Today is once again the glorious anniversary when people born after 1995 in the Czech Republic remember the horrific suffering they were subjected to under the communist regime before 89. How they suffered from hunger, stood in long queues for bread, and lived in constant fear of having their house raided by commandos who would take them to Siberia. They will be moved by the photographs of empty shops from Romania in the early post-war years, which they will believe were taken in Prague sometime in 1988. Someone should explain to them that there were positive aspects to this. For example, there were no “populists” in high politics then.
In fact, at the end of the communist period, the standard of living was somewhat higher than today, the level of schools was incomparably higher, people lived comparatively freely, and there was generally more optimism (even among the enemies of the communist regime). But only those who lived through the regime know that.
However, enough has been said about this. But it is an opportunity to reflect on the letter generations. My readers know that I am free from moralising and that this applies to the young as well. After all, the letter generations are not the invention of their members, but of much older people who have made a living out of writing books about it, lecturing about it, and selling consultations to corporations on how to employ members of this or that letter generation.
What connects the generations? Their members are not willing to have a job in the first place, they have to have fun, they are not willing to get up too early, they demand this or that… and they get it! The question logically arises as to how this is compatible with the enormous pressure for performance in the capitalist system. The answer is all too simple. The vast majority of them are doing completely unnecessary work that no one would miss. If all those ‘strategic programmes’ and ‘goal setting’, ‘social responsibility awareness’ and a thousand other bureaucratic procedures disappeared, what would happen? In Zuzana Mariánková’s excellent comedy We’re Going to Team Building (she is a member of a letter generation that does her honour and does a great job), the protagonist asks a colleague if she could deal with the purchase of cosmetics after working hours. “Am I a worker?, ” is the reply.
And that’s the point! In real manufacturing and craft, the letter generation is not played with. That’s where the work just has to be done, otherwise the stuff isn’t on time. You won’t find a Generation Y, or a Generation Z, or any other generation among the craftsmen.
That’s not to say that members of the letter generations have an easy life. It’s just that the point of all their efforts is not to produce something. The point is to hold on to their jobs against the pressure of others who would want them. Then it is easy to give them special conditions when the result of their work is nothing.
All of this illuminates a different side of pension reform. If we can feed hundreds of thousands of totally useless managers, why can’t we feed pensioners. The only difference is that pensioners are more frugal.