From Malatesta to Standing and the control of time as the creation of a new precarious class

Abstract

This article traces a line from Errico Malatesta's anarchism to Guy Standing's concept of the precariat in order to examine the evolution of labor exploitation. Moving away from the traditional class struggle between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie, it seeks to understand the current conditions imposed by neoliberalism, which differ from those struggles for control of the means of production, but rather take time as a fundamental form of control over the individual, and therefore over certain processes of productive development. Thus, temporary jobs, false autonomy, lack of security and social services lead to a false idea of freedom that limits individuals to projecting themselves no further than the ‘here and now’ as a form of survival without any kind of projection, limiting their vital development. Consequently, the means of control no longer have to do with the means of production, but rather with time. Time management is a fundamental tool for the development of capitalism within a neoliberal system of production, which is why Malatesta's anticipatory view and Standing's conceptualization are a good tool for understanding precariousness through time in contemporary times.