Wendy Lowenstein

Weevils at Work: What's happening to work in Australia - an oral record

Wendy Lowenstein's Weevils at Work should be compulsory reading for all politicians; they might actually realise that Australians are not going to take their bullshit much longer. This contemporary oral history follows Lowenstein's previous oral history work on the 1930s Depression (Weevils in the Flour) and the Waterside Workers (Under the Hook). After ten years of work, interviewing 200 people, Lowenstein was unable to find a publisher for Weevils at Work and its not hard to figure out why. This is no fictional account of hard times in Australia, which can be fobbed off as 'grunge' fiction. Instead, the 'battlers' that John Howard spends so much time talking about tell their own stories about their experiences in the workforce, their adjustment to retirement and unemployment and they offer opinions on the nature of Australian society at the end of the twentieth century.

Instead of the patronising right-wing wankery of the radio shock-jocks such as Bob Francis and John Laws, who seek merely to sell an audience to advertisers, Weevils allows ordinary people to have a say in their own words. There are heart-wrenching tales of much effort for little reward, stirring stories of community, union and political struggles, the racism and exploitation faced by migrants and disturbing anecdotes about the nature of the struggle of workers against bureaucracy, arrogant union leaders, bosses and government. These are tales from the front-line of the class war and when you read a book like Weevils, you don't for one minute hesitate in calling it a class war.

The breadth of people interviewed means a wide range of subjects are dealt with, from lots of different angles. There are legal-aid lawyers, furniture removalists, clothing workers with RSI, rank-and-file union activists, women working in the construction industry, retirees and artists. A lot of the people interviewed have had to change their lives after being left for dead by the capitalist system but they have survived and found new and more enjoyable ways to exist. Many of the interviews give real insight into the way Australia is run by the bureaucratic and capitalist elite s. A couple of Social Security workers tell how the social security bureaucracy is more interested in keeping their jobs than solving unemployment problems, schemes are renamed as different governments come and go, but nothing is done about unemployment and poverty. Those who have been or are unemployed talk about organising the unemployed and how the social security system is used to wield power over welfare recipients instead of helping them. Many of the interviewees talk about the stupidity and arrogance of managers and bosses, who would rather exert control than actually produce something efficiently.

For anarchists and other radicals, particularly students who might see themselves as a potential vanguard to lead the revolution, Weevils shows that the working class is not the bigoted and thick bunch as the media so often tell us. Although Hanson may be appealing to the disaffected, there is a real sense in Weevils, of many people who are mightily fucked off with the system who are isolated, do not place any faith in parliament, the state or capitalism but are unsure about what to do. While Lowenstein might have decided to edit out racist comments, you struggle to find racism in the pales of Weevils at Work. There is hope. While some are involved in various community and other struggles, others are more than likely to spend lifetimes scared to voice their real thoughts or unable to involve themselves in Do-It-Yourself or liberating politics. In Australia and around the world, its people like these who we should reach out to, even if they don't want to join an anarchist group.

I found Weevils a fantastic read, both interesting and informative, as should be the case with the best oral history. Lowenstein knows how to bring people out of their shells and touches on subjects that are frightening the shit out of governments and bosses today. Instead of towing the corporate line, Lowenstein went out and published the book herself, an example of how there are ways to do things without them being on capitalist terms. Weevils releases the considerable anger that many Australians are feeling, having been sold down the river by the various power elites. The picture of working class Australians is one of fright and bravery; thought and action; philosophy and indignation, telling me what I always known as I have grown up, that my friends and their families were not the sheep, the idiots that so many of the elite patronise so well. For a damn good eye opening and inspiring read, find a copy of Weevils at Work.