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Added 2023-09-01 19:29:36 +0000 UTCIt's here! Just in time for Labour Day! Tick-Tock!
I happen to remember precisely where and when it was that I had the idea to explore this topic. It was January 1st of 2023, and I was reading the book by Juliet B. Schor that I mention in the opening of the video. I had also read an article years earlier about Medieval French Peasants not working for 6 months out of the year. My mind was flashing back to that article as I was reading Schor's book, and the connection between those two ideas basically served as a backbone for my research. It's...disturbing that we're now in September and I'm still executing on an idea I had in January. Tick-Tock indeed!
This is also the video where I had about 15 additional minutes written on a topic NOT QUITE RELEVANT to the central point of this video, so at the last possible moment, in the final draft, I lifted that entire section out. I don't want to say what it was because in the future I may go back and do some additional research to make it into its own video. Not right away, but some day, perhaps. You've been warned.
I mostly don't read YouTube comments, but if anybody complains about the video being very political, let them know that history is also very political! And also that getting mad in the YouTube comments is cringe. And also that I don't care.
Anyways, ENJOY THE VIDEO! :)
Comments
Very interesting, thanks!
Astrofix
2023-12-13 22:48:15 +0000 UTC"You see this line here and this line here, and how they intersect here? That's why people have to starve so Bezos can buy another Yacht" ah economists....
IHaveAName
2023-09-30 19:09:37 +0000 UTCSo, is this ever gonna get published?
Lukas
2023-09-29 10:31:21 +0000 UTCVery interesting video! I think history class made me believe that that medieval worker's days in the field were long and difficult. I always saw the industrial revolution as the real peak in exploitation, thinking that we had it better now than ever before. Thanks for opening my eyes on this topic.
Tristen Krijgsman
2023-09-29 09:46:37 +0000 UTCWow! This video was extremely eye opening for me & aggressively interesting. The detractors saying they want more history videos are a tiny bit deluded. Its strange to me that people are mad about a political video when almost every video this channel has ever put out is about Politics. Save for a few videos about tunnel bears and the such.
Jack Stone
2023-09-28 18:49:54 +0000 UTCGonna add my opinion to the mob by saying communism is great and youre amazing
Steph Bingham
2023-09-28 15:35:00 +0000 UTCIt does seem pretty clear that hunter-gatherers work(ed) a lot less than agricultural workers (I've heard figures of ~3 hours per day). But on the minus side: the wars among hunter-gatherers for territory that can sustain their populations were extremely deadly compared to wars in agricultural societies, because under agriculture you fought wars not just for land but also for the peasants who worked that land so you could tax them. Archeology indicates that before the neolitic revolution ~25% died violently every generation, after the agricultural revolution it drops to ~1%. So downgrade in terms of hours, but upgrade in other aspects, just like with the transition from agricultural to capitalist society.
Maaruin
2023-09-27 22:41:56 +0000 UTC@Aidan Peet The argument "It wasn't real communism" is asking please don't judge communism on prior attempts of implementing a communist system. Well, please judge attempts of capitalist system. They raise more out of poverty than any other. The part about crony capitalist is saying I will fight with you against it because we can do better.
Michael Ehrmann
2023-09-27 06:04:55 +0000 UTCUpdate: I figured out a hella good recipe for iced black tea that I can make at home with no corporations required. Sorry gonna go join the revolution now.
Davoo
2023-09-26 21:40:35 +0000 UTCAccording to objective reality...There has never been a better time to be alive. That's just a fact. I thought this was a good video. There are obviously downsides to Capitalism and systems can always be better. Nonetheless, I would choose to live under Capitalism a million times if given the choice.
BananaJesus66
2023-09-25 17:06:41 +0000 UTCHe often did and does other videos in between his roman series. Im sure it will continue
lukasagbriel33
2023-09-24 16:58:26 +0000 UTCI like this video! I strongly believe in the free market and the freedom of the people. And in my opinion most importantly it isn't "Capitalism is bad let's try communism" but a very nuanced opinion.
lukasagbriel33
2023-09-24 16:57:42 +0000 UTCIf nothing else these have been the best comments 😂 I’m amazed so many people give a fuck to get butt hurt on one persons opinion 😂 I respect y’all’s passion
Scott Walker
2023-09-24 15:41:23 +0000 UTCIt'd be interesting to see because the capitalist work model has spread all over the world, how the work day looked in wildly different parts of the world, not just Europe. The comparisons between work free days a year in Spain, France and Britain were interesting but of course just represents a small part of the world... It was definetly interesting to hear about how much the average worker in neolithic times spent on work. I wonder if the shift to agriculture was also a downgrade in terms of hours, Youval Harari makes that claim in his book Sapiens.
adhd lama
2023-09-24 13:18:07 +0000 UTCDamn. rude
Urbar Kattel
2023-09-24 02:52:18 +0000 UTCMan it really doesn't take much reflection on capitalism for people to call "socialist"
Azhini
2023-09-23 02:06:39 +0000 UTC“It wasn’t real capitalism bro”
Aidan Peet
2023-09-22 03:45:28 +0000 UTCThis was a really great video. You're really onto something.
Jodie Davidson
2023-09-21 02:16:16 +0000 UTCI mean to be fair the iced coffee shops are pretty sweet
Davoo
2023-09-20 17:16:15 +0000 UTCAccording to who? Capitalist institutions?
Ivan Vlad
2023-09-20 16:45:18 +0000 UTCAn evil empire that has given the best quality of life the world has ever seen.
Ryan L
2023-09-20 14:29:20 +0000 UTCI think this video is one of the best you've ever made, and while the reaction is expected, I think it is unavoidable when making such a stark shift from straight history to something more opinionated. I for one welcome your perspective, I think there isn't a lot of discussion about the history of how we got here in discourse, and your voice is one I value.
Bennett Dupuy
2023-09-20 04:00:28 +0000 UTCI can see some of your fans are unhappy with this one. Understandable! The Rome content is a splendid power fantasy, being powerful lil squares playing chess with other squares. Nobody likes being reminded that 1: we're still living under an evil empire right now and 2: we're all stuck as rectangles spinning out with a spear in our abdomen.
Davoo
2023-09-20 02:33:17 +0000 UTCGreat video about a very important topic!
Ivan Vlad
2023-09-17 20:10:42 +0000 UTCI liked the Video a lot! Thank you very much!
Marcos
2023-09-16 20:03:08 +0000 UTCSad you don't read the comments much, there's sometimes some good stuff there, but yeah, for this one I can imagine not.
Thomas Gymer
2023-09-16 17:56:34 +0000 UTCIt's an insult to good honest psychopaths to compare them to these fuckers.
Thomas Gymer
2023-09-16 17:55:24 +0000 UTCI understand the symbol isn't always about violent revolution; my point is the people I know who were victims/survived the violent revolutions, they're not going to take it any other way. I hypothesize many modern (predominately american) movements to be unaware of how other peoples perceive their rhetoric and symbolism
Scoop4435
2023-09-16 06:46:09 +0000 UTCI would think that the problem is not the evil capitalists, but a few rotten eggs. Once one exploits efficiently, they make headway so fast that others need to ajust. If you are a worker and find a better way to do a job, the others will follow. If the thing you are doing is wrong the company will take notice. However the employer sees the other company doing better and possibly putting him out of business, so they will continue to try and overtake each other until the government takes notice and steps in.
Deimi KK
2023-09-15 20:41:26 +0000 UTCDude, it is about workday, not the economy. The economy can ajust and resize. If it cannot, then it has overstayed it's welcome and alas, so have we.
Deimi KK
2023-09-15 20:32:56 +0000 UTCI have no idea where you guys get the "Socialist good, capitalist bad" ideas from this video? Yes the capitalists are mentioned many times as being the one's who exploit, ofcourse they are, they are the one's who can. And no I don't know the reason why, nor am I a historian to research such a concept. This video provided me with a different view on work hours and workdays. And it would seem I have had a hunch for a awhile that 5 days of hard work has not been the best way to deplete my energy. Some youtube dude told me about the weekend wednesday a while back. I might try and apply that somehow to my life and workweek. And before someone says that I am a commie: I vote for the capitalist party on my home turf, so sod off!
Deimi KK
2023-09-15 20:22:34 +0000 UTCWe work a lot because it makes the rich more rich. If profits were shared more equitably with you, you might be able to work less!
