Useless Work versus Useless Toil - William Morris

I've read a few essays over the years about the benefits of a more idle society, the other most prominant essay being Bertrand Russell's In Praise Of Idleness. I really don't understand why these views aren't more appreciated; Are people really so used to the ethic of work that spending time with themselves doesn't seem attractive?

William Morris writes here that useless work is work forced on the masses by the capitalist self-interest of the non-working classes, and useless toil is the extra work forced on the working classes by the capitalist self-interest of the upper classes in the production of cheap and quickly deterioirating commodities. (He says this much more elegantly than me, but I paraphrase brutally).

In place of this system he proposes the upper classes give the working classes a bit of leeway in order to produce more long-lasting commodities, thus less labour is later spent on their production and is available for more demanding projects (such as social aid).

Fantastic food for thought, but does it still apply?

My first thought while reading this was that Bertrand Russell's In Praise Of Idleness is a clear companion piece, updated for a more modern application.

Useless Work versus Useless Toil - William Morris

In Praise of Idleness - Bertrand Russell

Some (incomplete) thoughts, in no particular order:

• Morris doesn't seem to believe in facts and figures, more about getting the idea out there. So, for the purposes of this post, I'm going to do the same.

• Morris writes that the artistry in manufacture and the beauty of pride in production has been lost, and that personal ornamenation has to be commissioned nowadays. This is probably a lot more true in the west now than when Morris wrote it. In this age of mass-production commodities can't afford to be personalised. They slow the process down. So, 'What is this stuff we call art, then?' I can imagine Morris asking today. He certainly seems to believe that the quality of artistry is marked in its individuality. Which is strange for a man best remembered for his tiled flower prints. In this case he seems more pre-occupied with giving the working-classes furniture to be proud of, rather more than practical.
  
  
  A quote: "On the other hand, the ornamental part of modern life is already rotten to the core, and must be swept away before the new order is realised. There is nothing of it - there is nothing which could come of it that could satisfy the aspirations of men set free from the tyranny of commercialism."
  
  
  Through a variety of connected reasons this made me think of modern entertainment: magazines, radio, TV, film, internet, computer games. What do we in the west do with our idle time? Mostly these things. Why? Because we're too damn tired after 8-9 hours (possibly shift) work to be engaging with something intellectually. You can, if you want to, engage with this things intellectually (which is called geekery). But mostly it's junk, produced quickly, mechanically, for your passive entertainment.


• A glimmer of hope, a sign that his dream of idleness could become a reality: Morris invokes the existence of machines and their potential to provide more idle time, and the fact that manufacturers use them to increase the need for more commodities.
  
  
  50 years later, on the verge of the first truly mechanised war, Russell points out that the machines don't just augment production, they can be fully automated. And yet, we're still no more idle than before.
  
  
  For sure, we now use these machines to mass produce pieces of art, that serve to unite entire countries under certain forms of propaganda. *cough* globalisation *cough*


• The upper classes are like beggars, a burden on society for taking things for free. Lol. It's funny because it's true.