The destruction of labor: Capitalism, informationalism and the story of interrupted automation

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of technological automatization in the context of the evolution of industrial and informational capitalism. The relevance of this topic is determined by the revival of discourse about automatization which is linked to the fourth manufacturing revolution and which has raised many questions from left-wing critics. This confict has a lengthy history as, despite the fact that left criticism and capital clearly disagreed on issues concerning private property, they were in complete agreement that labor should be fully automatized. In many respects, during the industrial age capitalism failed in its task to automate all types of labor. Automation of manufacturing led not to the disappearance of labor but to its transformation, which gave birth to a postindustrial economy, and at this point, the evolution of capitalism stopped for quite a long time. Informationalism — a new development paradigm based on innovations in the area of software — helped lead capitalism out of its historical blind alley. In turn, the growth of informational capitalism soon led to local automation being replaced by centralized automation using cloudbased technologies that signifcantly broadened the possibilities for automation of immaterial labor and led to a radical increase of control over everyday life. Thus was made possible that last stage of automation which both capital and left-wing critics had anticipated from the beginning — the complete automation of material and immaterial labor.