Vol. 72/No. 49      December 15, 2008

BY CARLOS TABLADA  
Ernesto Che Guevara was the originator of voluntary work in Cuba. For Che, its political impact on both the economy and morale was an important element of the system of economic management he developed.

Socialism, in this stage of building socialism and communism, is not being built simply to have wonderful factories. It is being built for the sake of the whole man. Man must transform himself as production advances. We will not do an adequate job if we become simply producers of goods, of raw materials, without becoming at the same time producers of men.

Voluntary work is of incalculable value in this process. Lenin was the first to note this fact, taking up the concept in his article “A Great Beginning.” Lenin’s article is extremely important and timely in our decade and in decades to come until communism has been reached. Because in communist society all work will become voluntary, since it will cease to be an obligation and will become instead an inner necessity.

In this article, Lenin saw voluntary work as the seed of a revolutionary transformation of attitudes toward work, since it represents an effective means of struggle against petty bourgeois self-centeredness, against the defects inherited from capitalism. In discussing voluntary work, Lenin stressed the creation of new social relations; of a new attitude toward work; of a new labor discipline, conscious and free, among workers. He spoke of a higher type of social organization of work than under capitalism—one that combines the scientific and technical advances of capitalism with the collective effort of conscious workers, an increase in the productivity of labor, and the importance of socialist emulation.

The ideas of Che Guevara are the logical continuation of those of Marx, Engels, and Lenin. Che offers us a rich source of ideas and solutions, of socialist formulas for building a new society. Voluntary work is unquestionably a major example.

For Che, voluntary work “is that done outside one’s normal working hours, without additional economic payment. It can be done within or outside one’s normal workplace.”

One of the most important tasks in the transition period—a task to be carried out simultaneously with the socialization of ownership of the means of production—is the creation of a new attitude toward work. And one of the most significant concrete aspects of the changes generated by socialist relations of production is the emergence of a new kind of work—voluntary work.

When private property in the means of production is abolished, socialist social ownership emerges. This form of property creates the conditions for a mode of production completely different from capitalism. The relationship between labor power and the means of production is no longer antagonistic, and the character of work is now stamped by a new principle: the elimination of the exploitation of man by man. Labor power ceases to be a commodity, and work objectively acquires the content of relations of mutual assistance and comradeship. Work begins to be done not just in the interest of the individual, but in the collective interest of society. While the social ownership of property in the means of production makes such a transformation possible, however, it is not in itself enough to bring about this change in individuals. As Che observed:

The communist attitude toward work consists in the changes that occur in the mind of the individual. These changes will necessarily be prolonged and cannot be expected to be completed in a short period of time. Work must cease being what it still is today, a compulsory social obligation, and be transformed into a social duty.

Over time, voluntary work also contributes to creating an individual’s identity with the tasks of daily work. It enhances the sense of individual fulfillment through labor.

Voluntary work is important economically, as well. As it develops, workers surpass the productivity records achieved in normal workdays.

The main importance of voluntary work lies in its role in communist education. It constitutes “a school that creates consciousness. It is an effort carried out both in society and for society, as an individual or collective contribution. And it shapes that high level of consciousness that allows us to speed up the transition process toward communism.” “Voluntary work is part of this educational task we talked to the compañeros about. In places where it can’t be done, there’s no point in inventing it.”

Che was not just concerned with the theoretical definition and importance of voluntary work; he dedicated equal effort to the problem of organizing it, implementing it, breaking it down into its component parts, and establishing systems of supervising it. In Che’s view, good organization was an element of primary importance in voluntary work; he fought to keep time from being wasted. He stressed that voluntary work should not be done simply to burn up energy, but to incorporate that energy “into work that produces something and that helps to create consciousness.”  
 
 
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