The Anti-Work Library 📚
(from Antiwork Subreddit)
Essential Reads
Start here! These are probably the most talked-about essays on the topic.
The Abolition of Work by Bob Black (1985) | listen
On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (2013) | listen
In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell (1932) | listen
Alternatively, you can dive in via quotes.
Essays and Articles
If you enjoy reading comments, check out our library discussion posts.
Abolish Work!
The Abolition of Work by Bob Black (1985) | listen
No Future for the Workplace by Bob Black (1992)
Afterthoughts on the Abolition of Work by Bob Black (2015)
For a World Absolutely Other by Wolfi Landstreicher (2002)
The Mythology of Work by CrimethInc. (2018)
Does Work Really Work? by L. Susan Brown (1994)
The Right to be Lazy by Paul Lafargue (1883)
Work Sucks by Kassandra Vee (2019)
Manifesto Against Labour by the Krisis group (1999)
Abolish Restaurants - A worker's critique of the food service industry by prole.info (early 2000s)
Bullshit Jobs.
On the Phenomenon of Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (2013) | listen
To save the world, we’re going to have to stop working by David Graeber (2020)
Mobility, Meritocracy and Other Myths by Kevin Carson (2015)
Instead of work.
Seven Theses on Play by Paul Z. Simons (2010)
In Praise of Idleness by Bertrand Russell (1932) | listen
What’s the Point If We Can’t Have Fun? by David Graeber (2014)
Manifesto of the Happily Unemployed by Guillaume Paoli
Culture.
The Mythology of Work by CrimethInc. (2018)
The Tyranny of the Clock by George Woodcock (1944)
The Reproduction of Daily Life by Fredy Perlman (1969) | listen
Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price (2018) | listen
The Original Affluent Society by Marshall Sahlins (1966) (PDF)
Dark Satanic Cubicles — It’s time to smash the job culture! by Claire Wolfe (2005)
The Psychopathology of Work by Penelope Rosemont (2004)
An Illustrated Guide to Guy Debord’s ‘The Society of the Spectacle’
The language of labouring reveals its tortured roots by Jeremy Seabrook (The Guardian, 2013)
Property. Collective Force. Class Society.
What is Property? by sub.media (2016) | video
What is Class? by sub.media (2019) | video
Wage Labour and Capital by Karl Marx (1849)
What is Property? by P.-J. Proudhon (1840)
Collective force: notes on contribution and disposition by Shawn P. Wilbur (2020)
Strategy and Tactics.
To Change Everything by CrimethInc.
What is Direct Action? by sub.media (2017) | video
Why We Don’t Make Demands by CrimethInc. (2015)
Take the power back: breathing space, friendliness and solidarity at work by libcom.org (2017)
Strangers in an Alien World by Wolfi Landstreicher (2014)
True Stories of Ingenious Ways People Outsmarted Their Boss - Vice
Steal Something from Work Day by CrimethInc. - April 15, every year
Everything You Need to Know About General Strikes by Kim Kelly (2019)
No More Fake Strikes by Joe Burns (2019)
Workplace Organising Guide by libcom.org (2006)
The Really Really Free Market by CrimethInc. (2007)
For those of you who love free markets and capitalism.
- When is Capitalism Not Capitalism? by Kevin Carson (2016)
Books: Non-Fiction
Perhaps useful: f/piracy wiki
Anti-work.
Bullshit Jobs by David Graeber (2018)
Abolish Work — A Lazy Exposition of Philosophical Ergophobia by u/AbolishWork (You can also get a free PDF of this book, just message the moderators)
Instead of Work by Bob Black (2015) | PDF
The Problem With Work: Feminism, Marxism, Antiwork Politics and Postwork Imaginaries by Kathi Weeks (2011)
The Refusal of Work: The Theory and Practice of Resistance to Work by David Frayne (2015)
The Mythology of Work: How Capitalism Persists Despite Itself by Peter Fleming (2015)
The Death of Homo Economicus: Work, Debt and the Myth of Endless Accumulation by Peter Fleming (2017)
Culture.