Sam Steinmetz
2023-09-15 03:48:03 +0000 UTCIt's not capitalism that attempts to free you from being a slave. It's the government. You think capitatists wouldn't want to exploit your labor more if they could? The only difference between feudalism and modern day capitalism is that society has stepped in to limit the power of your boss over you. Think about it a little bit. Still plently of poor serfs out there too
Sam Steinmetz
2023-09-15 03:44:31 +0000 UTCLol
Luke Maxwell
2023-09-14 21:33:16 +0000 UTCRight? Like it isnt my cup of tea but damn people are getting maldy over this
Tom (Gallalad)
2023-09-14 20:41:43 +0000 UTCBeing an economist honestly makes you even less qualified to talk about this
Scott Hibbs
2023-09-14 20:03:20 +0000 UTCdoesnt matter when the living conditions of our time is objectively getting worse.
Rowan Murphy
2023-09-14 18:25:37 +0000 UTClast i checked anyone could write their opinion anywhere, choke your own salt and actually listen to the video.
Rowan Murphy
2023-09-14 18:24:33 +0000 UTCthis is a history video lol
Caleb Jones
2023-09-14 02:41:35 +0000 UTC@Martin I left a reply below and I'll copy it here: The Soviet states were considered a "transition" state. Communism is supposed to be stateless and moneyless; Soviet Russia was neither. The reason being is Stalin took power and was like "That's crazy" and just left it as a authoritarian regime. The objection you make is a pretty common one, but even China today, which calls itself communist, is far from it. The reason communism hasn't actually manifested, and the reason the Soviet states never transitioned out of that unjust state of authoritarianism is because how can a stateless society defend itself from being invaded? It can't. There's no army. Consequently, a communist state necessarily can't exist as described unless our military spending and standing armies radically decrease worldwide. *Socialist* states, however, could exist. In a socialist state, the workers own the means of production. This means no bosses. This is what so-called communist states used as the basis of their government seizing all production, but socialism need not necessarily manifest in this manner. Check out Chomsky. His view, anarcho-syndicalism, provides another basis for socialist markets, and it's well-thought out. Essentially, workers would *literally* own the means of production. Basically, all workplaces would become co-ops, and for larger systems, policies are enacted through voting. I recommend doing some reading on it, it's super interesting. In other words, socialist workplaces already exist: they're co-ops. There are no bosses, the workers own the factory/business, and they decide as a group what they're going to do or what policies to enact. It's possible.
Adam Washington
2023-09-13 00:17:58 +0000 UTC@Philipp I admire you for being open to criticism and receptive to alterative viewpoints. It's not possible for a lot of people!
Adam Washington
2023-09-13 00:17:52 +0000 UTC@Ryan L it actually wasn't. The Soviet states were considered a "transition" state. Communism is supposed to be stateless and moneyless; Soviet Russia was neither. The reason being is Stalin took power and was like "That's crazy" and just left it as a authoritarian regime. The objection you make is a pretty common one, but even China today, which calls itself communist, is far from it. The reason communism hasn't actually manifested, and the reason the Soviet states never transitioned out of that unjust state of authoritarianism is because how can a stateless society defend itself from being invaded? It can't. There's no army. Consequently, a communist state necessarily can't exist as described unless our military spending and standing armies radically decrease worldwide. *Socialist* states, however, could exist. In a socialist state, the workers own the means of production. This means no bosses. This is what so-called communist states used as the basis of their government seizing all production, but socialism need not necessarily manifest in this manner. Check out Chomsky. His view, anarcho-syndicalism, provides another basis for socialist markets, and it's well-thought out. Essentially, workers would *literally* own the means of production. Basically, all workplaces would become co-ops, and for larger systems, policies are enacted through voting. I recommend doing some reading on it, it's super interesting.
Adam Washington
2023-09-13 00:15:07 +0000 UTC@ultrabeep check out the socialist calculation problem. I've been doing research and articles on it, it basically explains why the market is the only economic institution that can solve the complex issue of economic problems.
Martin of Hungary
2023-09-12 17:23:14 +0000 UTCI'm an economist and I can confidently say that if you criticise capitalism in substance, i. e. the core idea of it, you will 100% get ridiculed in the profession. And with good reason.
Martin of Hungary
2023-09-12 17:21:58 +0000 UTCYou actually can't, there is no way to implement socialism other than authoritarianism. Voluntary action WILL result in voluntary exchange, and thus, capitalism. The USSR is not a pathological example, it has always been the ultimate form of socialist experimentation.
Martin of Hungary
2023-09-12 17:21:02 +0000 UTCIronic considering socialist countries had the most boots to tread on people in the whole of history, while capitalists didn't.
Martin of Hungary
2023-09-12 17:19:26 +0000 UTCAs an economist all I can say is, please stick to making history videos <3
Martin of Hungary
2023-09-12 17:16:30 +0000 UTCFucking seriously? A video rambling about socialist insanity and shitting on the greatest economic system ever, which is capitalism? What a fucking disgrace.
Y.R. Music
2023-09-12 10:14:52 +0000 UTCNice to see the historical perspective on what feels like a solely modern issue to us today
Gabe Flota
2023-09-12 04:31:33 +0000 UTCI've never been more disappointed in a Historia Civilis video. This truly feels like a regurgitation of socialist ideals without presenting the opposing side. Thank god we live in a society where we can chose how we want to live and who/what we work for rather than being outright property of the state. (But times are changing and people like this are the reason...)
Jon
2023-09-11 22:27:47 +0000 UTCEasy there, buddy. I know it's a good time to be alive; it's just a joke.
Tichael Murner
2023-09-11 19:58:11 +0000 UTCThis video feels like bad history with lot of reductionist generalizations; grouping together 17th century mercantiles, 19th century industrialists, and modern day capitalist societies into an "evil capitalist" monolith is an overly broad stroke and feels ideologically charged. Comparing the pure working hours of fundamentally different societies (agrarian vs modern industrial ones) paints a very incomplete picture. Also, calling the bad practices of 19th century textile factory bosses "fascist" is really playing fast-and-loose with the term to the point where it's meaningless, especially considering fascism hadn't even been invented yet. It's pretty lowbrow rhetoric.
Ryan L
2023-09-11 19:48:07 +0000 UTCYour peasant ancestors did not live a better life than you, fool
Ryan L
2023-09-11 19:43:18 +0000 UTCWar communism in the Soviet Union was the most direct adaptation of Marxist policies ever implemented in a society and led to the deaths of millions.
Ryan L
2023-09-11 19:41:11 +0000 UTCA hellish landscape that has led to you being the benefactor of the best time to ever live in human history.
Ryan L
2023-09-11 19:28:33 +0000 UTCAgreed. People play way too fast and loose with the term 'fascist' now, equating it to mean anything authoritarian. It's completely lost its original meaning.
Ryan L
2023-09-11 19:27:08 +0000 UTCBased
Nicolas Peschek
2023-09-11 16:00:31 +0000 UTCVid Goes hard Regardless of how people think about work, I found the percentages of days worked super interesting. I work more than a medieval farmer! At least that farmer and I can enjoy one thing in common, the fact that after hearing that percentage compared to the modern one- we’d both need a beer
PaiHuaiTe
2023-09-10 20:09:07 +0000 UTCThis video is less about capitalism and more about abusive power dynamics. - Like most of history is.
larry82
2023-09-10 19:19:42 +0000 UTCOkay but I'd still rather work for a modern company than be a serf in medieval Europe. The rise of Capitalism brought us from being dirt poor slaves(serfs) with ZERO education to a society where I am now typing on an advanced machine which would NEVER have been invented under a non capitalist society. I challenge this community to share with my large scale innovations invented by communist regimes. Also I'd like to make the point with clocks in the workforce. While I do not believe in treating your employees poorly but 'Capitalists' wanted to control the clock (manipulation) to make more money. if the employee had a clock then they'd know the Managers were cheating them. The modified clock did Further company profits. I do not buy that all capitalists are evil and simply did this for control to be evil.
