A wider view: Labour as part of human history

Book presentation „Matrix of Labour - Materials on the History and Future of Work“

12 September 2023, IG Metall Berlin
IGZA presents seven-volume work

The Institute for the History and Future of Labour (IGZA) presented its „Matrix of Labour“ to a good 70 interested parties from academia, politics and trade unions at the IG Metall building in Berlin in mid-September 2023. „A great work,“ said economic and social historian Jürgen Kocka, praising the seven volumes of analyses, theses, statistics and graphics. Another guest speaker, Andrea Nahles, Chairwoman of the Executive Board of the Federal Employment Agency, pointed out that the studies on automation and productivity are so interesting because they represent key factors for the future of work and prosperity.

Greeting

Jörg Hofmann, 1st Chairman of IG Metall, was delighted that the presentation of the large-scale work on the history and future of labour was taking place in the IG Metall building. As a member of the IGZA Board of Trustees, he had accompanied the long process of creating the seven volumes and considered the result to be a very welcome and necessary orientation in the debates on the future of labour, the environment and global development.

The moderator Nancy Böhning, Head of Policy and Associations at IG Metall, hoped that despite the great complexity of the 7 volumes with 2,400 pages and 1,100 illustrations, the main line of analysis and argumentation would be clear to the readership and even today in the presentation - the work is not simple, but it could be helpful in the development of social and ecological perspectives.

Lectures

„A gloomy picture of the future dominates the everyday consciousness of most people today,“ said Horst Neumann, Chairman of the IGZA, stated. Many social scientists have diagnosed the failure of the Enlightenment and the end of the belief in progress, most recently Steffen Mau and Philipp Staab, for example. „From our point of view, this is only half the truth. A historical look at the development of the ‚productive and destructive forces‘ of human labour shows both: destruction and threats of a social, ecological, military and despotic nature as well as an enormous growth in the potential for prosperity, sustainability and freedom.“ History is not predetermined. „It is up to us to utilise the degrees of freedom for good work and a better life. This is the quintessence of seven years of interdisciplinary analysis of 300,000 years of savage times, 5,000 years of hierarchical agricultural eras and 250 years of capitalist market economy and production methods to date.“

The 5,000 transformation should be viewed more clearly, with all its positive and negative aspects. On the one hand, ‚civilisation‘ emerged with writing, texts, mathematics, astronomy and medicine. On the other hand, the ‚barbarism‘ of hierarchy, war and patriarchy also originated in these societies through higher productivity with scarce wealth. „This still dominates people's lives and thinking today - we have to overcome these traditions.“

The development of the productivity of labour, the central theme of the 7 volumes, presented Cornelius Markert, Managing Director of the IGZA. The first 3-fold increase occurred 5,000 years ago on the basis of agriculture with ploughs and draught animals as well as large irrigation systems - initially in the river valleys of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and later in India and China. The second, much greater leap in productivity by a factor of 90 began around 250 years ago, in the capitalist era - starting in the Netherlands and England. After industrialisation, digitalisation began in 1950, the ‚second machine age‘ with computers, the internet and AI. „The second half of productivity development in the capitalist era is still to come.“ The IGZA bases this thesis on the degree of automation of labour. In all sectors of work - in the factory, personal services, knowledge work and culture, in the state, in domestic and family work and in the skilled trades - this could increase significantly, from 25 per cent today to an average of 60 to 70 per cent in the future.

These increases in productivity would have the potential for a possible end to scarcity, as Keynes had already described 100 years ago. In a market economy based on solidarity, this potential could be realised in prosperity for all, planetary responsibility for life, democracy and freedom, and hierarchy, war and patriarchy could be overcome.

Jürgen Kocka saw in the future vision of the matrix materials „something like a social democratic utopia about future work and life.“ The Matrix materials are the product of a very extensive, thorough reception of research from several disciplines - albeit very clearly under the influence of one leading discipline, namely economics. The 7-volume work is empirically captivating and overwhelming, at the same time very reflective, intellectually penetrating and links empirical-scientific and political argumentation. „A great achievement that will be very useful for economic and social historians or social scientists of all kinds. I don't see that there is anything comparable in German literature.“.

