“Ultimately, the Goal Is to Bury the Clock” - Ivan Stoiljkovic on E.P. Thompson’s ‘Time, Work-Discipline, and Industrial Capitalism'

In this conversation we talk to Ivan Stoiljkovic. 

Ivan is the General Secretary of Katarokwi Union of Tenants, the Kingston Peace Council and a member of the Communist Party of Canada.

This conversation is a part of a newer series of conversations where we talk to people about texts that they find politically useful and important. It’s a different approach that moves beyond a typical author talk - which we will continue to do - to engage theory and history with people who are seeking to put theory into practice, or organize with others to deal with the concrete situation they face. Our first episode that came from this idea was last month our discussion with Thandisizwe Chimurenga and Yusef “Bunchy” Shakur on the political writings of Sanyika Shakur. 

In this discussion we are talking about E.P. Thompson’s essay “Time, Work Discipline and Industrial Capitalism” 

In that discussion we discuss the imposition of time and time discipline that came with the onset of industrial capitalism. We talk a bit about the various ways that workers resisted the imposition of this sense of time, and then began to fight over time itself. Ultimately however, the fight is to abolish time, which can only be achieved through the abolition of capitalism. 

Prior to that discussion, we start with a little bit of Ivan’s personal and political history, including his childhood in socialist Yugoslavia, and then delve into a discussion of multiple aspects of Thompson’s essay. 

If you appreciate the work that we do, for August we have an ambitious goal of adding 50 patrons to the show. You can help us meet this goal by either increasing your pledge or pledging as little as $1 a month at patreon.com/millennialsarekillingcapitalism. This is just our second episode of August, but we plan to feature at least four more discussions this month. 

Links:

Ivan Stoiljkovic's Twitter

Ivan's FB Page

Katarokwi Union of Tenants FB page and website

The Yugoslavian leftist group called ‘Crvena Dijaspora’ which he describes in the discussion

E.P. Thompson’s essay “Time, Work Discipline and Industrial Capitalism”