Jon
2023-09-10 18:18:41 +0000 UTCWhenever there has been two different groups of any kind, there has always been a 'struggle' along any point which they meet. Like any other point between two things, a sort of friction. Friction sometimes makes conflict. Personally, I think only Marxists and British people are so univariately obsessed with class and think that way. Even then, It's not like the classist struggle is the only catalyst of human development, or even the main one... If it's not clear from the start, I like your comment, and don't even disagree with anything-I just think we can apply this idea generally and without needing to attach even any particular ideology to it.
Atespeach Mokou
2023-09-10 00:39:58 +0000 UTCLoved the video! Btw is the Rome/Octavian series done now or is there more to come?
Miibez
2023-09-10 00:29:21 +0000 UTCI don't think being anti-Caesar in the context of the Late Republic correlates to modern anti-capitalism.
Caesar2877
2023-09-09 22:01:39 +0000 UTCThe comments on this one are gonna get saucy
Paolo Spica
2023-09-09 04:16:04 +0000 UTCStep 1: Demand shorter work weeks. Step 2: ??? Step 3: Profit (starve 100M people)
Christian Sexton
2023-09-09 03:30:22 +0000 UTCThe video included a lot of the perks of the work life, the ones we could benefit from in the prosperous and developed modern society. If you watched the video it would be clear that the freedoms aren’t dying of dysentery or getting the plague.
Einar
2023-09-08 19:15:41 +0000 UTC”were” demons
Einar
2023-09-08 19:09:32 +0000 UTCReally amazing video here. Though I’m surprised to hear that we don’t live in a futuristic capitalist utopia where the benevolent employer and free market decide everything for the good of all (lol).
Will S (ObserverWill)
2023-09-08 17:22:53 +0000 UTCThank you for your thoughtful reply. You're right; the binary perspective that many have adopted, largely influenced by historical events like the red scare, can be limiting. It's essential to understand that the actual practice of societal structures often exists in gradients rather than stark black and white. Being from Switzerland, where we have a more balanced system that focuses on the well-being of workers, it can sometimes be challenging for me to fully relate to some of the more extreme narratives surrounding capitalism or communism. I felt that the HC video leaned heavily in one direction. The irony in my original comment was aimed at highlighting this contrast, rather than dismissing any particular ideology. I agree with you that society should be run with nuance, and we should always be open to learning and adapting. Labels can often be restricting, and we should strive for systems that work best for the unique needs and contexts of individual societies.
Philipp RF
2023-09-08 13:19:12 +0000 UTCDelicious, hard iron with a tinge of “fuck off”
Nonnononononononno
2023-09-08 04:14:25 +0000 UTCHow's that boot taste?
Grant LeVasseur
2023-09-08 04:02:09 +0000 UTCAdding to Daniel's well made argument, Communist states have never actually fully followed the doctrine of Marxism either, so your point is redundant. You can rightfully criticise the Authoritarian rulers of the Soviet Union AND Capitalist psychopaths!
Jesse McGonigle
2023-09-07 18:54:19 +0000 UTCThis is the best - and perhaps most important - video Historia Civilis has ever done. Bravo, sir, bravo!
Jesse McGonigle
2023-09-07 18:49:35 +0000 UTCHonest history always has an element of polemic, and good history can never be anything other than honest history. But this is not polemic. This is dogma. It's lazy, reductive, vague, makes sweeping generalizations across vast swathes of an entire continent across several centuries, and is predicated on notions for which the evidence is scant at best. I love Historia Civilis, but this is quite simply not good history.
Nonnononononononno
2023-09-07 14:36:26 +0000 UTCI think your criticisms are well-thought and reasoned, even if I disagree with them. Historia Civilis doesn't really go into what makes capitalism coercive. Vaush (who is controversial himself and who I do not watch) has a good, if vulgar, analogy for what makes it coercive. Basically the argument he makes with the analogy is that capitalism is coercive because you either rent your body out to an employer or starve. Search "coconut island vaush" and you'll find it. I'd also recommend watching what Chomsky has to say about Adam Smith, for a socialist perspective on him. You'd probably be surprised to hear that Chomsky doesn't really disagree with Smith at all.
Adam Washington
2023-09-07 01:21:47 +0000 UTCI love that you begin with a "fact", and I do agree there are some imbalances. We can be better. However, I have seen many people quit jobs before. Outside of the military, where does the government in the US force a person to continue to work for an employer? Where is the "force"? My former job as a recruiter would have been easier if we could have forced people to take a job
Michael Ehrmann
2023-09-06 15:54:04 +0000 UTCDamn why does he always come out with straight up fucking bangers everytime! I watched twice and im probably still gonna give it a third watch
Connor McPherson
2023-09-06 13:31:57 +0000 UTCThe fact of the matter is that capitalists all over the world used the power systems of government and their wealth to overpower workers and force them to work horrible conditions for shit pay. If that's not true capitalism, nowhere on earth has ever had true capitalism. The "freedom to contract" idea falls apart as soon as you realize that there is an immense power imbalance from employers (who can offer unilateral contracts and hire at-will) to employees (who *need a job to survive* and will take whatever jobs they can get) and there is an inherent need for some sort of regulation to prevent capitalists from just abusing their workers. There never is true freedom to contract if the employee is in desperate need of some work and has no legal protections.
ultrabeep
2023-09-06 13:13:00 +0000 UTC@Scoop the fist symbolism is not about violent revolution, at least not anymore. It's a very common symbol of solidarity for POC, working class, etc. His call for change was not for violent revolution, it was for longer breaks from work using our modern government structures (or else he wouldn't have mentioned our administrative power). People push back on those who say "what about small, incremental change instead?" because small, incremental change clearly isn't happening and, to lots of people (myself included), it's silly to make baby steps when we can just fix the issue whole cloth.
ultrabeep
2023-09-06 13:09:17 +0000 UTCThat's not what Buxton said. There are plenty of ways to organize an economy that's not capitalist *or* serfdom, like socialism for example. I, for one, think a market structure that puts the speculative value of a portion of a company over the value of human life and happiness is a really shitty system, and that's what capitalism does.
ultrabeep
2023-09-06 13:07:14 +0000 UTCanother based history video, you love to see it
ultrabeep
2023-09-06 13:01:23 +0000 UTCAnything you don’t agree with is “violent revolutionists” im sure you make the same unfounded claims to anything you don’t like politically. Bottom line is that the majority of people are upset and responded nonviolently in the polls and demonstrations. And the minority responded violently in the capital
Lavar Ball
2023-09-06 05:37:22 +0000 UTC“Certain social freedoms” = the right of the commons, religious observances, social/cultural festivities. You’re still fundamentally misunderstanding what this video is discussing, and that is specifically how the nature of work changed between pre-capitalist and capitalist societies. It is not “during serfdom everyone was free and happy”.
RM-L
2023-09-05 16:25:02 +0000 UTCWhat are those freedoms ffs? Freedom to be conscripted because there's a war every 5 years, freedom to be punished because I said something unworthy to my feudal lord, freedom to die of dysentery, bubonic plague or measles? Utter nonsense.
Jakov Vodanović
2023-09-05 16:20:04 +0000 UTCGreat video! I think those criticising the video as somehow stating that peasants had it better than capitalist workers is a misreading of the content: we are demonstrably wealthier/more developed thanks to capitalism (as Marx himself states), but this has meant an evaporation of certain social freedoms that were held in pre-capitalist societies. Look forward to more content like this comrade HC!
RM-L
2023-09-05 10:31:01 +0000 UTCHe directly quotes a Canadian Socialists multiple times throughout the video, it is inherently political. I don't agree with all of his points or conclusions but it is a interesting and well put together video as always. Using other quotes historians or commentators than George Woodcock would have strengthened the overall theme and message as well.
Samuel Kuivenhoven
2023-09-05 05:47:04 +0000 UTCGreat video, a little sad it didnt drop right on labor day on yt though :(( i would've fit right in
Lad’s Tour
2023-09-05 04:19:23 +0000 UTCThis is such a well put and thorough video, which is entirely unsurprising coming from you, HC. I think it does a great job of portraying the degradation of the working class' position since the Industrial Revolution. Would you say you agree with a Marxist or Marxist-leaning view of history as being moved by the struggle between classes? As you said, even in pre-industrial societies there was conflict between the workers and landowners who profited most directly from their labour, I just find it fascinating that the Industrial Revolution really ratcheted up the exploitation. Great video all around!
