In praise of idleness Bertrand Russell

I'm loving him more and more. This paper doesn't deconstruct me as mercilessly as I would have liked. He ends up mostly framing the discussion in terms of Marxism vs Capitalism, which was presumably the issue in his time, and the latter hadn't become evil yet. This is obviously early, because he seems very open about Marxism.

Basic argument is that we haven't used all of our time saving tools to save time. Instead we have used them to put people out of work. So instead of everyone working productively and not too much, we have some people over worked and others unemployed. Grand!

The first paragraph is great

Like most of my generation, I was brought up on the saying: 'Satan finds some mischief for idle hands to do.' Being a highly virtuous child, I believed all that I was told, and acquired a conscience which has kept me working hard down to the present moment. But although my conscience has controlled my actions, my opinions have undergone a revolution. I think that there is far too much work done in the world, that immense harm is caused by the belief that work is virtuous, and that what needs to be preached in modern industrial countries is quite different from what always has been preached. Everyone knows the story of the traveler in Naples who saw twelve beggars lying in the sun (it was before the days of Mussolini), and offered a lira to the laziest of them. Eleven of them jumped up to claim it, so he gave it to the twelfth. this traveler was on the right lines. But in countries which do not enjoy Mediterranean sunshine idleness is more difficult, and a great public propaganda will be required to inaugurate it. I hope that, after reading the following pages, the leaders of the YMCA will start a campaign to induce good young men to do nothing. If so, I shall not have lived in vain.