tably reach an impasse. Beyond a certain point, it could not continue unless it destroyed the surplus which it had created. "We have reached that point today," the President said. " It is, in fact, only by wasting our labor and our resources that we have managed in the past to create a semblance .of the full employment of people. and productive capacities." In the future, therefore; it was necessary to consider working less, more effectively, and in new ways. He said that the Prime Minister would spell out the details of proposed measures for change in this direction. Without going into them, the President nevertheless stated that they would give substance to the following principle: "Every individual will, as a matter of right, be entitled to the satisfaction of his or her needs, regardless of whether or not he or she has a job." He argued that once the productive machinery reaches the level of technical efficiency where a fraction of the available workforce can supply the needs of the entire population, it is no longer possible to make the right to a full income depend~nt on having a full-time job. "We have earned," the President concluded. "the right to free work and to free time." October 1980 RAIN Page 17 ",,,the government's vocation is to abdicate into the hands ofthe people." from Stepping Stone~ Poster by Diane Schatz 2. "We must consume better." Until now, products had been designed to produce the greatest profit for the firms selling them. " Henceforth," the President said, "they will be designed to produce the greatest satisfaction for those who use them as well as for those who produce them. II To this end, the dominant firms in each sector would become the property of society. The task of the great firms wpuld be to produce, in each area, a restricted number of standardized products, of equal quality and in sufficient amounts, to satisfy the needs of all. The design of these products would be based on four fundamental criteria: durability, ease of repair, pleasantness of manufacture, and absence of polluting effects. The durability of products, expressed in hours of use, w'ould be required to appear alongside the price. "We foresee a very strong forejgn demand for these products," the President added, "for they will be unique in the world." 3. "We must re-integrate culture into the everyday life of all." Until now, the extension ot education had gone hand in hand with that of $eneralized incompetence.
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