“Anti-Work:” This Facebook Group Is Throwing Punches At Late Stage Capitalism, And Here Are 30 Of Its Best Posts

To learn more about the group, we contacted its administrators and moderators and they were kind enough to have a little chat with us.

"Fundamentally, the idea of Anti-Work is that people should choose to be productive on their own terms, not as a result of coercion or having their stability threatened," the team told Bored Panda.

"The underlying message of the Anti-Work philosophy is that the connection between survival and employment status or productivity levels must be eliminated."

"Our Facebook group is not affiliated with r/AntiWork," the people behind the group said.

While the subreddit is quite old (it was created in 2013), its Facebook spin-off is still fresh — it came about in October 2021 "as a result of needing to create a digital community tailored specifically for Facebook users."

"In our group, we have people from all backgrounds," the admins and mods said. "Writers, frontline nurses, school teachers, line cooks, truck drivers, forklift operators. To name just a few."

However, they pointed out that the Anti-Work group is explicitly anti-capitalist and supports the creation and expansion of unions and worker cooperatives, as well as believes in the need for workplace democracy.

“As a society, we have the ability to provide for humanity's needs, to give people a base layer of support and stability to encourage productivity without coercion," Maxwell Neely, the Anti-Work group admin and mod team's designated Press Liaison said.

The group is trying its best to remain civil. It condemns all discriminatory language and actions towards other people, including but not limited to racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, ageism, and ableism. Basically, if you want to shout at someone and insult them for disagreeing with you, this is not a place to do so.

However, as can be expected, sometimes trolls join to derail discussions, insult members, and generally be unpleasant. This forces the admin team to take action, but they say that most of the group members are "awesome people with valuable insights, and stories worth telling."

According to the admin and mod team, they aim to create a platform of inclusion and empowerment, and then pass the mic, so group members can tell their own stories in a supportive environment.

With nearly 25,000 members, they have a lot to manage. The group rules are designed to promote an environment of psychological safety, and are pretty similar to those of other mindful Facebook communities. "When in doubt, just remember, don't be a jerk," the folks concluded.

Communities like this one seem like a natural response to the latest developments in the job market. Two years into the pandemic, people across the globe are tired. Poor mental health and burnout are common, particularly among low-wage and essential workers.

This prolonged period of uncertainty has made many re-analyze the role their employers play in making matters worse; record numbers of workers are leaving jobs in search of better options.

“With Covid, there was an interruption of work as we knew it," Tom Juravitch, a professor of labor studies at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, US, told BBC.

"In moments like this, people have time to reflect. Working has been degraded for so many people. The authority structures that we’re in have gotten more draconian and more controlling than ever. People really felt that in a new way.”

Fundamentally changing the way employers think sounds unlikely, but we are experiencing an unprecedented shake-up in terms of how workers do their jobs and the kinds of conditions they are expecting in return.

It's obvious that many people are at their breaking points, and there are already signs that companies who fear widescale quits are starting to respond with improvements. But if groups like Anti-Work continue to gain numbers, who's to say they can't take us even further?