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Farewell to the Working Class: An Essay on Post-Industrial Socialism
André Gorz argues that changes in the role of the work and labour process in the closing decades of the twentieth century have, once and for all, weakened the power of skilled industrial workers. Their place has been taken, says Gorz, by social movements such as the women’s movement and the green movement, and all those who refuse to accept the work ethic so fundamental to early capitalist societies. Provocative and heretical, Farewell to the Working Class is a classic study of labour and unemployment in the post-industrial world.
152 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1980
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About the author
André Gorz
70 books99 followersAndré Gorz , pen name of Gérard Horst, born Gerhard Hirsch, also known by his pen name Michel Bosquet, was an Austrian and French social philosopher. Also a journalist, he co-founded Le Nouvel Observateur weekly in 1964. A supporter of Jean-Paul Sartre's existentialist version of Marxism after World War Two, in the aftermath of the May '68 student riots, he became more concerned with political ecology.
In the 1960s and 1970s, he was a main theorist in the New Left movement. His central theme was wage labour issues such as liberation from work, just distribution of work, social alienation, and Guaranteed basic income
In the 1960s and 1970s, he was a main theorist in the New Left movement. His central theme was wage labour issues such as liberation from work, just distribution of work, social alienation, and Guaranteed basic income
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 1, 2021
Andre Gorz's "Farewell to the Working Class" is an interesting, but flawed critique of Marxism and a refocusing of euro-communism on the administrative state. Gorz expands criticizing traditional Marxist economic and social thinking than he does either conservatism or liberalism, as conservatism and liberalism seem to be effects of removing politics from the administrative state. Gorz does have solid points on the way automation has changed the nature of the industrial proletariat, although his predictions that it was reaching its apex in the late 70s is somewhat hilarious under-ambitious. Gorz also has some interesting critiques of the abolition of labour and the necessary productive work, albeit at a much-reduced worktime. Gorz is right that in many ways the developed world only superficially resembles the diagnosis given by traditional Marxist economists, but ignores the places where the Marxist diagnosis is correct (the declining rates on profits as we can develop countries lower and lower GDPS and marginal rates of profit per unit despite increases in scale increasing capitalist income). Furthermore, the idea that the capitalist is just as subject to the system as the worker because of formalization and diffusion of capital into stocks and the state seems to ignore actual political developments. Still, Gorz point about central planning and the economy is sound: namely that it is not all that is promised to be by Marxists, but that was a necessary evil. There are lots for socialists to chew on, but the apologia for the administrative state of French social democratic and euro-communist left not only seems dated but ultimately short-sighted.
January 28, 2016
The book starts with an interesting critique of Marxism, tracing most of its faults to Hegel. But it ends up advocating a centrally planned economy which is weird for someone writting in the 70s.
October 21, 2009
gorz is a groovy commie; he's all about reorganizing the necessary work of society so as to permit a radical expansion of leisure time. also about creating conditions allowing for the most creative possible use of that leisure time. this is a short essay, and it's about 25 years old. both in terms of what's here & what's not, it's not 100% satisfying, though still an unforgettable book (what a welcome relief from most of what passes for "left"!). the value of this book is the conversations it can start, the seeds that it can plant in subversive imaginations (imaginations, of course, are inherently subversive).
September 3, 2019
Austrian-French activist André Gorz is not one of the better known left-wing political thinkers of his generation in the Anglosphere, but in France he is apparently considered one of the founding fathers of modern environmentalism. He is also a personal hero of my father, who is a former politician for a now-defunct far-left party here in Denmark and still active in several environmentalist NGOs. It is from him I borrowed Danish translations of two of Gorz' books.
"Farewell to the Working Class" is one of his André Gorz' known books now, as it made Gorz plenty of enemies. I can understand why - Gorz here spends more time criticizing traditional Marxist economic thinking than he does either conservatism or liberalism. Then again how many conservatives or liberals would even read a book like this in the first place? It might explain why outside of France, Gorz has been forgotten in left-wing political circles as those have for the most part either retreated into nostalgia for the social-democratic welfare state or become allergic to any self-criticism that isn't focused on purifying the line. "Farewell to the Working Class" was for me both a frustrating and insightful book to read.
The overall point that Gorz makes here is that the lot of most working people in industrialized countries now only superficially resembles the diagnosis given by traditional Marxist economists, whom Gorz accuses of having generalized from unionized industrial labour in the late 19th
/early 20th century. Which, Gorz, points out many times, is a very anomalous economic structure in the larger history of humanity. He spends more time in his other book "Paths to Paradise" (which I found much better) hammering home how anomalous modern industrial economies, be they capitalist or socialist, really are and how unlikely future economic structures are to have much in common with them at all. The real insight here is how Gorz describes the actual daily situation for more and more working people as what today is called the precariat - whose employment is constantly in an uncertain future. Gorz himself does not use that terminology himself, as he wrote this book in the 1980s.
On the other hand, I was often not sure if I understood the text as Gorz meant. Whenever he doesn't strictly talk nuts-and-bolts economic reality in the 1970s and 1980s, he resorts to writing almost exclusively in complicated academic jargon from economics, political philosophy and sociology which is largely impenetrable to non-experts. I am saying this as someone who has a Master's Degree in philosophy from university, has some interest in political philosophy enough to have been a regular contributor to a political theory journal for several years. What use is a political polemic that is completely incomprehensible to people who do not have the exact same academic background as the author, let alone the precariat whose cause it is written with the purpose of advocating for?
