“I do not dream of labour.”
A common quote i see shared, but I do not particularly adhere to it. A lot of people seem to have this strange view of a socialist society insofar as some think that everything we know now will radically change and everything will be awesome and amazing and we’ll all get to write or act or sing and labour will be a thing of the past.
I foresee that conditions for the vast majority of the proletariat will not change too drastically under socialism, in the initial stages. I say this as a Marxist and as someone who works in manufacturing. Sure we may get something akin to a pay bump and/or less working hours, but hell, we might not even be able to, for example, elect our own supervisor. Perhaps this is all coloured by an incorrect view of Marxism, who knows…
All in all, I for one do dream of labour, labour for the common good of my class, the proletariat. I dream of a world where the means of production are unfettered, and the workers’ republics can build and create for the benefit of all. For we must dream of labour that builds a better future for our children, a world better than we found it.
I never like when “the left” criticizes and doesn’t provide a meaningful solution so here’s mine.
Get a job in a unionizable or already unionized field, as close to the means of production as possible. If you organize under an existing union, reclaim it from the bureaucrats who bend to capital.