By CAIO HENRIQUE LOPES RAMIRO*

Capitalism develops in a parasitic way in relation to Christianity and its cultic dynamics allow awareness only of guilt and not of the relationship of exploitation.

In 1921, Walter Benjamin wrote a small fragment in which he rehearses the exposure of the features of the relationship between capitalism and religion, stating peremptorily that the capital system must be seen as a religion, as it tries to provide answers to the afflictions and concerns that once arose. occupied religions. In this sense, since there is no theology in capitalism, the latter assumes its religiosity in a purely cultic way which, ultimately, gives utilitarianism its religious coloring, that is, the calculation of maximizing pleasure and profit is a gear of permanent duration. of the merciless capitalist cult.

However, it is important to consider the blaming aspect of this permanent cult. There is a monstrous movement to increase awareness of guilt. In this way, since it is not possible to atone for guilt and, furthermore, with the inclusion of the sphere of God's transcendence in human destiny, it can even be noted that universal and total guilt implies a state of universal despair such as crumbling of being. In this perspective, it seems to make sense to question the theological-political meaning of work, especially the view that work can dignify the existence of human beings, including the possibility of achieving a peaceful life. Furthermore, it is important to note that there is a possibility of reading the Christian experience as the first self-defined religious experiment in economic terms, as seen in the interesting approaches of Eletra Stimilli and Giorgio Agamben

Based on such coordinates, considering Benjamin's diagnosis, capitalism develops in a parasitic way in relation to Christianity and its cultural dynamics allow awareness only of guilt and not of the relationship of exploitation that lies at the basis of such an economic perspective. . Now, what we intend to highlight is that with a critical approach it is possible to shatter the spectacular game of mirrors that obscure the vision of exploitation, especially when examining the issue of work. The rhetoric of capital at the origins of the modern rule of law is that the labor relationship is established based on a contract between subjects of law who freely negotiate their goods on the market. However, it is interesting to note that – in industrial capitalism and wage society – capitalists (owners of the means of production) go to the market to buy skins from those who only have their labor (life) power to offer on the market. Thus, many struggles were fought in the name of recognizing social rights such as limiting working hours, better salary conditions, etc.

However, the dynamics of social relations must be recognized and, therefore, capital changes. Consequently, the forms of labor exploitation. Along these lines, it is very interesting to see, for example, the attack against rural work and the impact on the peasant way of life. Here it is worth reading John Steinbeck and his seminal The Grapes of Wrath, which also has a cinema version. Steinbeck's novel is a true denunciation of the suffering imposed on peasant families in the United States of America, since the financial system - which in the narrative takes the spectral and impersonal image of the bank - forces small landowners to abandon their lives in the hope for something better in the promised land of California.

It is curious to note the demystification of some symbols of freedom such as the famous Route 66. In the text, the road towards California is exposed as a space in which people eager for work move in suffering towards the uncertain future, that is, there is no relationship immediate area between the famous highway and freedom. The migration scenario symbolizes the rupture of friendship and family relationships and, in addition, is the scene of countless forms of violence. The movement of the characters, especially the Joad family, is a real walk in the fog, believing in propaganda pamphlets with offers of good jobs and salaries, however, along the way there are rumors of false promises made to people who, after losing everything , they are willing to kill for a job.

Thus, upon arriving in the Californian promised land it is possible to notice the beautiful landscape, fields full of fruits and packed barns. However, it soon turns out that work is scarce, since the propaganda has attracted thousands of people who sell their labor without any ability to negotiate salary values. In this way, companies, banks and landowners pay whatever they want (25 cents per hour) to workers (including children), with some scenes of repression of peasant organization. Soon, the beautiful fruit-filled fields of California were hell for starving men, women, and children. Steinbeck seems to intend to leave as an important point the ignorance of the employers regarding the fine line that divides and separates hunger and anger.

From The Grapes of Wrath It is possible to note that the dignity linked to work does not appear so immediately when there is a violent form of exploitation of people. In this sense, it is interesting to note that the changes in capitalism impact life and social dynamics and, when it comes to work, it seems possible to identify anger and revolt as something that remains. At a certain point it was imagined that the advancement of technique and technology could help improve working conditions. However, what happened with the rise of neoliberal ideology between the years 1960-1980 was the creation of the spectacle of the entrepreneur and, consequently, the transfer of risks from the activity to work, which is strongly linked to the idea of ​​guilt and blaming, since the workers themselves are now entrepreneurs of themselves, they are responsible for being company-subjects, that is, the well-known CEO of MEI, as they say in the legal-business vulgate of Brazilian labor hell.

As much as it is possible to note the permanence of this ideology, there are interesting approaches to anger and revolt that begin to erupt in the infernal dynamics of contemporary capitalism, which has removed the form of work. A reading reference that addresses this issue is the book by group of militants in the fog, namely, Fire: work and revolt at the end of the Brazilian line. The book is a collection of texts – some written during the pandemic period – which aims to critically analyze the socio-political situation and the central theme is work. There is a diagnosis of the end of the wage society, that is, what was once the world of formal work in the sense of the legality of the employment relationship, today no longer exists, since the exception has become the rule, that is, informality not only prevails, but also contributes to the relationship of labor exploitation no longer being understood as work. The “central characters” are not peasants on the move, but, for example, app delivery people, telemarketing workers and bookstore employees who described a violent situation of moral harassment as being “end of the world masterclass”. They highlight that in the daily lives of telemarketing workers it is common to compare the work environment with slave quarters and prisons.

Thus, the walkers in the fog present an interesting trace of the mutations of labor exploitation and make a diagnosis of “the crushing daily work in cities”. Therefore, it is important to bring the work to the center of political reflection. In this way, an approximation of the literary narrative of Steinbeck and the fog activists becomes possible, given that the formless works of the contemporary world invest in life, consuming every second of it, generating, as its greatest product, control and Furthermore, suffering.

Therefore, with the awareness of suffering and the lowering of the horizon of expectations regarding the possibilities of work in the contemporary world, anger and revolt can present themselves as universal despair in which, according to Benjamin, one can place some hope of overcoming the ambiguous and somewhat demonic condition of blame, the latter being the only offer to be distributed in the society of the spectacle. 

*Caio Henrique Lopes Ramiro holds a doctorate in law from the University of Brasília (UnB)

the earth is round exists thanks to our readers and supporters.
Help us keep this idea going.
CONTRIBUTE