Five: Boss's Orders (07-13-2022)
Early this morning I read a brief twitter thread concerning the need to separate the authentic self from the professional self, and I was immediately struck at how effective this methodology can be at preventing burnout and achieving some modicum of self-actualization in the face of a dehumanizing 40 hour office workweek. However, I immediately realized a significant problem with the disassociation possible in corporate office jobs- it flies in the face of the urgent need to create class solidarity and to enact socialist reform.
Unfortunately, a good deal of the American populace falls into a low-to-middle class grouping better defined by the typing of their work environment than by their income bracket. Office jobs are the dominant sector of work in the United States' post-industrial managerial economy. Thanks to administrative bloat, enormous government spending, and unstoppable corporate expansion, a significant amount of Americans have been saved from the unregulated outdoors and can putz away in climate-controlled well-trimmed office parks or glass-wrapped skyscrapers. A challenge that presents itself to this class is the major gap between the working conditions of themselves and the crybaby service sector, the waiters and store clerks, plumbers and manufacturers. This downtrodden, helpless and uneducated lower class can only be saved through solidarity with the heroic middle, whose physical and psychological separation is designed to slow any formation of class consciousness.
For office workers to combat this, and become the noble vanguards of the socialist revolution (and happily secure their place as administration in the new regime rather than the less-romantic and certainly uncomfortable serfs), actions must be taken to dismantle the comfort of the office environment. Office workers should start by connecting their authentic self to their professional environment. A popular managerial inspirational quote now widely circulated thanks to consulting firms and corporate conferences is the adage of "Take your work seriously, do not take yourself seriously," and in this carefully crafted credo is a major truth- by dedicating a full effort into work, especially the endless Excel sheets and wanton Word documents of an office job, and treating the self and ego as a casual afterthought, the office worker can replicate the dehumanizing conditions of the lower wage-based working class.
America's work culture shares across the classes a dedication to long hours, mindless work, and managerial hegemony. Of course, the long hours will remain in the coming socialist neo-utopia, but the mindless work can be repaired without modifying any physical conditions. By treating work, be it reaping wheat or data entry, as the sole purpose of one's existence, and deriving personal value only through the quality and quantity of work completed, the individual can achieve a state of satisfaction allowing personal comfort despite no spiritual or introspective effort. Managerial hegemony is not a concern.
Of course, the final concern of the office-bound comrade is the labor union. It is difficult to envision how a union might work in an office environment, especially since little "labor" is being performed, but also because of the risks to employee-manager relationships and possible upward mobility. Rather than forming a union, a useful tool for the hourly working class with no hope of upward mobility, office workers should focus on maintaining a positive image to their superiors and Human Resources, who exist as class equals in the fight against higher powers and the upper echelons of the economic hierarchy. Any formation of a union in this case would only serve to create more bureaucracy and technical difficulty.
Ultimately, the goal of the revolutionary office worker should be the protection of a comfortable, non-hostile work environment. The lower class, the true unabashed proletariat, will be the front lines of the transference of power from the few to the many, and when they have accomplished enough, the kindhearted corporate boards and CEOs will cede their power to those below them. Office workers should avoid engaging in behavior that undermines the working class effort for change, as it may delegitimize their efforts or risk corporate power cracking down on any efforts for progress. In the resultant neo-utopia, these passive participants in the revolution will be rewarded for their careful abstinence with the clerical and managerial administrative positions befitting them.