The Labor Question
And then, of course, there was the ever present "Labor Question". The answer to this question was central to the recipe for success or failure in the new business environment.
All the new machines bought with those loans didn't run themselves. Workers had to be hired to run them. And this labor force was an unknown quantity which it wasn't easy to figure into the formula for business success. There were constant problems.
For example, there were high turnover rates among the workforce caused by the introduction of new technology, such as the assembly line. There was massive absenteeism. There was worker incompetence, as the unskilled immigrant workers just didn't know how to work the machines. And there was also deliberate sabotage by discontented workers. There was a lot of potential for disaster.
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Only management saw the big picture of how a product was produced. Each individual worker saw only a small part of the whole, such as twisting a nut on a bolt, and knew nothing of how that nut and bolt related to the whole.
What is more, it wasn't even up to the worker to decide how, and how fast, to screw that nut onto that bolt! Management told him how to do his job and how much time he had in which to do it.
This completely eliminated worker control over the job. It meant a total alienation of the worker from the job, from production stages, and any final conception of how the product was made. It meant the ideal worker was a mindless machine which didn't think about the job at hand, but just did what management programmed him to do. If the worker could've been replaced by a robot, management would've done so, because it essentially turned workers into robots.
Uit "American Labor History made easy! door Eric Leif Davin
robot (n.) 1923, from English translation of 1920 play "R.U.R." ("Rossum's Universal Robots"), by Karel Capek (1890-1938), from Czech robotnik "slave" from robota "forced labor, compulsory service, drudgery" from robotiti "to work, drudge" from an Old Czech source akin to Old Church Slavonic rabota "servitude," from rabu "slave," from Old Slavic *orbu-, from PIE *orbh- "pass from one status to another"
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“Politically speaking, tribal nationalism always insists that its own people is surrounded by “a world of enemies”, “one against all”, that a fundamental difference exists between this people and all others. It claims its people to be unique, individual, incompatible with all others, and denies theoretically the very possibility of a common mankind long before it is used to destroy the humanity of man.” Terrorism: Systematic use of violence to create a general climate of fear in a population and thereby to bring about a particular political objective. It has been used throughout history by political organizations of both the left and the right, by nationalist and ethnic groups, and by revolutionaries. Although usually thought of as a means of destabilizing or overthrowing existing political institutions, terror also has been employed by governments against their own people to suppress dissent; examples include the reigns of certain Roman emperors, the French Revolution (see Reign of Terror), Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union under Stalin, and Argentina during the “dirty war” of the 1970s. (bron : Merriam Webster Dictionary) "Si vis pacem, para bellum" (Als je vrede wil, bereid je dan voor op oorlog) Flavius Vegetius Renatus, Plato en vele, vele anderen 'So many ships,' he said. 'In such a short time, too. How very well organized. Very well organized. One might almost say... astonishingly well organized. As they say, "If you would seek war, prepare for war." ' 'I believe, my lord, the saying is "If you would seek peace, prepare for war," ' Leonard ventured. Vetinari put his head on one side and his lips moved as he repeated the phrase to himself. Finally he said, 'No, no. I just don't see that one at all.' Uit 'Jingo' door Terry Pratchett Interessant politiek opiniestuk dat verscheen op de site van de international business times: JFK Assassination: First JFK Conspiracy Theory Was Paid For By The CIA ...The Nov. 23, 1963, special edition of the magazine, Trinchera (in English: Trenches), was published by members of the Cuban Student Directorate, a CIA-funded organization based in Miami... ...Leaders of the Directorate, also known as the DRE, its Spanish acronym, received $51,000 per month in 1963 dollars ($389,000 per month in 2013 dollars), or roughly $4.8 million per year, from the CIA, according to an April 1963 memo found in the JFK Library in Boston... ...CIA Miami Psychological Warfare Operations Chief Joannides handled contacts with the DRE, according to Joannides’ July 1963 job evaluation. With the CIA’s support, the DRE engaged in “intelligence collection, political action and propaganda.”
In its Nov. 23, 1963, special edition, the DRE's Trinchera focused on comments Oswald made during a debate on a New Orleans radio program with DRE Delegate Carlos Bringuier in August 1963. The DRE asserted that Oswald and Castro were “the presumed assassins.”... Meer valt te lezen op hun site 21 november 1963, 12u30. Dealey Plaza, Dallas. De Amerikaanse natie is plotsklaps een president armer en een mythe rijker. In een open limousine, rijdend tussen horden toeschouwers, gezeten naast zijn eega Jacqueline wordt JFK doodgeschoten. Voor jongere mensen die in Europa geboren zijn, behoort deze gebeurtenis bijna tot het rijk der stoffige geschiedenisboeken. Buiten een restant collectief geheugen die er misschien de naam Lee Harvey Oswald aan linkt en ergens ooit een beeld heeft gezien van de gewraakte dag, zullen de meeste mensen (met uitzondering van enkele hobbyisten) schuldig blijven bij verdere vragen.
Af en toe is het eens goed om naar het verleden te kijken. Vandaag richten we onze blik op een 'korte' periode in de Amerikaans-Cubaanse relaties.
We zijn de laatste jaren zo gewend geraakt aan Amerikaanse troepen die op militaire uitstap gaan in Azië en omstreken dat we vergeten dat ze daarvoor gaarne andere oorden opzochten die iets dichter bij huis lagen. U weet wel, die Pan-Amerikaanse gedachte en de droom van een heel continent onder de invloedsfeer van de good ole US of A. |