Kocka criticised some aspects of the matrix. „For example, I don't believe that overcoming economic scarcity through increasing labour productivity will lead to overcoming social, cultural and political contradictions and struggles.“ He would also define the relationship between the terms capitalism and industrialisation differently.

Andrea Nahles was impressed by the wealth of historical analyses and insights, the long lines and the broad view opened up by the Matrix materials. In particular, the development of labour productivity was of great interest to her from a social and political perspective and, of course, as Chairwoman of the Employment Agency. The ‚second half‘ thesis is extremely exciting for the future of the German labour market. The Federal Labour Agency has ushered in „a decade of automation“. „We have joined a human-friendly automation initiative with Audi, RWE, the pension insurance company and others.“ A new dynamic in innovation and automation combined with good work could help to solve the demographically induced problems of labour shortages and loss of prosperity in the coming decades.

Discussion

Dierk Hirschel, Head of Economic Policy at Ver.di, emphasised that the public debate often focuses on the pension system and the shortage of skilled workers, while the word „productivity“ is rarely mentioned. It is therefore of great importance that there is now a work that deals with the historical development of productive forces. In view of the statement that a degree of automation of up to 80 per cent is possible, he asked whether this is profitable and feasible under the existing capitalist production conditions or whether a different form of organisation of the economy and society is necessary, such as the economic democracy also mentioned by the authors.

Claus Offe, sociologist and political scientist, explained that he was of course not yet familiar with the exact content of the „Matrix“, but found the summary and the discursive treatment of the strengths and weaknesses of the volumes very informative and stimulating and followed up with a question regarding two perspectives on productivity. On the one hand, it is about people becoming more and more productive. On the other hand, the question is what progress in productivity, if it can be measured at all, does to people. He addressed the structuring of gainful employment as a whole and emphasised that it is currently characterised by a considerable and politically uncontrollable polarisation. The word „precariat“ was mentioned by Jürgen Kocka. He referred to reports on current working conditions, in particular hyper-digital Taylorism in Amazon warehouses, where every physical activity is recorded and subject to controls. The question is to what extent this precarisation, the atomisation of work and comprehensive control are compatible with workers' desire for good work and what impact this has on social cohesion.

Cornelius Markert emphasised that empiricism is at the heart of the matrix materials and gave an insight into the rich wealth of data in the seven volumes based on the development of labour productivity.

In the long-term historical context of the history of labour, he identified two major milestones in the development of labour productivity. The first leap, which was triggered around 5,000 years ago, was a roughly three-fold increase compared to manual labour and began with the introduction of plough cultivation, initially in the river valleys of Mesopotamia and Egypt, and later in India and China.

The second leap, which took place around 250 years ago in the capitalist era, was significantly greater. It began in England, where technical possibilities and economic incentives to use machines in production came together. The first factories were built in the textile industry, and machines gradually replaced human labour, but on a large scale, or significantly increased the productivity of the workers employed. Compared to manual production in the manufacturing industry 200 years ago, productivity in industrial mass production has increased more than 500-fold. In the area of wheat cultivation, productivity has even increased more than 600-fold with „modern“ tractors, combustion engines and the use of chemicals compared to manual labour. However, Cornelius Markert also emphasised that despite the advances in automation, there are still certain activities that are less affected by this development. These include family and domestic work as well as the area known as „DWK“, which encompasses personal services, education, knowledge and culture.

Many economists are sceptical about the future development of productivity. According to the IGZA, however, the ‚second half‘ of the productivity leap is still to come. The basis of this analysis is that the core of the productivity explosion of the last 250 years was automation and that its potential is still considerable. Digitalisation would make new areas of work accessible for automation or partial automation through intelligent support systems. This applies not only to physical activities, but also to intellectual labour, education, health and also the area of non-labour work. This would also offer the opportunity to eliminate monotonous and stressful activities in these areas in the future and also to curb the escalating area of precarious work. Digitalisation is bringing a completely new dynamic to productivity development. Humanity is still in the process of understanding this technology and utilising its new possibilities for the world of work.

Download presentation slides IGZA:
Matrix of work 12.09.2023 (PDF)