<div dir="ltr">Hi Tiberius,<div><br></div><div>I can see how you would get the impression that "the underlying assumption is the struggle between labor and capital" because that is the underlying assumption in a great deal of the discourse about labour in a society with predominantly "capitalist" institutions. </div><div><br></div><div>That is not <i>my</i> underlying assumption, though. I view labour as a signifier with an object whose boundaries are contingent and to some extent arbitrary. I am concerned primarily with who gets to make the distinctions between work and play (and ceremony, etc.) and between waged and unwaged work and/or play and/or ceremony, etc. and how those distinctions are made, enforced, accepted or resisted.</div><div><br></div><div>To do this analytical work and communicate it, I must engage with that discourse whose underlying assumption is the struggle between labour and capital. Otherwise, most readers of my critique would put it down before they got past the preamble. The story of the struggle between labour and capital is one of the recurrent stories we tell ourselves about ourselves that make us who we are. </div><div><br></div><div>Another story is the work ethic (or "Protestant" work ethic) myth. In that myth there is no struggle between labour and capital because property is the <i>embodiment</i> of hard work. The struggle is between good and evil in the forms, respectively, of diligence and sloth. Poverty, in the work ethic myth, is the Lord's punishment for idleness, drunkenness and improvidence. </div><div><br></div><div>The struggle myth is a polemical response to the work ethic myth. There is, of course, an element of truth in both myths. Otherwise no one would believe either of them. But there is also a sense in which each myth's persuasiveness is grounded in repudiation of the opposing myth. "X is true, BECAUSE Y is false." And vice versa. There is also a good deal of cognitive dissonance in which people embrace both myths simultaneously -- "they are poor because they're lazy; I am not as rich as I should be because I've been robbed by elites." </div><div><br></div><div>The polemic also subtly reinforces what counts as labour. Or what <i>accounts</i> as labour. In conventional accounting, nature is valueless until it is appropriated as natural resources. Similarly labour power is without value until exchanged as labour for a wage (or other payment). Treating labour power as a common pool resource requires moving beyond such a selective and distorting accounting method.</div><div><br></div><div><br></div><div><div class="gmail_extra"><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jun 18, 2016 at 11:17 AM, Tiberius Brastaviceanu <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:tiberius.brastaviceanu@gmail.com" target="_blank">tiberius.brastaviceanu@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Thanks Tom for sharing this article. I am going to read it with great interest. I copied Alexandre from Ouishare MTL, who has a passion for the future of labor. <div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Here's my first gut reaction to this. </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">The underlying assumption is the struggle between labor and capital. But if our economic system is reconfiguring this relationship is no longer the same. </div><div class="gmail_extra">Peer production networks like <a href="http://www.sensorica.co" target="_blank">www.sensorica.co</a> can be seen as new ways of organizing labor, co-managing resources, redistribution of benefits, ... All the means of production belong to individuals, are co-owned or are under nondominium or commons property regimes, and they are shared according to some rules. I don't like to think of the network as an accumulation of labor, labor potential that serves capital, unless you are thinking about centralized crowdsourcing platforms that play the role of intermediary between the crowd and corporations. In the case of SENSORICA I see it as an aggregation of labor, skills, resources, for projects that are driven by the crowd, for the crowd. </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">If you bet on platform capitalism and you think that these centralized crowdsourcing platforms will rule the world, the uberization of work, then labor, as subjected to corporations for production, distribution and rewards, then you might want to think of protective measures for labor, you may want to make it possible for labor to achieve a new equilibrium of forces. </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">If you bet on peer production a la SENSORICA all this opposition disappears. </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">There is a Facebook thread where I mention our observations of capital being more and more subjected to peer production rules, from our experience with servicing corporations. </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra">Some links </div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1ABmC6YJsszlIPoL-YXU3GF-PLHY0tmQdocBExswh7Lw/edit" target="_blank">Interfaces between open p2p networks and classical institutions</a></div><div class="gmail_extra"><a href="https://docs.google.com/document/d/1F19rvACy80_0k3p32dI2NReuVkmozRvDJceaQCuf8y0/edit" target="_blank">On redistribution of resources</a> <br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div><div class="h5"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jun 18, 2016 at 12:53 PM, Michel Bauwens <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:michel@p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">michel@p2pfoundation.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">thanks Tom,<div><br></div><div>Michel</div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Sat, Jun 18, 2016 at 11:36 PM, Tom Walker <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:lumpoflabor@gmail.com" target="_blank">lumpoflabor@gmail.com</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Yes, Michel. Briefly, a few years ago I wrote a piece called "Time on the Ledger" that sketches the rudiments of a social accounting framework that could be used by a labour commons unionism. It's posted on Scribd: <a href="https://www.scribd.com/doc/44657733/Time-on-the-Ledger-Social-Accounting-for-the-Good-Society" target="_blank">https://www.scribd.com/doc/44657733/Time-on-the-Ledger-Social-Accounting-for-the-Good-Society</a></div><div class="gmail_extra"><div><div><br><div class="gmail_quote">On Fri, Jun 17, 2016 at 4:41 PM, Michel Bauwens <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:michel@p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">michel@p2pfoundation.net</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left-width:1px;border-left-style:solid;border-left-color:rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr">Could you be very specific about this Tom, <div><br></div><div>I work with post-corporate entrepreneurial coalitions and labour mutuals , and it would be of interest to me if you could explain the practicalities of how this would work ?