies, work was the ultimate imperative, and it
was no surprise to see Taylorism, Fordism, and other productivity-
enhancing techniques being forced upon the workers of the USSR. In the
capitalist countries, by contrast, the industrial sectors declined and the
basis for a strong working class has been systematically a acked. Yet if
we look at developing countries, the traditional story finds li le traction
as well. Even developing countries are increasingly deindustrialised.
This can be seen in two broad facts: first, newly industrialising
economies are not industrialising to the same degree as past economies
(measured in terms of manufacturing employment as percentage of
population). Rather than 30-40% employment, the numbers are closer to
15-20%. Secondly, these economies are also reaching the point of
deindustrialisation at a quicker pace. Measured in terms of per capita
income levels, these economies reach their peak industrialisation at a
much earlier point than previous countries did.[3] This is the so-called
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“In fact, the realm of freedom actually begins only where labour which is
determined by necessity and mundane considerations ceases; thus in the
very nature of things it lies beyond the sphere of actual material
production.”
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(h ps://thedisorderofthings.files.wordpress.com/2014/10/deathofusmanufacturing.png)
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workers in the search for greater and greater economic growth, but
rather control over a largely automated system of production and
circulation with socialised aims.
Of course, all of this won’t come about easily – which is where we need
to reimagine the sources of political agency in a deindustrialised world.
A final consequence of the new transition narrative, therefore, is that
class agency is more complex than just rebuilding a workers’ movement.
The industrial working class cannot be the agent of change. Or to make
an even stronger claim – not only can the industrial working class not be
the agent of change today, it never could have been the revolutionary
subject, since its existence was premised upon material conditions that
had to be eliminated in the shift to post-capitalism. The necessary stage
of deindustrialisation means that the industrial class loses its unity in the
process – it fragments and falls apart, as we’ve seen in recent decades. In
its place, though, arise new class formations. Key amongst these is the
precariat – that class which relies on part-time jobs, contract work,
freelance work, informal work, temp work; which has an income that
barely sustains their livelihood, let alone that of their families; or which
is unemployed or underemployed. Today, this category describes an
increasingly large group of people. They are at the sharp edge of
capitalism dynamics – a world which demands people work for survival,
yet which is increasingly incapable of generating that work. Having
experienced the tensions of capitalism, it is groups such as the precariat
which may form the basis for a renewed class politics
[3] Ibid.
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1. Jeff Hermanson
OCTOBER 23, 2014 AT 6:16 PM
The “precariat” the author describes is precisely what Marx meant by
“proletariat” – people who have nothing to sell but their labor power.
Equating “proletariat” with “industrial proletariat” and even more
restrictive equation with “manufacturing workers” is a mistaken
interpretation that arose because of the origins of the communist
movement in the industrializing countries of Europe, and the
historical example of the 1917 Russian revolution, in which the
strongest base of the revolutionaries was in the steel mills and
manufacturing districts of St. Petersburg. This interpretation was then
strengthened by the experience in Germany, France and Italy, where
after 1917 the newly formed communist parties sought to duplicate
the approach of the Bolsheviks and base their revolutionary
movements in the manufacturing districts of major urban centers.
The truth is, as the author indicates, that the transition to post-
capitalism can most successfully take place in a society that has
developed to the point that abundance can be produced with a
minimum of socially necessary labor, i.e. in a technologically
advanced society that could be described as “post-industrial.” It is
also true that the transition to post-capitalism is most urgently
needed in such a society, to provide decent life opportunities to the
otherwise “surplus population” that is the de-industrialized
proletariat, and to end the madness of ever-increasing wasteful
production of arms, the destruction of the environment, etc.
However, we must not forget that there are many places on this Earth
that are not technologically advanced, not post-industrial, and in
some cases only now entering on the path of industrialization. In
these places, it may well be the “industrial proletariat” or
“manufacturing workers” that form the core of revolutionary
movements, while in the technologically advanced or post-industrial
societies it will be the proletariat more broadly defined. Even in the
technologically advanced or post-industrial societies, the remnants of
the industrial proletariat and manufacturing workers have a
leadership role to play, as one of the best-organized and class-
conscious segments of the entire working class.
It seems to me, writing from 21st century North America, that the
most likely scenario for the transition to post-capitalist society will be
achieved by an alliance of the de-industrialized proletariat of the
post-industrial societies and the (more industrial) proletariat of the
less advanced countries. Linking the struggles of the garment
workers of Bangladesh and Cambodia, the auto and electronics
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REPLY
Nick Srnicek
OCTOBER 23, 2014 AT 8:41 PM
Agreed with this, which is why I tried to carefully refer to the
‘industrial working class’ rather than the proletariat. The
proletariat is a broad structural category though, and it’s worth
having more fine-tuned analysis as well, in my opinion.
REPLY
2. =:-]
OCTOBER 23, 2014 AT 6:24 PM
And 3D printing will be part of it:
h p://p2pfoundation.net/Additive_Manufacturing_as_Global_Reman
ufacturing_of_Politics
REPLY
3. dmfant
OCTOBER 23, 2014 AT 7:35 PM
Reblogged this on synthetic_zero and commented:
Nick Srnicek @ Socialism & Deindustrialization
REPLY
4. rsbakker
OCTOBER 23, 2014 AT 8:37 PM
Brilliant stuff, Nick. The question is whether ‘leisure time,’ though
doubtlessly a genuine collective imperative, is actually the political
good you imagine it to be. What you’re describing amounts to a pure
consumerism, does it not, where the intrinsic rewards of ‘freely
chosen’ real-world pursuits will have to compete with the intrinsic
rewards of ‘freely chosen’ simulated/augmented-world pursuits. I
can’t see there being much a contest, and as a result, short of some
oppressive, collective regimentation of ‘individual values,’ this would
likely result in the brain-in-a-vatification of the world. Short of some
consensus commanding objective criterion capable of distinguishing
actualization from degeneracy, aren’t you doomed to simply play out
the liberal democratic ‘nightmare’ to the end?
REPLY
Nick Srnicek
OCTOBER 23, 2014 AT 8:44 PM
Cheers Sco . I think the answer is to have a proper understanding
of freedom in order to avoid regressing into pure manipulated
consumption. It’s something I’m working on at the moment
(broadly following much of Pete’s work)…
REPLY
rsbakker
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5. jacob
OCTOBER 23, 2014 AT 10:29 PM
I am sure you are probably familiar with the work of Gibson-Graham
in communities that have been deindustrialised due to
manufacturing moving offshore, but I think they speak to this piece
quite well. Some points that I would like to highlight from their work
include the melancholia and nostalgia for industry that can
accompany a deindustrialised economy, such that ex-workers and
their families may be inclined to invite industry back under worse
conditions or flee to areas where it continues. For example, in
Australia the loss of manufacturing to Asia has seen the workforce
move to the coal mines…
The work that Gibson-Graham did then was support communities
that had lost industrialism by helping them identify and/or build
non-industrial economic relationships. A messier, more experimental
politics was required that built on the contingencies of place and the
skills or upskilling of its inhabitants.
REPLY
6. paulkaramkass
OCTOBER 27, 2014 AT 11:51 PM
Reblogged this on Paul Karam Kassab.
REPLY
7. edmundberger
MARCH 22, 2015 AT 10:15 PM
Reblogged this on Deterritorial Investigations Unit.
REPLY
8. Pingback: On Circulation Struggles | Occupy Milton Keynes
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