Harry Braverman
Harry Braverman | |
|---|---|
| Born | December 9, 1920 Honesdale , Pennsylvania |
Harry Braverman (1920–1976)Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century,[3] "a text that literally christened the emerging field of labor process studies" and which in turn "reinvigorated intellectual sensibilities and revived the study of the work process in fields such as history, sociology, economics, political science, and human geography."[4]: 33
Political struggle and development
Braverman was one of the many thousands of industrial workers who became radicalized by the events of the
Stalinist politics and distortions.[4]: 35–36 Braverman was not afraid of unpopular positions. He sought repeatedly to deepen socialist politics by dispensing with simplistic formulations of Marxian theory. "Marxism," Braverman cautioned, "is not a ready-made slot-machine dogma, but a broad theory of social development which requires application and re-interpretation in every period."[5]
Agitating during the Red Scare
After serving in the shipbuilding industry during
FBI. Undeterred by the witch-hunts, Braverman continued his political work but disguised his activities by writing under the pseudonym "Harry Frankel".[4]
: 36–37
Socialist Unity
In the 1950s, Braverman was one of the leaders of the so-called "Cochranite tendency", a current led by
The Socialist Union.[6]
It was in these pages that Braverman first began to think more concretely about labor, the labor process, machinery and class consciousness—what would become the key themes of Labor and Monopoly Capital just over a decade later.
From metal worker to editor
During the early 1960s, Harry Braverman worked as an editor for
Paul Sweezy, and particularly their book Monopoly Capital
, had a significant influence on Braverman as he was developing his analysis of the labor process of twentieth-century capitalism.
Revolutionary theory as a "tool for combat"
Labor and Monopoly Capital
Braverman's criticism of the labor process of
Labour and Monopoly Capital,[3] Braverman extended Marx's writings on the impact of capitalist industrial growth on the labor process, paying specific attention to the growth of giant corporations and oligopolistic industries.[7] Marx saw that the emergence of machinery and the increasing workers' control over the labor process since workers' skills shifted into tending the machines. This was seen as strengthening the owners of capital since they controlled the knowledge and skills needed to operate the factory, run the machines, and employ the workforce. This argument was furthered by Braverman who contended that such a labor force was defined by a weakened position relative to capital. Work became transformed from being a utilization of skills and experience into a mindless, machine-based, and powerless activity. He summarized the tenets of scientific management developed by Frederick Taylor as 1. disassociation of the labor process from the skills of workers, 2. separation of conception from execution, 3. use of monopoly power over knowledge to control each step of the labor process and its mode of execution.[2] Braverman argued that Taylor's prescriptions for the workplace were "nothing less than the explicit verbalization of the capitalist mode of production".[3]
: 86
References
- ^ Frank W. Elwell, "Harry Braverman and the Working Class".
- ^ ISBN 9781843761396.
- ^ ISBN 0853459401.
- ^ S2CID 144319591.
- ^ Braverman, Harry. 1956. "Which Way to a New American Radicalism?" The American Socialist (April). Available at the Marxist Internet Archive.
- ISBN 1842772937.
- ^ Foster, John Bellamy. "New Introduction."
Braverman, Harry (1998) [1974]. Labor and Monopoly Capital: The Degradation of Work in the Twentieth Century. New York: Monthly Review Press. ISBN 0853459401.
External links
- Harry Braverman's Writings on Marxists Internet Archive.
- Articles published by Harry Braverman in Monthly Review.
See also
| International | |
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| National | |
| Other | |
