"The life of a skilled laborer is not an acceptable life." ---- Discover
the world of work, the pace, the order of the machines, the hierarchy ofthe bosses, and life in the factory in the 1930s. Éditions de la
Lanterne enriches its "Eclairages" collection with a book, *The
Experience of Factory Life*, which brings together excerpts from Simone
Weil's Factory Diary and letters addressed to her friends, Nicolas
Lazarévitch and Boris Souvarine, as well as to trade unionists. The
originality of the book and the collection lies in an introduction
written by a specialist on the subject, in this case, philosopher Nadia
Taïbi, accompanied by a portfolio that, through photographs of the
workshops and demonstrations, places the reader at the heart of Simone
Weil's lived experience, allowing her to grasp reality rather than
imagine it. During the most difficult moments of her work, she was aware
that this experience would end while her fellow workers would remain in
those factories for the rest of their lives. She observed that "the life
of a skilled laborer at Renault or Citroën is not an acceptable life for
a man who desires to preserve human dignity." And yet, millions of
workers endured these working conditions and fought to maintain their
dignity. Even today, it is necessary to modify the technical means of
production to challenge the oppression of workers, as Nadia Taïbi points
out.
To better appreciate the significance of Simone Weil's experience,
Ludivine Péchoux presents a brief biography. Simone Weil was born in
1909 into a family that valued culture highly. A philosophy graduate,
she taught literature to young railway workers, then took her first job
in Le Puy-en-Velay. She became involved in the labor movement and
contributed to *La Révolution prolétarienne* (see the website of *Le
Monde libertaire*, "Ideas and Struggles," February 15, 2025). In 1932,
she wrote there, with remarkable clarity: "Hitler means organized
massacre, the suppression of all freedom and all culture." The following
year, she began writing her most important work, *Reflections on the
Causes of Freedom and Social Oppression*. Wishing to pursue her line of
thought, she took a one-year leave of absence to work in a factory at
the age of 25, despite her fragile health. She discovered the Alsthom
workshops, working as a press cutter, then became a milling machine
operator at Renault in Billancourt. "Days in the factory are an endless
repetition of painful gestures, of fragmented tasks performed without
any known purpose."
"Taking the Floor in Turn"
1936 was a moment of joy for the working class, a surge of immense hope
that was quickly shattered. Let us read her words: "After always
bending, enduring everything, taking it all in, in silence for months
and years, finally daring to straighten up. To stand tall. To take the
floor in turn." In an article published in La Révolution prolétarienne
on June 10, 1936, she wrote: "Will we finally witness a real and lasting
improvement in the conditions of industrial work? Time will tell; but we
mustn't wait for that future. We must create it."
She left for Spain, briefly joining the Durruti Column. She wrote in Le
Libertaire, Vigilance. Then came the war, her departure for New York and
then London to write her last works, Writings from London and The Need
for Roots, before dying there on August 30, 1943.
"Politics[...]a sinister joke"
The Factory Diary admirably captures the atmosphere of the workshops:
the heat, the noise, the dust, the fatigue, the aches and pains, bodies
worn down at 40, the humiliation and contempt, but also the workers'
solidarity, the helping hand. Her comrades could see that she didn't
have their stature, their working-class culture, and they helped her.
She quickly succumbed to pessimism, believing that the pursuit of a wage
forced one to accept, to endure, to submit. "There, you truly feel like
a slave, humiliated to your very core." She criticized the Bolshevik
leaders Lenin and Trotsky, who had never worked in a factory. "Politics
appears to me as a sinister joke." Simone Weil doesn't mince words; one
might even detect echoes of Louise Michel in her work. You'll also
discover innovative proposals for the time, proposals that remain
relevant today.
The portfolio contains photos of workshops under glass roofs, the cold
of winter, the unbearable heat of summer, a Renault factory gate
reminiscent of the one where Pierre Overney was murdered, the funeral of
a friend killed in a workplace accident, accompanied by his comrades
with raised fists and rage in their eyes, demonstrations, and the
poignant image of the gate at Île Seguin with women, men, and smiles-the
working class looking back at us, still calling us to struggle.
* Simone Weil
Experience of Factory Life
Ed. de la Lanterne, 2025
https://monde-libertaire.net/?articlen=8732
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