Work Is a Crime / De Moker Group: The Rebellious Youth in the Dutch Libertarian Movement of the Roaring Twenties by Herman J. Schuurman


Work Is a Crime / De Moker Group: The Rebellious Youth in the Dutch Libertarian Movement of the Roaring Twenties
Title : Work Is a Crime / De Moker Group: The Rebellious Youth in the Dutch Libertarian Movement of the Roaring Twenties
Author :
Rating :
ISBN : -
Language : English
Format Type : Paperback
Number of Pages : 87
Publication : First published December 1, 2007

"That is why we will consciously sabotage every capitalist enterprise, we will be a burden to each and every boss. Where we, rebellious youth, have to work, materials, machines and products have to be unusable. Again and again the gears will jump out of the wheels, the pieces will fly from knives and chisels, the tools most necessary will be nowhere to find-we will tell each other recipes and means.

We do not want to be destroyed by capitalism, so capitalism will have be destroyed by us."

Herman Schuurman (1897 – 1991), the author of the pamphlet ‘Work is a Crime’, was one of the co-founders of the Mokergroep (‘The Sledgehammer Group – a ‘moker’ also called ‘vuist’ ['fist'] in working slang is a sort of small beetle) which rallied young proletarians who were keen about revolution, very freely organised around the newspaper De Moker which had as a subtitle Opruiend Blad Voor Jonge Arbeiders (Agitation Newspaper for Young Workers) The Mokergroep shook the workers’ and libertarian movement during more than four years, from the end of 1923 to the summer of 1928. The original title of Herman Schuurman’s text wasWerken is Misdaad, de Orkaan (‘The Hurricane’) It was republished by Vitgeverij de Dolle Hond (‘Vitgeverij the Enraged Dog’) in Amsterdam in 1999.

Work Is a Crime / De Moker Group: The Rebellious Youth in the Dutch Libertarian Movement of the Roaring Twenties Reviews

  • Vivienne DiFiore

    A history and writings of anarchist youth in the 20s who took the rejection of work seriously.

    "We do not want to be destroyed by capitalism, so capitalism will have to be destroyed by us."

  • Delyo

    A comprehensive retelling of the forgotten story of the De Moker (The Sledgehammer) group and of the 20s growing anarchist movement in the Netherlands, this book serves as inspiration and as a warning against how grassroots radical organising is born, maintained, and how quickly it can wither away.
    Block the cogs! Occupy the factories!

  • Sceox

    A pretty book lovingly-made by a small press in Amsterdam (Roofdruk), and a quick read. It consists of two texts: the first--"Work Is a Crime"--is a 1924 polemic of only a few pages, so the bulk of this book is Els van Daele's 2007 recounting of the Moker story. The publishers' 2013 introduction and van Daele's final section, "Work Is More and More Criminal," both bring the Mokers' uncompromising defiance of work, reform-based struggles, labor unions... in relation to the present.

    I was lucky enough to find a copy in a mainstream used book store; it seems it would be hard to find in the US (the only online distributor seems to be Active in the UK).