[Pen-l] In praise of idleness

["Charles Brown" <charlesb@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

ON LINE  opinion  - Australia's e-journal of social and political debate

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=7480&page=0 

In praise of idleness

By Harry Throssell
Posted Thursday, 5 June 2008

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd seems to have forgotten his social and 
economic history, the philosophy of work and leisure, the ultimate 
goals of life. He tells workers already exhausted from very long 
working hours they are expected to do even more, forgetting that beyond 
a certain point quality of work worsens and quality of life takes a 
nose-dive.

In his book In Praise of Idleness (1935) Bertrand Russell wrote âThe 
idea that the poor should have leisure has always been shocking to the 
rich. In England, in the early nineteenth century, 15 hours a day was 
the ordinary dayâs work for a man; children â very commonly did 12 
hours a day. When meddlesome busybodies suggested that perhaps these 
hours were rather long, they were told that work kept adults from drink 
and the children from mischief.â

Russell recalled an âold Duchessâ saying âWhat do the poor want with 
holidays? They ought to work.â

Russell suggested that owing to the productivity of modern machines 
much less work than formerly was now needed to maintain a tolerable 
standard of comfort. âI shall assume, in order to be quite sure of 
being on the safe side, that four hours work a day on the part of 
adults would suffice to produce as much material comfort as reasonable 
people ought to desire.â

Perhaps a bit over the top, but in Britain in 1832 the Reform Bill was 
followed by âfierce agitation of factory hands against the hard 
conditions of their lives, particularly in the matter of hoursâ 
(G.M.Trevelyan). A childrenâs charter in 1833 produced the Ten Hours 
Bill, limiting the daily work of women and youths, and in practice also 
that of the men who could not carry on factory processes alone.

Many reforms were carried out in the next half-century to make the 
lives of workers, including working hours, more compatible with a 
healthy and satisfying life, with several leading national politicians 
in these endeavours Tories and evangelicals.

K. Rudd is a religious man. The Workersâ Charter, 1891, the Encyclical 
Letter of Pope Leo XIII, includes this passage: âIt is neither just nor 
human so to grind men down with excessive labour as to stupefy their 
minds and wear out their bodies. Manâs powers, like his general nature, 
are limited, and beyond these limits he cannot go. His strength is 
developed and increased by use and exercise, but only on condition of 
due intermission and proper rest. Daily labour, therefore, should be so 
regulated as not to be protracted over longer hours than strength 
permits.â

The eight-hour day or 40-hour week movement had its origins in 
Britainâs Industrial Revolution where large, often unhealthy factories 
and long hours severely affected the health, welfare and morale of 
working people. The working day could range from ten to 16 hours, six 
days a week. Robert Owen had raised the demand for a ten-hour day as 
early as 1810 and instituted it in his enterprise at New Lanark. He 
formulated the goal of the eight-hour day in 1817 with the slogan 
âEight hours labour, eight hours recreation, eight hours restâ.

The International Workingmenâs Association took up the demand for an 
eight-hour day at its convention in Geneva in August 1866 declaring 
âThe legal limitation of the working day is a preliminary condition 
without which all further attempts at improvements and emancipation of 
the working class must prove abortive and the Congress proposes eight 
hours as the legal limit of the working dayâ.

Although there were some initial successes in achieving an eight-hour 
day in Australia and New Zealand in the 1840s and 1850s, most employed 
people had to wait until the early to mid 20th century. But that is 60 
years ago.

The poem Leisure, by William Henry Davies (1871-1940) should perhaps be 
on K. Ruddâs mantle-piece.

What is this life if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare?

No time to stand beneath the boughs,
And stare as long as sheep and cows:

No time to see, when woods we pass,
Where squirrels hide their nuts in grass:

No time to see, in broad daylight,
Streams full of stars, like skies at night:

No time to turn at Beauty's glance,
And watch her feet, how they can dance:

No time to wait till her mouth can
Enrich that smile her eyes began?

A poor life this if, full of care,
We have no time to stand and stare.

  Harry Throssell originally trained in social work in UK, taught at the 
University of Queensland for a decade in the 1960s and 70s, and since 
then has worked as a journalist. His blog Journospeak, can be found 
here
http://www.blognow.com.au/journospeak/ 


Melbourne IWW
PO Box 145, Moreland Victoria
3058
Australia
http://iwwmelbourne.blogsome.com/ 

www.iww.org.au 


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