Letters to the Editor Published on October 30, 2009 The “right” to be lazy Laziness is a complicated issue, and so controversial as to stand in the way of the drastic measures we need to take to get rid of the “absolute loafer” category that Cuba would be definitely better off without. For starters, we must define who turns out to be idle in our society, since there are people who will hardly qualify as such, like children and youths attending school, homemakers, retired persons and others with various types of disabilities. Only those individuals of working age who are physically and mentally able to study, have a job, or look after others –for instance, homemakers or caretakers in charge of a sick or disabled person– but do nothing of the sort are to be pinned down as real loafers, regardless of their sex. Our Constitution describes work as a right, a duty and an honor. What to do then about those who believe they have the right to not work? It might seem an easy question to answer, but on second thought it isn’t so. Much to our regret, a loafer may be responsible for children, parents or other people. In that case, how do we charge those individuals for the benefits they and their family enjoy without contributing anything in turn? We would have to put a sign on their foreheads to make them pay for what they get or bring shame on their beloved ones for being related to a loafer. Or else we could cut ourselves off from them, as we once did with disastrous consequences. Idleness has been treated in the light of the concept that work must be seen as a necessity. True as the idea and its practical importance may be, it’s certainly not enough. The trend to live from labor surplus is known to be as old as the surplus itself, and our loafers are experts when it comes to freeloading without making any useful return to society. Eliminating idleness as a status is more than just an economic problem or a reason for annoyance among those who do work and make a contribution: it’s a seed that germinates by bringing back everything we fought so hard to wipe out from our previous society, beginning with the exploitation of man by man, drugs, prostitution, and countless other quite negative odds and ends. After much thought, I’ve decided there’s an alternative way to allow loafers enjoy their “right” to not work: let them pay for it. And this is how: I think we should base this possibility on a study of the contribution made by production workers and fix an amount, considerably larger than the resulting figure, as a tax to be paid for those who can but don’t work. Needless to say, this tax would be increased in cases of recidivism. In other words, they must pay for the “right” to laze around! · Absolute loafers: those who neither go to school nor have a job. · Relative loafers: a very abundant species, as harmful as the former, made up of those who study or have a job, attend school and go to work, but neither study nor work. R. D. Goizueta Domínguez ---ooOoo--- Paul Lafargue: The Right to Be Lazy (1883) http://www.marxists.org/archive/lafargue/1883/lazy/index.htm http://www.granma.cubaweb.cu/secciones/cartas-direccion/cart-83.html |
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