Finally available for the first time in a single book format, Abolish Work combines two influential and well-circulated pamphlets written from the frontlines of the class war. The texts from the anonymous workers at Prole.info offer cutting-edge class analysis and critiques of daily life accompanied by uncensored, innovative illustrations.
Moving from personal thoughts and interactions to large-scale political and economic forces, Abolish Work reads alternately like a worker’s diary, a short story, a psychology of everyday life, a historical account, and an angry flyer someone would pass you on the street.
The classic “Abolish Restaurants“ is an illustrated guide to the daily misery, stress, boredom, and alienation of restaurant work, as well as the ways in which restaurant workers fight against it. Drawing on a range of anti-capitalist ideas as well as a heaping plate of personal experience, it is part analysis and part call-to-arms. An additional piece, “Work, Community, Politics, War“ is a comic book introduction to modern society, identifying both the oppressive and subversive tendencies that exist today in order to completely remake society.
What People Are Saying
“The entire booklet is enthralling, perhaps especially so if you don’t already know what goes on behind the scenes for underpaid, non-unionized restaurant workers in the United States.“ —Brittany Shoot, Change.org
“The stress of the dinner rush, the fights with co-workers, the split shifts, the lousy tippers, the aching backs . . . It is not just random individual misfortune. It is a functional and necessary part of a larger system that creates similar conditions everywhere. Capitalist society is built on class struggle, and Abolish Work puts forward the perspective of one side in that struggle.“ —Mickey Z., PlanetGreen.com
“In this persuasive chapbook, author Prole.info utilizes words and illustrations to tell two intriguing parallel stories: first, what the food service industry entails for those who work in the restaurants themselves, and then, the political and social implications of eating establishments on local economies and working people.“ —Ernesto Aguilar, dotrad.com
“Class analysis + a critique of daily life + uncensored innovative graphics + more . . . Enjoy!“ —Gilles Dauvé
“Abolish Work on the surface looks like simple agitprop. It is expertly illustrated in stark, thick-lined drawings that are shadow-like and rudimentary. This breaks up the text and makes it more digestible, while adding a cold and unsettling feel to what is a well-researched and near perfect political essay.“ —Craven Rock
About the Author
The author is an anonymous worker whose writings and illustrations can be found on www.prole.info. “Prole“ is short for “proletarian“ a word used by Karl Marx to describe the working class under capitalism. We are all the people in this society who do not own property or a business we can make money from, and therefore have to sell our time and energy to a boss—we are forced to work. Our work is the basis of this society.