This essay review is part of my ongoing series of trying to understand what much smarter people than me have written so that I can try to expand my worldview by just 1% every day. As always, the original source is linked here for you to check out. This particular essay is interesting because it kind of goes against the whole 9-9-6 ideology that’s floating around on twitter with the central claim that reducing overall labor and increasing idleness is actually more beneficial to society in the long term. It must be noted that this was written back in 1932 though, where the working conditions were vastly different than they are now with average working days spanning 15 hours as he mentioned in the essay for men and nearly 12 hours for children. Regardless, I think some of his claims align with the 4-day week movements that we’re seeing today as well focusing on well-being instead of just productivity.

Summary

  • Central claim: Russell argues that hard work, for the sake of working, causes more harm than good in modern societies and instead urges for overall labor do decrease. He starts of by initially agreeing that idleness itself may be seen as unvirtuous, quoting the saying “Satan finds some mischief for idle hands to do” but then proceeds to reason through why this view might be outdated.
  • He spends some time also defining work and categorizing it into 3 buckets, 1) the laborers (in his time, it must have been physical laborers), 2) Management (telling the laborers what to do), and 3) Consultants (looks like there was always a profession of telling people what they should do instead of telling them what to do/doing it themselves). He goes on to say that the laborers are often the poorest of the 3 and often in the largest numbers exposing how society is taking advantage of them.
  • He then goes on to say that advancements in technology should cause the laborers to be more productive and for their work to be done in less time than than it used to be but the mere fact that it hasn’t (or that it has and unemployment remains high) illustrates that society is arranged in a manner that urges laborer's to not be able to take time off. Why? Because “work is duty” and that’s the morality of a slave state.
  • His Proposition? A 4 hour work day. He pitches that a hour hour word day allows for everyone to have surplus time for meaningful leisure and that this leisure time should be filled with education, not wasted. I think that’s the most important point here because when we think of “leisure time”, we assume it means sitting on your couch and idly watching football. However, the argument that Russell is making here is that if a laborer is working for 15+ hours, they never have the idle time to understand how the world truly works/have time to think about the universe, how a TV works, e.g. all that it takes to raise a curious individual. He even goes on to say that without proper education, people may resolve to passive entertainment which could do hard but active education would provide time for individuals to participate in the arms, sciences and civic duty.

Takeaways

  • Work isn’t inherently virtuous: This might be extra prevalent given certain circles on twitter idolize working 16 hours a day but it’s a good reminder that work, for the sake of working isn’t actually all that useful.
  • Leisure time well spent isn’t wasteful: This goes back to the notion that active and thoughtful downtime is essential for people to recharge. However, it must be not passively wasted because that takes away from the opportunities you have to participate in your civic duties. Moreso, if used correctly, this leisure time allows for people to have more hobbies that can build new businesses, cultivate new scientific breakthroughs and create a society that’s more creative.

Final Thoughts/Question for Self & Conclusions:

  • As someone who takes great pride in my vocation, it begs the question “should work define my moral worth”? And if not, how else can I define my contributions to society and am I doing enough to pursue that?
  • Can life be more fulfilling if I can find alignment with my “leisure” activities and vocation? If so, what would that ideal career look like?