Holidays have a history. Before the industrial revolution, breaks from work were intended to take time away from ‘useful toil’ for the purposes of religious education. More recently, it was the actions of radicals that won us the right to time off. In our somewhat more secular societies, these are welcome breaks from the ravages of late capitalism.
It is radicals that we have to thank for an eight-hour work day: eight hours of work, eight hours of recreation, and eight hours of rest. Yet, despite their momentous victories, we are now witnessing a retreat. For most of us, the eight-hour day has become, once again, a distant dream. We all work too much, much longer than we have in the past. In the age of surveillance capitalism, the digitalisation of work has meant that for many, they are never quite off the clock.
In our increasingly individualised societies, self-care is touted as a solution to our collective woes. Collective care is important as well, and must go hand in hand with the care of the self. Interregnum is not a machine, and requires the labour of everyone who participates in it. It is wonderful work, but work nonetheless. Work that we do voluntarily, in the crevices of free time that we wrest away from our regular occupations.
We are a small group of people who have come together to look at the world critically, and to imagine a better, more radical future. We are immensely grateful to everyone who has helped us, either by subscribing to our website, attending our events, sharing our posts on social media, reading our articles, and donating to help us sustain our project. We have released more than 40 articles since our inception less than a year ago, raised hundreds of pounds in solidarity with Palestine, and hosted several thought-provoking events and community-building gigs. We did it because we wanted to. We want to keep on doing it, so we’re taking a short break.
We would like to invite you to take a look back at all our articles this year, and read something interesting. We will be back in September. In the meantime, take good care of yourselves, and of your communities.
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