this post was submitted on 17 Mar 2025
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[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 18 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (2 children)

Historia Civilis did a very good and very concise (~25 minute) breakdown of work/free time of labour through the ages:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hvk_XylEmLo

One of capitalism's most durable myths is that it has reduced human toil....

TLDW: we used to be paid by the day, not by the hour, and we would do a little more in summer and lot less in winter and still be paid the same. Moreover, employers used to incentivise employees to work by providing free food and sometimes free lodging.

[–] bricklove@midwest.social 8 points 2 days ago

He's got some issues with his sources on this video (one is a secondary source from the 1840s for example). I want his claims to be true but take the info with a grain of salt.

One thing that tends to get left out is that peasants had a lot of work to do at home. Washing and repairing clothes, maintaining tools, cooking and preserving food, etc all had to be done by hand.

[–] codexarcanum@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Moreover, employers used to incentivise employees to work by providing free food and sometimes free lodging. [In exchange for labor]

Yes, the historical name for providing free food and shelter in exchange for a person's coerced labor is slavery, though sometimes the ruling class dresses it up in laws and calls it serfdom or indentured servitude.

[–] tetris11@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago

In the example he provides, they were compensated for their work and had homes they could go back to.

You have to remember that the plague successively wiped out a third of Europe. Employers were practically begging people to come to work

[–] SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

If "providing free food and shelter in exchange for a person's coerced labor is slavery", then isn't providing currency in exchange for a person's coerced labor slavery?

[–] Prunebutt@slrpnk.net 3 points 2 days ago

Yes, wage slavery. /j