Will McVey-Schindel
2023-09-05 04:15:34 +0000 UTCLoved this vid! Really gives so much more context to the communist revolution. Capitalists were demons.
Anirudh
2023-09-05 04:03:22 +0000 UTCHope the huge anti capitalism sentiment sweeping big parts of the youth is going to go somewhere. I'm baffled to hear my ancestors (I'm french) had it better than me. Great work HC, with love
Henri Loshouarn
2023-09-05 03:02:05 +0000 UTCIt's political because he chose to make it that way and even indicates so in this exact post. The issues pointed out in the video originated with mercantilism, not capitalism. Additionally, the workers chose to leave the fields as feudalism came to an end, that's also not addressed or mentioned, either. Instead it's a sort of jarring cut to textile workers and/or industrialism. It would be intellectually dishonest to release the video in the current state, IMHO. These issues should be addressed to make a better quality video, that's all I'm saying.
Nick Weltha
2023-09-05 01:58:43 +0000 UTCRevenue-Wages comparation ALWAYS have a missing part, the number of active workers increased too. I think societies are a bit more complex than they were 500 years ago so that improvements need to be carefully implemented, not looking back, but looking forward. Optimizing production, not productivity. Productivity is a lie, production isn't. Anyway, good work as always.
Mario Gonzalez
2023-09-04 18:48:46 +0000 UTCI love the video and the sentiment imbued into it. We have nothing to lose but our chains, right?
Anastasia Montes
2023-09-04 16:01:55 +0000 UTCSuch a good video, amazing (or depressing?) how many people will defend the indefensible for the dream of one day being the oppressor rather than the oppressed!
tom weedon
2023-09-04 12:23:24 +0000 UTCI mean, it's only political if you make it so? Surely all that is being said is that workers deserve more time to themselves and a higher quality of life from it? So the only way that is political is if one "side/party/group" is trying to go against that mantra?
tom weedon
2023-09-04 11:54:25 +0000 UTCthis is such a large issue when talking about left wing politics in the western world, the red scare has caused people to think that societal structure needs to be one or the other, ignoring the fact that society should be run with nuance
AzzaRudders
2023-09-04 10:10:30 +0000 UTCIf a bell went off at 4 AM i don't think I would even hear it!
Morrissey the Vegan Bore
2023-09-04 04:34:06 +0000 UTCI'm happy for the video overall and somewhat agree with your main points, but feudalism != mercantilism != capitalism. One existed before the other and I think a good argument that the clock-based exploitation of labor existed and/or started under mercantilism. Sure, it didn't get any better under capitalism, but the reason why people weren't up in arms about the issue during mercantilism is because no one dared question royal decree and oftentimes aristocratic or royal money were involved in these industrial business ventures. As the merchant classes replaced feudalism, workers *chose* these conditions over land labor because they preferred it, too. In some cases it was more consistent pay without risk of a bad harvest, in others it was a chance to live in more modern living conditions. As bad as it might sound to have worked as a textile laborer, it was still often preferable to working in a cold or hot field all day. I don't think there's really a clear "line" as to when mercantilism was fully replaced by capitalism, though, either, so I'm not sure how to fix this and perhaps its still best to just use the term "capitalism" in some places. Still, I think it's pretty important to distinguish mercantilism from capitalism or at least mention mercantilism here. This wasn't a strictly capitalist problem, it was an inherited problem from mercantilism, and in some cases, the working classes preferred this type of work over land labor even if it was more strict on time. Not going to lie, I'm disappointed with the somewhat one-sided nature of the video at present. I think you can do this entire video without sounding political or at least phrase it as an issue with Mercantilism that was inherited by Capitalism.
Nick Weltha
2023-09-04 04:31:39 +0000 UTCGreat video HC! Is following the Medieval workweek the reason your upload schedule is so long? Lol
fignewtonbar
2023-09-04 04:09:31 +0000 UTCYes? Have you ever worked a full-time job? If you are in America, you literally have to work at least 40 hours a week to be offered reasonable health insurance. If you are not, many places offer 32-40 hour a week contracts. Could you choose to get a part time job? Sure. If you aren't wealthy to begin with you won't be able to afford rent, food, etc. Almost all people aren't foolhardy enough to let themselves die or be homeless. So yes, we are being forced to work this much to survive. Society and bosses are literally en masse holding people's lives hostage to make them work for 2/3 of their waking lives instead of 1/2.
Daniel Seehausen
2023-09-04 03:33:48 +0000 UTCDon't listen to any of the nonsense on here about the video HC. Great points made in a fascinating fashion. We need to work less, and that isn't even directly a socialist idea. Medieval peasants were not socialists. Socialism did not exist. Capitalism changed society, that is an inarguable fact. Some things were made better, but not acknowledging and working to improve the things it made worse is just some strange grandstanding for an ideology.
Daniel Seehausen
2023-09-04 03:31:07 +0000 UTCIs anyone forcing you to work this much? Do you want to force me to work less? As a person from ex-communist state Im quite honestly disappointed by this video, it is one sided and based only on socialist views. The early industrial history of labour is surely difficult, however portraying 'the capitalist' as an alien demon is simply hurtful. Because of the following I will be unsubscribing, I hope that you will go back to making quality history videos based on better historiography.
Kacper Gajewski
2023-09-04 01:16:28 +0000 UTCincredible. yet another banger from HC, you literally cannot miss.
Steph Bingham
2023-09-04 00:14:09 +0000 UTCI have to say, after the Octavian and Anthony Saga finished, or at least the Civil Wars finished, I was unsure what kind of video was to come next. I have never been good at expecting the topics of the videos not on Roman history, but I have always enjoyed them nonetheless. That goes double for this one - for me at least, this becomes an instant HC classic :D
chsgs
2023-09-03 22:53:44 +0000 UTCThe fact that you have to bring up the USSR when talking about a problem in society that needs to be fixed show how one sided your being. You can acknowledge the problems of capitalism and want to fix them without wanting a USSR styled government. C'mon man
Tanner Della Rocca
2023-09-03 22:45:37 +0000 UTCLast time I checked the history books, it was the communist "utopia of the USSR" that had to put up a guarded wall and an order to kill if a worker wanted to leave for a "fascistic and inhumane capitalist" country. 😉 Love HC vids; I just feel like this is a little one-sided.
Philipp RF
2023-09-03 22:07:11 +0000 UTCExcellent video as always, HC. I greatly recommend you the book (if you haven’t read it) Technics and Civilization (1934) by Lewis Mumford. Mumford, a historian and sociologist of technology, details human history with developing technology and its effects. He eerily predicts our modern tech-obsessed society and it’s imperfect fruits of labor. One quote in particular that describes everyone listening to something at all times (today’s Spotify, podcasts, YouTube videos come to mind) changed my behavior with consuming entertainment.
Walker Kinsler
2023-09-03 21:25:54 +0000 UTCFantastic video. Really well done.
Jonathan Perkins
2023-09-03 20:02:17 +0000 UTCDo you really think serfdom is a better system Buxton?
Tangent
2023-09-03 18:35:37 +0000 UTC@Scoop4435 Don't worry about it, they're just being typical rose-brigade "anything less than violent revolution is unacceptable" belligerent types. What you wrote was reasonable.
Tangent
2023-09-03 18:26:39 +0000 UTCbased on what?
Tangent
2023-09-03 18:22:36 +0000 UTCI kind of laugh at people who thought HC was less ideological. He's been very anti-Caesar and then anti-Octavian throughout the Rome videos. And then anti-Capitalism seems to be the trend of most YouTubers today. IMHO he's been very consistent. One can disagree with what he says (as an anti-socialist I don't) but I strongly do NOT think he has made a turn for the worse. Keep up the good work.
Patrick Siu
2023-09-03 15:52:09 +0000 UTCDon't listen to the haters HC, you're a real one for this!
Always your comrade,
2023-09-03 15:03:29 +0000 UTC'Companies that work more are more successful' is not true, more and more companies are moving to 4 day work weeks because they are simply more efficient and allow the workers to work harder on those 4 days than they otherwise would over 5 days. People work a lot because they either have to, or they want to.