</div><div><br></div><div>have you looked into contributive accounting systems like Sensorica's</div><div><br></div><div>how does that relate to your ideas,</div><div><br></div><div>for example: <a href="http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Interfacing_Open_Peer_Production_Organizations_with_Classical_Institutions" target="_blank">http://wiki.p2pfoundation.net/Interfacing_Open_Peer_Production_Organizations_with_Classical_Institutions</a><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div>Check<span style="font-size:12.8px">From: Tom Walker <</span><a href="mailto:lumpoflabor@gmail.com" style="font-size:12.8px" target="_blank">lumpoflabor@gmail.com</a><span style="font-size:12.8px">></span></div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Subject: Re: [P2P-F] Fwd: [NetworkedLabour] Fwd: [Debate-List] (Fwd)</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px"> Radical leisure, less work, more commoning (Eva Swidler)</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">To: P2P Foundation mailing list <</span><a href="mailto:p2p-foundation@lists.ourproject.org" style="font-size:12.8px" target="_blank">p2p-foundation@lists.ourproject.org</a><span style="font-size:12.8px">></span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Message-ID:</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px"> <</span><a href="mailto:CANz%2BBQxMmvc9SEh1Rf52GHqiJirV_6RCOUzYA_KYJGM%2BRpD8rQ@mail.gmail.com" style="font-size:12.8px" target="_blank">CANz+BQxMmvc9SEh1Rf52GHqiJirV_6RCOUzYA_KYJGM+RpD8rQ@mail.gmail.com</a><span style="font-size:12.8px">></span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">Content-Type: text/plain; charset="utf-8"</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">I hope this article sparks the conversation that needs to take place. It</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">certainly raises the issues that need to be addressed.</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">In my view, the next step in thinking about labour, leisure and the commons</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">is to conceptualize labour power as a common pool resource. Unions have</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">traditionally bargained for collective terms for individualized work</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">contracts, which reinforces the selling time for money paradigm. "A fair</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">day's work for a fair day's wage." Treating labour power as a common pool</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">resource, however, would require the development of an entirely different,</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">social accounting framework in which collective interests of security and</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">community -- commonalty, to use the Luddites' term -- are prioritized. I've</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><span style="font-size:12.8px">written a few things on labour power as a common pool resource and Paul</span><br style="font-size:12.8px"><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">Burkett discussed the concept in Marx and Nature.</span> </div><div><br></div><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br><br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></div></div></div>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div></div></div><span><font color="#888888">-- <br></font></span><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><span><font color="#888888"><div>Check out the Commons Transition Plan here at: <a href="http://commonstransition.org" target="_blank">http://commonstransition.org</a> </div></font></span><span><div><br></div>P2P Foundation: <a href="http://p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://p2pfoundation.net</a> - <a href="http://blog.p2pfoundation.net" target="_blank">http://blog.p2pfoundation.net</a> <br><br><a href="http://lists.ourproject.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/p2p-foundation" target="_blank"></a>Updates: <a href="http://twitter.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://twitter.com/mbauwens</a>; <a href="http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens" target="_blank">http://www.facebook.com/mbauwens</a><br><br>#82 on the (En)Rich list: <a href="http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/" target="_blank">http://enrichlist.org/the-complete-list/</a> <br></span></div></div></div></div>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div></div></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888">-- <br><div data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><a href="http://www.google.com/profiles/tiberius.brastaviceanu" target="_blank">t!b!</a> <div>co-founder of <a href="http://www.sensorica.co" target="_blank">SENSORICA</a>: <span style="font-size:12.8px">an open </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">value network (or open enterprise)</span><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">co-founder of </span><a href="http://aces-cake.org/" style="font-size:12.8px" target="_blank">CAKE</a><span style="font-size:12.8px">: </span><span style="font-size:12.8px">consulting for the new economy</span><br></div><div><span style="font-size:12.8px">founder of </span><a href="http://multitudeproject.blogspot.ca/" style="font-size:12.8px" target="_blank">Multitude Project</a>: informing the new multitude<br></div></div><div><br></div><div><a href="https://plus.google.com/117593809719446924575/about" target="_blank">Google Profile</a></div><div><div>Facebook <a href="http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000279944184" target="_blank">Tiberius Brastaviceanu</a></div>Twitter <a href="http://twitter.com/TiberiusB" target="_blank">@TiberiusB</a></div></div></div></div></div>
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</blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature">Cheers,<br><br>Tom Walker (Sandwichman)</div>
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