Author
Paul Lafargue
1842-1911
Paul Lafargue (1842-1911) is a public-domain author available on Rivro. Read free books, explore subjects, and discover related classics.
WikipediaBooks by Paul Lafargue
The right to be lazy, and other studies
"The Right to Be Lazy, and Other Studies" by Paul Lafargue is a book published in 1883. French socialist Lafargue challenges the labor movement's fight for longer working hours, arguing that wage labor equals slavery. He proposes workers should demand leisure and joy instead of eight-hour workdays. Lafargue believes automation could reduce work to three or four hours daily, freeing time for relaxation, friendship, and self-realization. He controversially advocates for the right to be lazy over the right to work.
Le droit à la paresse : $b réfutation du droit au travail de 1848
Le droit à la paresse : réfutation du droit au travail de 1848 by Paul Lafargue is a political-economic essay and socialist polemic written in the late 19th century. It challenges the capitalist cult of work and the liberal “right to work,” instead advocating the right to leisure as a foundation for human flourishing. The book denounces the moral, religious, and economic glorification of labor, arguing that overwork degrades bodies and minds, exploits women and children, and fuels overproduction, crises, and poverty. Drawing on historical contrasts with ancient disdain for servile toil, factory reports of brutal hours, and the absurdities of bourgeois consumption and colonial expansion, it claims machines should liberate people rather than enslave them. It calls to ration labor across the year, reduce daily work to three hours, expand rest and festivals, and raise workers’ consumption so production serves life. A satirical finale and an appendix of classical authorities reinforce the central demand: reject the “right to work,” and embrace leisure as the mother of arts and virtues.