Buxton
2023-09-03 13:12:34 +0000 UTCRoy Olsen sounds like a populist politican with all the random personal attacks. The fact that you strawmanned my whole objection into something you mock about me when you know nothing about me baffles me. Shameful, but what to expect of someone who thinks that working on field is menial😂
Jakov Vodanović
2023-09-03 07:22:30 +0000 UTCAthanasius writes complete and utter rubbish: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life_expectancy
Jakov Vodanović
2023-09-03 07:18:31 +0000 UTCDisagree with the politics and some of the conclusions but still another banger of a video, very insightful and made me think. I don't think the "YouTube comments section audience" will be as kind to this political lens of history, and bid everyone good luck surviving the free for all that the comments will devolve into 🪖🪖
Max Carrell
2023-09-03 07:14:30 +0000 UTCDude will make any excuse to justify profits he will never see. Dude has never experienced modern war but insists that we are all cowardly children. He actually believes he is incapable of any menial medieval work despite never having tried any. Bro literally would rather watch youtube shorts for 5 hours alone than carouse at the pub, loving his fellows. Jakob Vodanović is a slave and LOVES it.
Roy Olsen
2023-09-03 07:06:36 +0000 UTCBring me back, 'capitalists' didn't make our world, people did with their actions. Jeff Bezos doesn't isn't what a Honda Civic almost runs me over every night!
William Knapp
2023-09-03 06:21:20 +0000 UTCI have a way of understanding the world, which is that 'evolution explains everything.' The communist screed doesn't change that. We work a lot because it works. Covid gave us more remote work, unions gave us weekends, free agency exists, companies that work more are more successful.
William Knapp
2023-09-03 06:08:07 +0000 UTCAmazing work as always! Nice change of subject, and a most relevant one at that.
Widow
2023-09-03 00:30:41 +0000 UTCHow can a “non-wage laborer” work in a sweatshop, when those places literally pay by the day? I know how rural people work in my country, and they’re far closer to medieval Europe than modern-day USA. Our local, urban wage *slaves*, on the other hand, work 45 hours a week for peanuts.
Athanasius Kirchner
2023-09-02 23:52:29 +0000 UTCThat’s a very nice defense of exploitative, deranged capitalists, but actual anthropological evidence shows that medieval peasants in England didn’t just have more leisure time than industrial workers all the way up to the late 18th century, they were also much better fed and led longer lives. This video is completely based, unlike a lot of capitalistic propaganda. https://www.ox.ac.uk/news/2017-04-18-highs-and-lows-englishman%E2%80%99s-average-height-over-2000-years-0
Athanasius Kirchner
2023-09-02 23:14:10 +0000 UTCI agree with everything you said James.
Jakov Vodanović
2023-09-02 22:46:18 +0000 UTCHis Twitter is SUPER Based
Joshua Evans-Lowell
2023-09-02 22:34:30 +0000 UTCI disagree with quite a lot too. Especially the sweeping statements regarding people, places and time periods. I highly doubt medieval Royalty, Nobles and the land-owning elite in general tolerated much in the way of laxity when it came to working the fields. Also, it would have varied greatly, like with all things. And while "medieval workers", as wide and far reaching a group of people possible so as to make the term practically irrelevant, may have rocked up to work whenever they wished, HC is assuming I feel that their boss would still have paid them correctly. What's to stop a Baron from saying his serfs were lazy and just not paying them, using his legal authority, force of arms, or hiring people more in need of pay/food/housing or whatever to take their place. I am personally very happy with having a fixed contract of employment that guarantees my hours, pay and other things. I worked as a temp for quite a while, where I had probably 60%+ of the year off of work and I've never been unhappier, work was uncertain, I woke up at 6am every day wondering whether or not I would get work that day and thus any money. Fortunately I lived at home and so my survival wasn't at stake but still. Assuming that every single day labourer throughout history had steady pay, and fixed employment is crazy. Not to mention, you could get levied without pay for who knows how long to fight some war where you'd probably die from disease and if you didn't, be sent home whenever you weren't needed anymore without any loot won. This video really fails to highlight the differences in quality between our lives today and those of our ancestors. Like most people nowadays make it out of childhood, that's new and amazing and thanks to the innovation made possible by the vast increase in wealth and reliable industry created by the industrial revolution. Yes, the life of the average farmer probably wasn't very different for most of human history, that's not a good thing. 100 years before humanity set foot on the moon, wooden ships were still the norm, horses were still the most common method of transportation, the car hadn't been invented yet and man couldn't even fly yet. There were 100% cruel and downright evil industrialists and capitalists. But to generalise and say every one of them is an evil fascist is just poor historical work. History is political, and it's a good thing for us to be able to peacefully disagree. And I'm sad to say I'm disappointed in this video, I'm used to a much higher standard of work, but this one is poorly sourced, heavily biased and misses huge amounts of info in grand generalisations. A shame honestly, but, that being said, I still look forward to your future videos, they are always interesting regardless of how I think or feel.
James W Harris
2023-09-02 22:16:00 +0000 UTCCan someone explain to me what I said that made people think I'm uncomfortable or opposing of change? Genuine question - I'm not neurologically normal and am confused by the three responses above. I was trying to emphasize that his ending might be interpreted in a way he didn't intend and it might make his message be received better to make a few, minor changes. I never criticized his message or the video. I was trying to provide helpful feedback. If he wants to associate with the violent revolutionaries that's fine. If he didn't mean it that way, a couple tweaks be in order. I have no dog in this fight and support him either way.
Scoop4435
2023-09-02 22:06:53 +0000 UTCPeople are pissed, youth voter turnout is at a record high. Even if it makes you uncomfortable, change is happening
Lavar Ball
2023-09-02 21:54:14 +0000 UTCInteresting points by everyone here. As an aside: when I worked my first office job, I had a cubicle next to the break room. I can assure you the office workers are only working an average of 4-6 hrs per day if you extract out breaks and leisure time. The factory workers in the warehouse next door, however, were definitely working 8+ hours per day. Extremely anecdotal, but I do wonder if there's something to blue vs white collar experiences as a whole.
Scoop4435
2023-09-02 21:33:47 +0000 UTCGrumbling is a normal part of human behavior, and as the video itself mentions, happened plenty in medieval societies too, even with much more lenient labor practices. It's not a question of whether or not people want to complain. Complaining is free and people do it constantly; it can't measure anything of value. The question is whether or not people are willing to devote their time, money, and labor to put pressure on governments to effect political change, and that's what I'm talking about when I say the political will isn't there to lower working hours any further.
Adam H
2023-09-02 21:02:51 +0000 UTCWhy should he drop the revolutionary call? The state of affairs nowadays is shit, and can be improved by people working together to improve things. Why are you against improvements to our economic system and society? And on another point, how many people have died across the world from famines and poverty caused by capitalist explotation the last hundred years? The answer is not far off how many Mao and Stalin killed.
Buxton
2023-09-02 20:45:55 +0000 UTCCapitalism isn't the sole reason why people do work beyond their farming fields though. And most people do not accept 40-hour work weeks without grumbling or plenty of PTO, only Americans or other devleoping nations with poor labour laws do.
Buxton
2023-09-02 20:43:39 +0000 UTCCapitalism has nothing to do with the development of democracy. Democracy existed thousands of years before capitalism...
Buxton
2023-09-02 20:37:44 +0000 UTCThat's pretty typical of people who think capitalism is the be all and end all of economics.
Buxton
2023-09-02 20:36:17 +0000 UTCI feel like a lot of people in the comments are mixing up capitalism with innovation.
Adam Babcock
2023-09-02 18:55:36 +0000 UTCThe fact that this video manages to imply that the greedy boss was an invention of capitalism is simultaneously hilarious and utterly disappointing coming from Civilis. You would think that with his knowledge of Roman history and figures like Crassus he would know that that's just not the case, and leaders have always demanded as much as their ego permits from those under them. In the example of the wheat fields, the work simply wasn't extremely labor intensive, so there was no incentive for the bosses to be strict. He even makes this point himself in the video. People were allowed to go home only when the work was *done*. In an agricultural society, there were enough hands around a little enough work to do that the work could be done in a relatively short amount of time. That same philosophy of workers going home when the work is done is a constant thread that weaves its way well into the era of capitalism, it's just that the work is never done anymore because we are no longer limited by the rate at which plants grow.
Adam H
2023-09-02 18:42:04 +0000 UTCLove the video! I expect the YouTube comments to be dire.