"Farewell to the Working Class" is one of his André Gorz' known books now, as it made Gorz plenty of enemies. I can understand why - Gorz here spends more time criticizing traditional Marxist economic thinking than he does either conservatism or liberalism. Then again how many conservatives or liberals would even read a book like this in the first place? It might explain why outside of France, Gorz has been forgotten in left-wing political circles as those have for the most part either retreated into nostalgia for the social-democratic welfare state or become allergic to any self-criticism that isn't focused on purifying the line. "Farewell to the Working Class" was for me both a frustrating and insightful book to read.
The overall point that Gorz makes here is that the lot of most working people in industrialized countries now only superficially resembles the diagnosis given by traditional Marxist economists, whom Gorz accuses of having generalized from unionized industrial labour in the late 19th
/early 20th century. Which, Gorz, points out many times, is a very anomalous economic structure in the larger history of humanity. He spends more time in his other book "Paths to Paradise" (which I found much better) hammering home how anomalous modern industrial economies, be they capitalist or socialist, really are and how unlikely future economic structures are to have much in common with them at all. The real insight here is how Gorz describes the actual daily situation for more and more working people as what today is called the precariat - whose employment is constantly in an uncertain future. Gorz himself does not use that terminology himself, as he wrote this book in the 1980s.
On the other hand, I was often not sure if I understood the text as Gorz meant. Whenever he doesn't strictly talk nuts-and-bolts economic reality in the 1970s and 1980s, he resorts to writing almost exclusively in complicated academic jargon from economics, political philosophy and sociology which is largely impenetrable to non-experts. I am saying this as someone who has a Master's Degree in philosophy from university, has some interest in political philosophy enough to have been a regular contributor to a political theory journal for several years. What use is a political polemic that is completely incomprehensible to people who do not have the exact same academic background as the author, let alone the precariat whose cause it is written with the purpose of advocating for?
June 7, 2013
Notes:
1. The proletariat cannot act as the revolutionary class under modern capitalism. He argues that Marx's conception of the w/c is basically idealist and essentially a hangover from Marx's early Hegelianism. Marx says basically that the w/c is the revolutionary class because it is, or because it must be, and thus there is no real Marxist theory of the proletariat at all.
2. the "collective ownership of the means of production" is problematic because Marx makes the wrong assumptions about the future of technological development under capitalism. Any possible autonomy within the work process has been destroyed by tech. Attempts to focus mainly on collective appropriation ends up in productivism.
3. Instead, new movements that reject work and create autonomy are better than the traditional workers' movement. the traditional unionised working class is in a small minority due to automation.
4. Centrally planning the economy is a necessary evil, not a positive good. it is necessary to have the sphere of autonomy opposed to this sphere.
1. The proletariat cannot act as the revolutionary class under modern capitalism. He argues that Marx's conception of the w/c is basically idealist and essentially a hangover from Marx's early Hegelianism. Marx says basically that the w/c is the revolutionary class because it is, or because it must be, and thus there is no real Marxist theory of the proletariat at all.
2. the "collective ownership of the means of production" is problematic because Marx makes the wrong assumptions about the future of technological development under capitalism. Any possible autonomy within the work process has been destroyed by tech. Attempts to focus mainly on collective appropriation ends up in productivism.
3. Instead, new movements that reject work and create autonomy are better than the traditional workers' movement. the traditional unionised working class is in a small minority due to automation.
4. Centrally planning the economy is a necessary evil, not a positive good. it is necessary to have the sphere of autonomy opposed to this sphere.
November 2, 2021
You can always leave your job, but what do you do when your job leaves you? French Anarchist Andre Gorz, a leftist Cassandra, predicted the rise of the "temp" economy, "gig" jobs, and the plummeting of trade unionism in the capitalist countries decades before it all came true. (This sad decline has also happened in the underdeveloped capitalist world, e.g. Brazil and India.) For that, he took a lot of heat from Marxists, myself included. If the left is to remain relevant or just plain survive, it must forge a new strategy based around time, not salary, and intersect with struggles around women's and racial minorities.
January 28, 2014
Amazing essay. Gorz was far more on the ball than his post-war Sartrean/Humanist orientation might suggest. The contemporary left and the union movement have yet to catch up with his (still) futuristic insight.
February 17, 2022
Na verdade não tenho tanto pra falar sobre esse livro por que não é um dos meus gêneros preferidos e muito menos um assunto de meu interesse.
De maneira geral, o autor aborda muito bem sua tese, mas de uma forma muito elaborada e complicada. Não consegui compreender por completo o objetivo do livro e as vezes me sentia confuso por sentir que o assunto havia mudado de repente.
Não tenho como fazer uma resenha sincera e que possa ser levada em consideração por aqueles que querem ler o livro... Gostei, mas com certeza preferia ter lido outra coisa.
De maneira geral, o autor aborda muito bem sua tese, mas de uma forma muito elaborada e complicada. Não consegui compreender por completo o objetivo do livro e as vezes me sentia confuso por sentir que o assunto havia mudado de repente.
Não tenho como fazer uma resenha sincera e que possa ser levada em consideração por aqueles que querem ler o livro... Gostei, mas com certeza preferia ter lido outra coisa.
June 3, 2024
Interesting analysis, not too dated despite being 40 years old. Thoughtful on the goal of struggle being the end of work, not the ownership of the means of production per se. Quite utopian towards the end.
considering
December 30, 2015André Gorz reconoce sólo a una fracción del proletariado como relacionada con las nuevas líneas comunicativas de producción en Farewell to the Working Class.
Imperio Pág.298
Imperio Pág.298
February 16, 2008
Wow did this prove wrong. France has job-sharing-like short work weeks but it isn't working
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews