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by np422 3401 days ago
In some places 8 hour workday was achieved by union organized strikes, in other places by law decree and in other places by non-unionized workers and employers as an agreement.

The 8 hour workday was made possible by increasing productivity, mostly due to accumulated production capital and technological improvements ...
2 comments
js8 3401 days ago
> The 8 hour workday was made possible by increasing productivity, mostly due to accumulated production capital and technological improvements

I think that's actually also ahistorical. There are some scholars who believe that before industrial revolution, commoners only worked on average 6 hours per day.

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crpatino 3401 days ago
You are right, but that should be taken with a grain of salt.

Most preindustrial work was agricultural, and therefore heavily tied to the seasonal cycles of the year. While your comment is factually correct, it conveys the wrong image to the listener. The first thing modern people with white collar lifestyles will think when they hear "average 6 hrs per day" is some sort of utopia where they go to their jobs one hour later and leave one hour earlier.

The experience of those preindustrial laborers would have been closer to being employed in a sweatshop, working 70+hrs per week for 5 months; then being unemployed for the rest of the year. During those lean times, they would split their time between small DIY home improvement projects, unpaid civic duty activities, maybe working small one-off jigs for wealthier neighbours, drinking cheap ale, and in general worring about running out of food before the sweatshops open up again next year.

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js8 3400 days ago
I am not saying life was easy, but rather, there was no intrinsic reason to bump lifestyle into 70+ hrs sweatshop year round.

My take from "economic transformation" in Czechoslovakia is - if someone promises you to "tighten your belt" now because you will be much better off tomorrow, run! It's bait and switch and the other part is not coming. The same applies to "austerity" in Europe today.

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eli_gottlieb 3401 days ago
>The 8 hour workday was made possible by increasing productivity, mostly due to accumulated production capital and technological improvements ...

Social factors can drive technological innovation, which then makes it possible to more peaceably accommodate the social movements' demands.

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