Altinia Holdings Inc
2023-09-02 18:27:54 +0000 UTCIf you want proof that there used to be a lot more time off just look at cricket, the english made a game that's played in the summer that takes 5 days to play one match
Liam Pender
2023-09-02 17:56:27 +0000 UTCthe ticking clock is giving me anxiety... kinda proves the point I suppose
Liam Pender
2023-09-02 17:41:19 +0000 UTCIt's weird because all his other videos are usually so well researched and well thought out, this one was a bit of a disappointment. You can rail against capitalism as much as you want, but to imply serfs had a nicer time all around is just ridiculous.
Jakov Vodanović
2023-09-02 16:39:34 +0000 UTCTempus delenda est!
Emperor Claudius
2023-09-02 16:19:36 +0000 UTCThanks a lot HCiv. It's one of those videos we didn't know we needed. You never disappoint.
Michaël Leclerc
2023-09-02 15:35:01 +0000 UTC@Caudex I disagree; fascism is a far more complicated and insidious force as Andrew mentioned, and constantly crying wolf is a great way to destroy the public's vigilance.
Adam H
2023-09-02 15:20:46 +0000 UTCSomething I also thought was implicit but wasn't addressed was the change in leisure time. The modern worker works more, but also spends their free time doing more interesting things than just lounging around. I think most people if given the choice between a) more leisure time, but you just have to sit there and b) less leisure time, but you do more interesting things during that time, would pick the latter. Sort of feels like the video misses that angle and cuts short of all of the labor reforms that the period addressed spurred into action.
WannabeNerd
2023-09-02 15:20:11 +0000 UTCUnbelievably based
Nick Brenneman
2023-09-02 15:13:54 +0000 UTCBlahblahblah, famines in India, Bangladesh, Ireland, capitalism uses slave labor to this day.
Caudex
2023-09-02 15:08:29 +0000 UTCI loved this maybe even more than Peace...? (1814)
Devin
2023-09-02 14:54:40 +0000 UTCI gotta be honest, I was NOT expecting this for the next video, but I very much welcome it
McKay Hall
2023-09-02 14:36:47 +0000 UTCNice.
LiterallyJudas
2023-09-02 13:50:37 +0000 UTCDamn, unorthodox video for HC. Something we can really connect with. - "No price is too high to pay for the privilege of owning yourself."
x
2023-09-02 13:44:03 +0000 UTCI disagree with some of the conclusions, while indeed the beginning of Industrial Revolution was a pretty ugly time for workers, the increase in productivity, while certainly stressful, brought many things workers in medieval times lacked such as security from war, famine and disease (especially if you compare today's way of life). To be honest, from all your other content, I thought of you as more analytical and less ideological than you seem to be in this video. Just by watching your video, people might come to a conclusion that living a peasant's life in the medieval period was easy-going and happy which simply isn't true, most modern people would kill themselves living two weeks in the 15th century. Also, a quick question, why were capitalists in the 18th century fueled by self-interest and search of profit, while aristocrats in the medieval period were not (at least that's how the video portrays them)? Not to mention how important capitalism was for development of democracy which ultimately reduced the work demands.
Jakov Vodanović
2023-09-02 13:44:00 +0000 UTCHappy Labor Day, don’t forget that you have nothing to lose but your chains!
Michael West
2023-09-02 13:43:18 +0000 UTCThis video ruined my day 11/10 will share with everyone I know when it comes out on YouTube
Spectra
2023-09-02 13:32:38 +0000 UTCSuggestion: maybe tweak the ending just a little? Hear me out: The video did a great job of staying relevant to the clock topic and it's impact (even if it was a tad heavy handed on anti-capitalism, it was focusing on "those" capitalists). Overall a fantastic analysis on an important topic I have always been fascinated by. However.... The ending felt a bit too socialist-revolutionary. A call to action followed by a bunch of fists .... a little too close. Knowing several people who risked their lives by abandoning everything to escape the tyranny of the hell holes which used that very fist imagery and call to action to commit atrocities in the name of worker's rights: they wont respond well to that ending. Not mentioning the 50+ million slaughtered by Mao and 20+ million by Lenin ans Stalin, nor the chaos in Argentina to this day. I'm not attacking you - I loved the video! - and I know you definitely didn't intend for it to be taken that way. But if you see this, please consider dropping out the fists and leave the call to action as a nudge and not a revolutionary call. People will say what they say about politics and capitalism and socialism. But that ending isn't going to be received the way you intended. Either way you have my continued support and I look forward to what comes next :)
Scoop4435
2023-09-02 13:16:38 +0000 UTCWill watch because I love this channel, but pretty disappointed in the topic, and the comments. Seems like a non-HC video.
Charles Wood
2023-09-02 12:28:58 +0000 UTCThank you Comrade Civilis
erratic750
2023-09-02 11:56:34 +0000 UTCInteresting video with some more discussion could be followed up with. For example, is the commodification of things such as water, housing and travel related to people having to work more to pay for it. Thus having less time to cook food, repair clothing and furniture. So you need to work more to pay for those things as well. It's an neverending cycle (Rise of food delivery apps are kinda horrifiying). I also fund it terrifying that the 8 hour work week became popular in the industrial revolution and ever since then there has been no big push to change it. Even with better tools to make work more efficient and claims that in the future we will not work more. Instead we work more, with less time to do things and for less pay. All in order to cut costs and raise profit.
Erlend
2023-09-02 10:55:48 +0000 UTCThanks for a beautiful morning!
Vláďa Palička
2023-09-02 06:40:45 +0000 UTCThe history of work is interesting, but the thing about capitalism is, it is you own your own labor. It takes both sides to enter a contract. A capitalist who uses fascistic tactics is not a capitalist, and a capitalist government only enforces a contract. It doesn't coerce entering one. Now, there is such a thing as crony capitalism, too. That isn't capitalism as the name implies. You were reading socialist's point of view. I suggest John Locke and Adam Smith as well for some counter arguments. They don't change the history of the clock and how much we used to work, but as you mentioned, there used to be not much we could spend our money on.
Michael Ehrmann
2023-09-02 06:23:09 +0000 UTCWow, great video, didn't know almost all of this, thank you for your content, it is priceless
Lucas
2023-09-02 04:33:09 +0000 UTCI recently joined a pretty traditional Orthodox Church. I had been interested in joining for a while, and my biggest obstacle was negotiating my work schedule to be more compatible with the traditional calendar. Christmas, pascha, etc. In medieval societies, there were many saint days that were holidays or days in which you would work only partially. There was times of special significance carved out for fasting, etc. The liturgical year reinforced a natural human rhythm. I think the Protestant instinct of "rationalising" the faith was an unfortunate contributor to the suppression of the natural liturgical year, and an ally to the early industrialists. (although to be fair I'm quite biased in my opinion) The churchmen that accepted money to ring that bell should have remembered that you cannot serve God and Mammon.
Alexandros Katanas
2023-09-02 04:22:25 +0000 UTCGod damn this is good. Very relatable stuff… working labor day myself. Well done as always!
Henry Shelton
2023-09-02 04:02:59 +0000 UTCSurprised me too, we have nothing to lose but our chains!
Lucas
2023-09-02 04:02:43 +0000 UTCexcept for his Cicero love
Smallbusinessman
2023-09-02 03:39:53 +0000 UTCEducating people on this is so important . To most people pre modern work culture seems radical, fantastical, or even just silly by today's standards. We need to break free of our capitalist brains - a better world is possible!
Cameron Cooke
2023-09-02 02:23:47 +0000 UTCThis one is actually killer. Watched it with my dutch friend sleep deprived at 3am. Based and well researched, The revolution shall be heralded by a SICK bass drop
Philly Hodges
2023-09-02 02:17:15 +0000 UTCI can't wait to share this once it goes live on YouTube. Until then, I get to ruminate and contemplate my existence in this hellish, Capitalist landscape.
Tichael Murner
2023-09-02 01:47:53 +0000 UTCYou’re video has given me so much to think about. Very interesting!
Aubrey Ellen Isaac
2023-09-02 01:42:42 +0000 UTC@Adam H Yes! It's a mistake to conflate the conventional with the natural. The work culture of medieval Europe was the result of social conventions born out very different material conditions compared to what we live under today. This also gets to the fact that this video has a heavy Western bias with the "history of labor" it wants to present here. The work culture of medieval Chinese peasants, for example, was much more intensive than that of Europeans because rice agriculture was more intensive. As Malcolm Gladwell states in his book "Outliers": "Working in a rice field is ten to twenty times more labor-intensive than working on an equivalent-size corn or wheat field. Some estimates put the annual workload of a wet-rice farmer in Asia at three thousand hours a year."
