The Spark

the Voice of
The Communist League of Revolutionary Workers–Internationalist

“The emancipation of the working class will only be achieved by the working class itself.”
— Karl Marx

The Debt Trap

Feb 20, 2012

Today many workers are working all kinds of overtime because of all the debt they have. They bought a new car. And they bought a house to live more comfortably. They deserve these things.

Instead they had to borrow a lot to do it, and the problem is working 40 hours a week doesn’t pay it off.

At the end of World War II the factory work week was 40 hours. Today the average factory worker is producing five times as much per hour of work. The work week could be much shorter than 40 hours, not a lot longer.