I was wondering if there's anything like what our :large-adult-son: did for DoE? I've been enjoying the book, but I'd love for more directed and structural turns than what Graeber gives. Not that arguments for "spiritual warfare" against capitalist hell aren't useful (they are, individually, I'm sure!) - but I'd love for interventions from the ML side on the argument. Especially because he also occasionally uses old 20th century AES as comparison and critique of neoliberalism.

Currently on Chapter 5, thinking it might be a good read for my undergrads in my rhetoric classes, but I want to pair it with some other material (gonna include some :citations-needed: pods, among other things).

Anyway, also just a general place for comrades to converse about it/Graeber. Personally, I like him more than :large-adult-son: did, but I definitely recognize the limits of his anarchist approach to things.

Let's try to be :left-unity-4: in this too - I'm not trying to start a struggle session! I just want to know how to incorporate Graeber's ideas into a more statist framework (because I'm a :sicko-pig: like that).

    • ChestRockwell [comrade/them, any]
      ·
      2 years ago

      Yeah like, my gut says "well, the important thing is to prevent the people in these kinds of jobs from becoming fashy chuds and instead moving to a post-work society (or at least focusing work on areas we need it" but I hope someone has read/found a more systematic intervention. After all, if we have all these people alienated from their non-productive work and labor, how do we create a class consciousness that involves "you won't be working the job you work anymore under Communism"....

      • FuckItNewName [they/them]
        ·
        2 years ago

        Speaking as a bullshiter, I’ve enjoyed my lower paying jobs much more than my current one. It’s all about the pay. Also, my skills could likely be non-bullshit in other contexts. In the same way that the Soviets put unemployed artists to work as propagandists, I would happily work on logistics software for Cybersyn 2.0. But as it stands I effectively write email spam bots with a “marketing platform” tacked on for show.

        Edit: actually, the USSR’s universal employment program is probably a good place to start