Against Luxury without Luxury

Luxury without luxury is a waste of labor's resources.  Not the type of basic luxury that working people regularly enjoy, like a candy bar.  Luxury without luxury turns ordinary goods and services into overvalued symbols of elite social status, such as cheap wine served in expensive glasses.  In Down and Out in Paris and London, George Orwell exposed the wasted and exploited labor of the poorest workers that made this illusion of grandeur possible.

Written in the ghettos, workhouses, and lodging-houses of the 1930s, Down and Out in Paris and London is a window into a world of suffering that was unimaginable, yet routine.  Orwell washed dishes in hellish cellars beneath the most expensive Paris kitchens.  He argued that this type of work was unnecessary.  To him, "luxury without luxury" was "slavery" and "...more or less useless. For, after all, where is the real need of big hotels and smart restaurants? They are supposed to provide luxury, but in reality they provide only a cheap, shoddy imitation of it."  Work that reproduces social status deserves to be put to better use if only the rich can afford its results.

The spirits of working people are sucked dry daily.  Their labor exists exclusively for the benefit of the dominating classes.  Even more, workers' inability to enjoy the fruits of their labor provides them with nothing but alienation.  What sustains this waste is the myth that work inherently uplifts our character.  The rich fear idleness and its rebellious tendencies, keeping the poor busy to ensure their own existence.   For everyone else, idleness is our luxury.  Shorter working weeks and guaranteed leisure time is what we seek.​