Welfare as Work's Handmaiden

Writing in 1883, Karl Marx's son‐in‐law, Paul Lafargue, proclaimed for the working class “the right to be lazy”. Although he was not against labour as a concept, but only opposed the monotonous, unpleasant, exploitative work to which labourers were being subjected, this fine distinction was washed out by the triumph of the Revolution, as was any recognition of a right to live without working. The constitution of the Soviet Union, that bastion of anti‐religiosity, quotes the words of the New Testament exactly: “He who does not work shall not eat”. Emphasis on work as a national duty, a civic virtue, and an ennobling experience for the individual is an article of faith in communist states. In this respect, at least, there is very little difference between communist and capitalist societies. Throughout the modern industrialised West there is an almost‐overwhelming emphasis on the importance and desirability of work. Thus, both the religous and the non‐religious, communists and capitalists, agree on work as a societal value of the highest order.