A proposal to reduce the working hours: the victory of the working class or the adaptation of the bourgeoisie?

Abstract

In this article, a proposal for a reduction in the working hours, which has been going on in recent months, it‘s been examined. Among other things, we have found the necessity to investigate for this measure, its functions, and its logic. To that end, it‘s based on historical experiences: Britain, Germany, France. After studying these experiences, it has been concluded that capitalists and workers express two contrary views on the duration of the working day, and that in this competition between interests, strength determines how far the working day will be extended. Marx said that due to the labor intensive and the machine ‘s modernitation the capital would be closer to a critical point, which would lead to a new reduction in the working hours. In the article, a proposal to reduce the working week to 32 hours is included in the reactions that are arising in the face of this critical point.