Breaking Things at Work: The Luddites Are Right About Why You Hate Your Job by Gavin Mueller (2021)
Laziness Does Not Exist by Devon Price (2021)
Private Government: How Employers Rule Our Lives (and Why We Don't Talk about It) by Elizabeth S. Anderson (2019)
More Work For Mother: The Ironies of Household Technology From the Open Hearth to the Microwave by Ruth Schwartz Cowan (1983)
Work Without End: Abandoning Shorter Hours for the Right to Work by Benjamin Hunnicutt (1990)
Free Time: The Forgotten American Dream by Benjamin Hunnicutt (2013)
Shadow Work by Ivan Illich (1981)
Insurrectionary.
Armed Joy by by Alfredo M. Bonanno (1977)
Let’s Destroy Work, Let’s Destroy the Economy by Alfredo M. Bonanno (1987)
Situationist.
The Revolution of Everyday Life by Raoul Vaneigem (1967)
Address to the Living by Raoul Vaneigem (1989)
The Book Of Pleasures by Raoul Vaneigem (1979)
The Society of the Spectacle by Guy Debord (1967)
Communization.
The Coming Insurrection by The Invisible Committee (2007)
Getting Rid Of Work, chapter 3 of the book From Crisis to Communization by Gilles Dauvé (2017)
Automation and Utopia.
Automation and Utopia: Human Flourishing in a World Without Work by John Danaher (2019)
Inventing the Future: Postcapitalism and a World Without Work by Nick Srnicek& Alex Williams (2016)
Organized.
Anarcho-syndicalism: Theory and Practice by Rudolf Rocker (1938)
Strike Back - Using the Militant Tactics of Labor's Past to Reignite Public Sector Unionism Today by Joe Burns (2014)
History. Class Struggle.
The Many-Headed Hydra: Sailors, Slaves, Commoners, and the Hidden History of the Revolutionary Atlantic by Peter Linebaugh and Marcus Rediker (2000)
*[Workers Against Work: Labor in Paris and Barcelona During the
Popular Fronts](https://libcom.org/library/workers-against-work-michael-seidman)* by Michael Seidman (1990)
Dynamite: The Story of Class Violence in America by Louis Adamic (1931, 1960, 1976, 1983, 1984, 2008)
Working Class History: Everyday Acts of Resistance& Rebellion (2020)
Idle.
How to be Idle by Tom Hodgkinson (2007)
Doing Nothing: A History of Loafers, Loungers, Slackers, and Bums in America by Tom Lutz (2006)
Books: Fiction with Anti-Work themes
[Fear and Trembling](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear_and_Trembling_(novel\)) by Amélie Nothomb (1999)
The Beautiful Bureaucrat by Helen Phillips (2015)
[Severance](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Severance_(novel\)) by Ling Ma (2018)
My Work Is Not Yet Done, horror novella by Thomas Ligotti (2002)
Post Office by Charles Bukowski (1971) | listen
Choose Your Own Misery: The Office by Mike MacDonald and Jilly Gagnon (2016)
Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata
Apathy and Other Small Victories by Paul Neilan
The Art of the Siesta by Thierry Paquot
Short stories
Bartleby, the Scrivener: A Story of Wall-street by Herman Melville (1853) | listen
"Repent, Harlequin!" Said the Ticktockman by Harlan Ellison (1965)
Podcast Episodes
Immediatism, for "essays, provocative and incendiary".
Bullshit Jobs (w/ David Graeber) - Ep 153 of Srsly Wrong
Listen, Workaholic! - Ep 192 of Srsly Wrong
Frugality Fables and the Poor-Shaming Grift of Financial Advice Journalism - Episode 77 of Citations Needed
Self-Help Culture and the Rise of Corporate Happiness Monitoring - Ep 109 of Citations Needed
Work Sux I Know - Machinic Unconscious Happy Hour
Abolish Work - Ep 85 of Against Everyone with Conner Habib
Brian O'Connor or Adorno& Why Not To Feel Bad About Doing Nothing - Ep 89 of Against Everyone with Conner Habib
Work and the Anarchist Critique of Capitalism - Ep 2 of CrimethInc.'s The Ex-Worker
Life Beyond Work - Ep 10 of Into the Agora
Kathi Weeks, The Problem With Work - Ep 31 of Always Already Podcast
Work Is a Four Letter Word - on BBC's Seriously... podcast
Links
Special thanks to u/AbolishWork and u/contrarianprole, for helping me compile this list!
For suggestions or questions, please message u/onedayitwillbedaisy