Today's Labor Day.
In other words, how long should human beings work?
According to clockify.me data, prehistoric humans worked on average less than five hours a day.
Not surprisingly: after all, there was a lack of tools and few objects. Farming lacks land, fishing and hunting depend on luck.
Especially hunting, physical exertion, danger, little reward, and insufficient food. Probably at that time people went out hunting, and every day was a farewell. Maybe I will encounter a jackal, a tiger and a leopard, and I will not be able to come back.
The ancient Romans used to ridicule the hunter-gatherers, saying that they did not accumulate storage, probably because the accumulation was useless. Instead of being diligent, it is better to eat a little and squat at home.
For example, in "The Tale of Wulin", Tong Xiangyu said that Lü Qinghou would stay still and consume less energy.
The development of the times is first of all in the development of people who have the ability and objects to work.
In the 13th century, English farmers worked an average of 1620 hours a year.
Throughout the Middle Ages, English workers worked an average of 2309 hours a year.
From 1400 to 1600, adult male farmers and miners in England worked about 1980 hours a year.
Probably in the non-industrial era, that's pretty much the end of it.
As I've written before, human sleep is determined by lighting.
In ancient China, there are not many records of drinking long nights and giant candles. Of course, many ordinary people can't afford to burn candles, and they sleep at night.
In the 15th century, a considerable number of European citizens slept twice a day. For example, shortly after sunset, go to bed early, get up in the middle of the night, do something — pray, meditate, live as a couple, read a candle, visit friends — and then go to sleep a second time.
This habit began to wither around the 17th century. First of all, the citizens of northern Europe were more accustomed to sleeping directly after night, only sleeping until dawn - at that time, northern Europe, such as the Netherlands, was the time when industry and commerce were developed and the small civic class rose.
During the day, I have to leave some time, under the dim lights, there is a little of my own smile and life, right?
After the industrial revolution, in order to maximize efficiency, even the meal time is eager to give you a standardization, let alone sleep?
In 1840, lighting developed, and the average year's working hours of British workers soared to a terrifying 3105 to 3588 hours – an average of ten hours a day a year!
And the capital of the evil has also made the evil attendance card timesheet! Don't be lazy! Illuminate you! me!!
As I wrote last year, according to Mr. Rowan Cahill, after the advent of the industrial age, in the 1850s, skilled workers in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia, worked an average of 58 hours a week:
Monday to Friday, ten hours a day, eight hours a day – this is still the treatment of skilled workers.
Other workers, less skilled, are 12 to 14 hours a day.
In 1876, the NSW Coal Mining Organisation passed a resolution to protect children: children aged 13 to 18 could only work 50.5 hours a week. Children under the age of 13 are not allowed to go to the mine.
"Can only".
Imagine what a tragic situation would have been before this resolution was passed.
Mr. Robert Owen, whom we all learned in our textbooks, put forward the slogan in 1817:
"Eight hours of work, eight hours of leisure, eight hours of rest!"
In 1886, the famous "Haymarket Incident" occurred in Chicago. At that time, American workers worked an average of about 60 hours a week.
On May 1, 1886, Chicago workers sang the song "Eight Hours":
"Eight hours of work, eight hours of rest, eight hours of free distribution".
That was the original source of May Day.
Of course, good results never happen overnight. Chaplin's immortal Modern Times chronicles the face of the early 20th century.
Workers are on the assembly line, eager to work at meal times.
Every bathroom had to be clocked in, and the boss's big screen monitored everything.
It's a shame
Of course, no matter how evil the bastard, there is an end
As I said, in the mid-19th century, British workers once visited 3650 hours.
But by 1979, Britain, the United States, Australia and Canada, the annual working hours of workers had been collectively pressed to about 1800 hours.
Since then, there has been little or no increase.
At that time, the most prominent of the major countries was Germany, which averaged 2186 hours a year – so many of our parents loved to say that Germans were desperate. Old age is a little bit of this meaning.
But by 2015, the average annual working hours of Germans had fallen to 1,371 hours, nearly 40 percent less than in 1979.
In 1979, there was another place that was not much different from Germany, and that was Japan.
So it's true that the older generation says that the Japanese work hard.
But japan also had problems in the 1980s.
I've written about it before, death by overwork, and it was originally a Japanese word. Now in English, there is this special pronunciation: Karoshi.
According to the official website of the International Labour Organization, there were the following cases in Japan at that time:
Mr. A worked 110 hours a week at a company and died of a heart attack at the age of 34.
--Mr. B, a bus driver who works 3,000 hours a year, died of a stroke at the age of 37 without rest for 15 consecutive days.
— Mr. C in Tokyo works 4,320 hours a year (including night shifts) and dies of a stroke at the age of 58.
——Miss D, a 22-year-old nurse, died of a heart attack after five 34-hour spins in a month.
- According to the official website of the International Labour Organization.
This, of course, is an extreme case. In hindsight, in The 1980s, about 1/4 of Japan's employees worked 60 hours a week — and it was still scary.
It is worth mentioning that the Japanese originally wanted to make money and could think of anything.
For example, in 1951, the film company Daiei competed with Shochiku, so in the end of April and the beginning of May in Japan, several public holidays, coined a word, the so-called ゴールデンウィーク, that is, Golden Week, "Golden Week".
Yes, the word Golden Week, like death by overwork, is made in Japan.
In the end, it is a marketing term, a word that expects everyone to buy more movie tickets. Later, all walks of life felt that this slogan was wonderful, so they called on everyone to consume together. For the sake of the economy, do not rest, but the energy consumption is it.
At that time, the strength of the Japanese people was probably similar to this picture I made three years ago:
Of course, after the wave of the 1980s passed, the Japanese did not have the strength to give up their lives and forget their deaths.
By 2015, the average annual japanese working hours were 1,719 hours, more than 400 hours less than in 1979.
Of course, the sharp reduction in working hours is also related to the popularization of double-week holidays. By 2015, there were still a few places in the world that were still open for a week, including Mexico, Colombia, India, and the Philippines.
Working 40 hours a day off every week has become the mainstream of the world, and everyone can rest a little.
Of course, Mumbai, Mexico City and other large places still work an average of more than 2600 hours a year, but the world's mainstream major cities have gone below 2000 hours per year.
Probably, the average annual working hours in the Middle Ages soared from 1600 hours per year in the Middle Ages to 3600 hours per year in the Industrial Age, and the trend in those years was the maturity of industry, the development of science and technology and the toughness of capital.
From 3,600 hours a year in the mid-19th century to 2,000 hours a year today, it can be seen as a compromise between management and a victory for the workers.
The historical process of working time from less to more is what science and technology and management do; the historical process of working time from more to less is that the labor side obtains what it should have little by little.
In Chaplin's time, laborers were once forced to become machines, but after nearly one world, laborers once again lived a life like humans.
After all, as individuals, man does not work for the sake of labor, but for the sake of numbers.
But to live, to live like an individual.