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Germany's great writer Goethe wrote of a sorcerer's apprentice who learned a magic formula to carry in more and more water to scrub the floor, saving him the work. But alas, he did not know the second half of the formula, how to end a menacing overflow. Only the sorcerer's return in the nick of time brought the magic words and prevented a catastrophic surplus. In a fairy tale of the Grimm Brothers there is a similar overflow, again thanks to magic words, but of sweet porridge. The mother knows only the words to produce more and more. After a while the whole village swims in sweet porridge. Again, just in time, the daughter returns with the word to end overproduction. The villagers are saved but must now eat their way back into their smothered cottages. Such stories might remind us of melting polar icecaps; I see them as omens of technological advances deluging the world with more of everything, except vital jobs for humans. Science and technology have moved far too swiftly, while the achievement of a decent society is too slow in arriving. And what are today's magic words?
Perhaps the more easygoing GDR [East German socialist state] alternative, if paired with sufficient discipline and order, is better in the long run for bones and tendons, for blood circulation, and especially for nervous systems. People spend so much of their lives at the workplace. Why should they be happy only when they can go home and forget their job? Or fear losing it? might have said to the engineer in Cambridge that some aspects of life may be more important than productivity, or asked him whether it was harmful when jobs are made more pleasant. For example, when plant employees pay birthday visits to pensioned workers, tell them plant news, or gossip and bring flowers, sweets, and a little cash present. My father-in-law looked forward to every such visit.
Victor Grossman, "A Socialist Defector: From Harvard to Karl-Marx-Allee" _________________________________________________________ Full posting guidelines at: http://www.marxmail.org/sub.htm Set your options at: https://lists.csbs.utah.edu/options/marxism/archive%40mail-archive.com
