Engels - Blog Posts

disagree. while obviously it's true that slavery is slavery and one of the worst things humans can do to each other, and have done for thousands of years, precise clocks have only been used in the workplace for ~200 years. *factory owners had the government issues fines* to their workers for being a single minute late, then /confiscated their pocket watches/ because they were cheating the workers of their breaks and slowing the clock during work. the sheer amount of machine authority involved in worker exploitation is absolutely an unprecedented change that is the calling card of modern Capitalism. medieval peasants the world over had way more time off than any worker nowadays, as did Egyptian slaves. their employers provided food and drink every day, and all work ever since the stone age has a universal pattern of "hard work day, relaxing work day, repeat"

Historia Civilis explains it better in his best video, titled simply /Work./ and Engels' "/The Authority of the Machine/" is like 2 pages long.

yes suffering and exploitation predates it, but there are undeniable and important differences that only came about around the turn of the 19th century, and they're bad enough to be worth singling out.

being an archaeologist in tumblr is so funny because I see so many text posts and go. Imperialism pre-dates capitalism. Rebellion against empires pre-dates capitalism. Money pre-dates capitalism. Social inequality pre-dates capitalism. Misogyny pre-dates capitalism. Wealth inequality pre-dates capitalism. Unilateral rule by oppressive rulers pre-dates capitalism. People’s dependence on their job for their survival pre-dates capitalism. Capitalism as an economic system is about 200-250 years old max but these problems are much, much older, and capitalism supports, entrenches, or exacerbates many of these problems… doesn’t mean it invented them and doesn’t mean they will simply cease to be problems After Capitalism.