Andrew Wenger
2023-09-02 01:32:01 +0000 UTCFascism is the ideology of ethno-nationalism, i.e. "blood and soil." The fascists weren't "pure" capitalists, but weren't pure socialists either. They supported labor and suppressed it whenever convenient.
Andrew Wenger
2023-09-02 01:00:21 +0000 UTCMother anarchy loves her children!
Elemér Kubán
2023-09-02 00:45:06 +0000 UTCI just became subscribed to the patreon and this is the best present I could have asked for. This is why Historia Civilis will always be one of my favorite creators.
Nolan Widmer
2023-09-02 00:38:06 +0000 UTCWait? HC is based?
Sam
2023-09-02 00:33:15 +0000 UTCUsing force to fight against labor is one of the only genuine definitions of fascism, it's definitely not eroding the definition.
Caudex
2023-09-02 00:31:49 +0000 UTCBased, people need to understand that our modern work culture and hustling 24/7 is not normal
Meme Trash
2023-09-02 00:04:36 +0000 UTCone of the most important videos (as in, videos that everyone *needs* to see) you’ve ever made. bravo sir. will be sharing it with everyone i know once it is out on YouTube
Chai
2023-09-01 23:49:11 +0000 UTCHC I absolutely adore this video. Phenomenal research, phenomenal point.
Wesley Nooter
2023-09-01 23:36:23 +0000 UTCYou're a brave little square. I didn't expect this topic to be nearly as blatantly put as you did. I thought you'd play it far safer, especially with more recently moving to this full time. Loved it tonnes and I look forward to sharing the YouTube version around.
frostedflakes
2023-09-01 23:25:33 +0000 UTCIncredible video!
A Large Adult
2023-09-01 23:14:57 +0000 UTCThe video being fuzzily around 30 minutes is the perfect touch to it
Heaven
2023-09-01 22:57:38 +0000 UTCFantastic work! Challenged my worldview a lot and while I don't think I ultimately agree I do appreciate the very well-argued vid. Post-credit scene is LOL.
Faris Natour
2023-09-01 22:25:14 +0000 UTCTick Tock Indeed? Are we going to get an HC TikTok incoming?
Prad K
2023-09-01 22:24:35 +0000 UTCholiday periods: speak for yourself North American ;) threre are civilised areas in this world :P The table about days off at ~13 mins looks weird. adding up on the left side but not on the right is unintuitive. IDK if its worth to change that.
Lukas
2023-09-01 22:23:42 +0000 UTCBased<3
tomfii
2023-09-01 22:20:06 +0000 UTCI would be a skeptical about the days-off number as well, but the article by the Adam Smith Institute is extremely superficial and cites no sources at all. It also doesn't talk about the work pace (fast and slow days, summer wages and winter wages), which is a big chunk of this video. Also, 3 hours per week to run a household in modern times is definitely too low a number. From what I have read so far it is not entirely clear if we work less or more than a medieval peasant. (It is clear that during the industrial revolution people worked a more than both us and the medieval peasant.) This video by Historia Civilis only shows one side of the debate, which is unfortunate, but it is still a lot better than the Adam Smith Institute article.
Maaruin
2023-09-01 21:55:33 +0000 UTCAs a union organizer for student workers, this video was a *natural time chunk* of pure bliss. Gonna share it with everyone I know when it drops live 💪🏻
Ria Mayer
2023-09-01 21:49:59 +0000 UTCgreat video as always!
Josh Rohloff
2023-09-01 21:44:20 +0000 UTCHistoria Civilis Marxist Leninist Arc
SteelyDan32
2023-09-01 21:41:51 +0000 UTCThis was really interesting! I'll have to read more into this, thank you.
Alicja
2023-09-01 21:38:19 +0000 UTCI was so happy to see you cover this topic and lead with that quote! Based af
Puggernauts
2023-09-01 21:32:43 +0000 UTCTo elaborate a bit more on this, one thing that Civilis fails to mention is that there's only so much work that *could* be done in a pre-capitalist society. Once the field is tended to, people go home because that's their job and it's done now. There was no endless stream of supply and demand for goods and services that could be met for as long as the person was willing to meet them. Once this became something that could be done, elongating working hours to exploit this new opportunity was the natural course of action in the capitalist pursuit of maximum efficiency to outcompete their neighbors. Capitalists were then able to demand as much as possible from their workforce because this new reality of labor was unprecedented, and governments and culture had no idea how to deal with it. As such, much of the next few centuries was spent trying to figure all that out, including fighting for the right to set maximum working hours. That fight went on for a long time with workers on one side and corporate interests on the other, and we appear to have reached the equilibrium of 40-hour work weeks. In a sense then, 40-hour work weeks could be considered the natural amount that humans are willing to work in a society where an endless amount of work exists to be done, a situation that is hardly comparable to Stone Age and medieval societies and is an entirely new paradigm. It doesn't appear that there's enough political will anymore to push that number any lower, despite plenty of attempts to get such movements going. Leftists would probably attribute that to capitalist brainwashing, and who knows, maybe they're right, but a much simpler answer is just that people think the 40-hour work week is fair enough that they'd rather take advantage of the 36% or whatever it was of time they do get off than fight to raise that number any higher. Perhaps society would be better off if that number did go higher, but arguing that our current working hours are unnatural in a society that in no way mirrors those of the examples you're giving is an argument I don't find particularly compelling.
Adam H
2023-09-01 21:19:14 +0000 UTCJust finished it—I really dug this video. I emailed you a while back about The Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People's History of Ancient Rome. I would recommend revisiting it, especially since it's very in line with your thinking here. Parenti argues that Caesar in essence established a dictatorship of the proletariat in reaction to the rampant dysfunction of the Senate and the hostility it held toward reformers like him (exemplified by the brutal assassinations of the Gracchi brothers). He argues that Caesar's fundamental belief was that the Senate would 1) never allow him to make the reforms he thought were badly needed, and 2) had homicidal antipathy toward reformers like him. Parenti argues that populist reformers were faced with this reality: either they let the aristocracy filibuster them, delay bills, and let plebians starve, or they try to work around the Senate. And so Caesar had no choice but to take power to enact reforms that would benefit the common people. I do not like authoritarianism, so even if I think Caesar's policies toward the poor were good, his actions were likely not justified and played a direct hand in the fall of the Republic, though obviously that was in motion for a while. But if it were not Caesar, in my mind, it would have been another Sulla. I'm not sure how much you'd like the book even though your political leanings are very close to Parenti's based on this video and some of your tweets in 2020 (thinkin' about abolishing cops, haha). He assails Cicero non-stop, and frankly, tears him a new asshole repeatedly. I know how much you like Cicero, so if nothing else, that would definitely put you off. Anyway, great video as always. Glad to be a patron. Pay no mind to the chuds, and by that I don't mean any right-winger, I mean the specific kind that refuses to hear out things like this. There are some people in these comments who disagree with you politically but still watched the video to hear what you have to say, which is good imo. As for anyone else, it's just noise.
Adam Washington
2023-09-01 21:11:07 +0000 UTCGreat video!
Caleb Jones
2023-09-01 21:09:35 +0000 UTCFrance would eventually get the standard work time to 35 hours per week. They have holidays and time off, quite a lot of parental leave for new parents, so I am not sure what this would end up being. Many countries are having issues with pensions. I wonder if the workday and holidays meant the hours per work week were sufficiently low, older people, as society gets older, could participate more, in tasks that could be more fulfilling to them. Once the life expectancy even of persons who lived to be adults was relatively low where a death in the mid 60s was common, now something like over a third of British women will live to be 90, a significantly less than half die before 80, and something like a tenth will live to be a hundred. If you live to be that old, what do you do with yourself for 30-40 years? Work itself can provide autonomy and a source of power, something people find purpose in, but if you do it in this kind of overly regimented and profit oriented manner, people want to retire early to get away from it and don´t participate the way they could in a stronger society.
Robert Jarman
2023-09-01 21:05:16 +0000 UTCTHESE. PEOPLE. ARE. DEMONS.
T G BYAM SHAW
2023-09-01 21:03:34 +0000 UTCI once read a paragraph written by Kroptin who was doing some back of the envelope calculations about how much working time was necessary to sustain society. It was rough, of course you would do much better with more data, but it was remarkable how much less he thought could be done.
Robert Jarman
2023-09-01 21:00:15 +0000 UTCWhile I will admit to being politically inclined to disagree with videos like this, I'm perfectly willing to watch it and give it a chance. That being said, watching a creator I respect contribute to the gradual erosion of the meaning of the term "fascist" to just general authoritarianism that you don't like with an offhand comment was rather disappointing. Aside from that, go for it I suppose. The value and necessity of increased working hours is in the competitive advantage it provides both to individual corporations and nations as a whole. If you can talk the whole world into lowering the hours worked, things might move a bit slower and nations be a bit less rich, but it'd likely be a net positive for human health and happiness. That is, of course, extraordinarily ambitious however. And with the prisoner's dilemma nature of the problem, trying to get some pieces to move without working on all of them at once is very unlikely to succeed.
Adam H
2023-09-01 20:56:25 +0000 UTCI think the context is voluntarily exchanging labor for compensation. Spinsters and freeholders are effectively self-employed, and serfs/slaves aren't voluntarily exchanging their labor. Just seems out of scope more than anything.
Caudex
2023-09-01 20:53:05 +0000 UTCWhat is the working day like today for non-wage laborers in developing countries and sweatshops? It's awful, much worse than the working day for most wage laborers in the US. This is just comparing wage labor before and after the advent of mechanical time and industrial capitalism in Europe, not saying that everyone worked or lived like this - although it is arguing that it's a natural way to be, which is of questionable utility depending on how you value "natural" but is certainly supported by the anthropological/sociological evidence.
Eddie Hock
2023-09-01 20:48:34 +0000 UTCOne thing I hesitate on a bit with this video is that your basis of comparison is a medieval wage laborer. But wage labor simply wasn't very common in pre-capitalist periods. What was the working day like for a small freeholder? For a serf? For a slave? For a woman (spending less time in the fields and more time spinning textiles)? Those seem to be much more important questions for comparing modern and historical work hours. Maybe you left it out because it doesn't change anything; but it just struck me as a big hole in the argument.
cheetah7071
2023-09-01 20:41:40 +0000 UTCYou didn't pick up on that in "Peace... ?"?
Ryan Cowdy
2023-09-01 20:35:16 +0000 UTC🤣🤣🤣 Lotta people about to get mad with this one ✊️🔨
Ryan Cowdy
2023-09-01 20:34:06 +0000 UTCThis is a deep topic. Honestly I don’t know if we will ever have enough ambition to change things. Corruption just always seems to sneak it’s way into even the most just of people. It’s quite depressing.
Tyler Jones
2023-09-01 20:33:54 +0000 UTC(I'm joking, if it wasn't obvious)
Adam Washington
2023-09-01 20:29:41 +0000 UTCDid you even read the comments on the piece you shared? Several people noted that they misinterpreted Schor.
Ryan Cowdy
2023-09-01 20:24:58 +0000 UTCA political video? Literally 1984. Go back to Roman history, which is absent of politics and very safe and comfortable and has no parallels to to the modern day
Adam Washington
2023-09-01 20:24:56 +0000 UTCThere is a lot to back up what is asserted about medieval work, particularly in terms of the long, loafing winters and many church holidays. These are largely gone. And I also think we can see in the net results that there is a reasonable definition of working too much. China, currently, is pushed by their government to work "996" - 9AM to 9PM six days per week - and their birthrate has crashed to zero. Compare that to the developed world where it is just below replacement. Birthrate has a nearly perfect inverse correlation with hours worked, and I would argue a very good positive correlation with happiness. But you don't have to take it from me, you can take it from, well, you sent a link from an org called "Adam Smith," so let's just see what the original thinker had to say on this topic circa 1776: "The wages of labour are the encouragement of industry, which, like every other human quality, improves in proportion to the encouragement it receives. A plentiful subsistence increases the bodily strength of the labourer, and the comfortable hope of bettering his condition, and of ending his days perhaps in ease and plenty, animates him to exert that strength to the utmost. Where wages are high, accordingly, we shall always find the workmen more active, diligent, and expeditious, than where they are low; in England, for example, than in Scotland; in the neighbourhood of great towns, than in remote country places. Some workmen, indeed, when they can earn in four days what will maintain them through the week, will be idle the other three. This, however, is by no means the case with the greater part. Workmen, on the contrary, when they are liberally paid by the piece, are very apt to over-work themselves, and to ruin their health and constitution in a few years."
Erik Hare
2023-09-01 20:24:21 +0000 UTCYour entire objection is based on the mouthpiece of the Tobacco lobby...
Caudex
2023-09-01 20:24:17 +0000 UTCNot critics of my sources? This entire video is based on a single book.
Jonathan Keogh
2023-09-01 20:21:59 +0000 UTCI'm thrilled about this topic! I just want to let you know that every time you've deviated from ancient history, you've still made top tier content. Don't let the naysayers bug you. EDIT: just finished the episode. This is one of your finest videos. Well done sir!
Peter A
2023-09-01 20:20:49 +0000 UTCGreat as always, don't let the whining babies convince you to censor your content to remain apolitical. If you're trying to view history without the lens of labor and politics you're getting an incomplete image.
Caudex
2023-09-01 20:17:33 +0000 UTCIt figures you'd link a political thinktank... Are you not critical of your sources at all? The entire site and organization is dedicated to pushing a specific idea, it's operated and funded by the people who profit from spreading labor misinformation. The fact that this is what you value as a credible source shows you give LITERALLY no scrutiny. This is a privately owned think tank funded by clandestine industries who hide their participation. One industry that gives a lot of funding to this political think tank is the Tobacco industry, one that NEVER lies or intentionally misleads people, right?
Caudex
2023-09-01 20:12:40 +0000 UTCNot gonna lie, I've had a crappy week, and this is exactly what I needed to feel better. Thank you, comrade.
guppthegoose
2023-09-01 20:07:09 +0000 UTCHe is basing his entire argument on an incorrect assumption. Schor's book, which makes the assertion, is not highly rated among Economical Historians. https://www.adamsmith.org/blog/regulation-industry/medieval-peasants-really-did-not-work-only-150-days-a-year
Jonathan Keogh
2023-09-01 19:59:37 +0000 UTCYeah buddy! New HC video!
Will S (ObserverWill)
2023-09-01 19:49:49 +0000 UTCIn Orthodox countries, Easter and Mid-Summer are still important holidays
Valantis Athanasiou
2023-09-01 19:46:02 +0000 UTCWell, if you're gone then you won't reply. However, I'd love to have you list what you think is incorrect. I don't see anything myself.
Erik Hare
2023-09-01 19:45:21 +0000 UTCThis is excellent, as always. A nice departure from your usual. Two thoughts come to mind. The first is that farmers, today, work in much the same way complete with big dinner at noon and a nap after getting up so early for the animals. The second is that you can read the Carmina Burana to see how medieval people lived and what they valued. You don't need the score by Carl Orff to enjoy it. It's fascinating!
Erik Hare
2023-09-01 19:43:51 +0000 UTCHonestly bro, I would have loved it if you kept that additional 15 minutes. It's not just because we get extra viewing time. It's because I like the way you present information. It isn't pretentious, it's simple, smooth, and easy to follow. And I know how difficult it can be to present large amounts of information in a way that's simple and easy to understand.
abdullah duheric
2023-09-01 19:42:47 +0000 UTCYou've jumped the shark with this one, sorry. This is just full of incorrect assumptions backed with no evidence. Unsubscribed
Jonathan Keogh
2023-09-01 19:41:05 +0000 UTCNever knew I wanted to be a medieval French peasant
Quinn
2023-09-01 19:38:49 +0000 UTCBased. Thank you HC
T G BYAM SHAW
2023-09-01 19:38:16 +0000 UTCWait a second, you're WOKE??? Now I like you even more!
Tyler
2023-09-01 19:37:22 +0000 UTCGetting mad in general is cringe
Bình Phan
2023-09-01 19:31:30 +0000 UTC
