Socialism In Kurt Vonnegut's Player Piano

Since the early days of civilization economic systems have provided its benefits and follies. From bartering, monetary exchange and credit, the economy has grown to be a pillar with in any society. Within the western world, economy has had the power to influence society and culture. Capitalism is the economic system most commonly used around the world, which begun its bloom in the early industrial ages. Socialism and communism are other socio-economic systems which arose in in retaliation of a capitalistic world. While a majority of the world uses this system, it has negative side effects, as pointed out in the philosophy of socialism. Published in 1959, Player Piano by Kurt Vonnegut, is a satirical novel which looks at an industrial post war

era, where automation has replaced the labor of mankind. WALL-E, by Andrew Stanton follows the adventure of a trash compacting robot whose main directive is to clean up the earth after humans severely pollute it. “A world without work” is an article written by Derek Thompson explores and analyzes the loss of work by investigating Youngstown USA, a once booming steel town, reduced mere shavings. All three sources portray the follies of capitalism, a system which emphasizes production that leads to the alienation of the working class.
Alienation is commonly seen as being applicable to only minority groups and individuals in society due to either lack of understanding or actions which do not flow with societal norms. However, all three sources show that alienation is not only applicable to minorities and outliers, but also a majority. Through capitalism, the working class has lost its sense of purpose, due to an economy which puts production value over worker value. In Player Piano a great war has led to a mass section of the population to be shipped over sea’s. Since there a majority of the working class is off fighting a war, they become replaced with machines. A majority of these machines were only meant to be a temporary fix, but it was soon found that these machines produce greater quantities at a faster, cheaper and efficient rate. As the men and women return home they find there to be no work as machines have replaced their lively hood. Through this, many workers are being alienated and have lost their sense of purpose. For example, Rudy Hertz, an individual who spent most of his working life at a machine has been replaced by a machine. Paul Proteus finds himself in front of a single operational box, “And here, now, this little loop in the box before Paul was Rudy as Rudy had been to his machine” (Vonnegut 10). Rudy is a single person, who operates a single machine. Hundreds of machines that were once operated by hundreds of individuals have been replaced by a single box. All of these workers, no longer have a job, they now serve no function within society. Their job had been to produce mechanical parts, but instead of being a functional cog they are reduced to being scrap metal. These workers are no longer needed nor are they wanted. Instead they are forced to live their lives without meaning or purpose, no task to be good at, no function to serve and no reason to excel. Alongside this, in the decaying world of WALL-E, it is also shown that the working class has no sense of purpose simply because there is no longer a working class. With limited dialogue, Stanton provides a clear message with the scenery and actions within WALL-E. As human kind now lives in a cruise ship like spaceship, they have everything handed to them (literally and figuratively) by a company called “Buy N’ Large: everything you need to be happy” (Stanton). This company has eliminated the working class completely by having all of its products made through automation, which is highly favored in a capitalist system. No need for labor regulations, fair minimum wage, worker’s rights or benefits if there are no workers but instead machines which have no bounds or rights. Through the excessive automation, the population has no need to work, they have no purpose. There are no jobs, they do nothing, “that’s all anyone on this ship has ever done- nothing” (Stanton). There is no longer a need to walk, hold your own drink of even move. The population has been reduced to masses of fat which serves no purpose. If they did not exist, their world would be no different. While these extremes seem fictional, Thompson, through his article defines work to be three things “the means by which the economy produces goods, the means by which people earn income and an activity that lends meaning or purpose to many people’s lives” (Thompson). Through capitalism, the working class is being alienated due to their loss or purpose and in the article Thompson says that this loss of purpose already happened, by using the example of a cashier, commenting on the worker feels no purpose in the meaningless work they do, simply scanning an item. The did not make the item, or help in any manner hence they do not feel a connection with it. Their purpose, is to find, scan, slide and repeat opposed to water, grow, feed and provide society with the food it needs to strive. Loss of purpose is caused by alienation, which is fueled by capitalisms need for production.
In addition to a loss of purpose, the working population has also suffered intellectual segregation.

In Player Piano, the world is divided into three parts, “In the northwest are the managers and engineers…the northeast the machines…and in the south, the area known locally has Homestead where almost all the people live” (Vonnegut 1). The people in this world are literally divided by land mass. The individuals who live and Homestead have no connection with the individuals who live in the northwest. These two people provide two different demographics, the proletariat and the “capitalists”. The “capitalists” are those which work on and manage the machinery. These individuals are highly educated with doctoral degree’s opposed to the proletariats who have no need for higher education and spend most of their days simply existing. The “capitalists” and proletariats are divided intellectually, and often times cannot relate. More so, the commonalties feel as if they were the lesser group. When Paul enters into a bar in Homestead that is mostly frequented by the common people, a waitress says, “What are you doing here- having a good laugh at the dumb bunnies?” (Vonnegut 103). This intellectual division has led to an emotional division as well. A majority feels lesser than the minority simply because of intelligence. The waitress referring to herself and those around her as “dumb bunnies” shows that in her eyes and the eyes of the many, “capitalists” look down upon them and mock them

and that they may be right in doing so. This division transcends the pages of a novel and into the realm of film. WALL-E also has the same division, but instead of this division occurring between two groups of people, it is between people and an entire different entity, robots. The co-pilot of the spaceship is a robot named Auto. Early on, the mission’s director said in a classified document “I’m giving override directive A113- go to full auto pilot, take full control of everything, do not return to earth” (Stanton). This directive was only given to the robot and not the human captain. The captain has no knowledge of this, and still believes that they will return to earth, whereas the robot knows they will not. The human population as a whole had lost a lot of knowledge overall simply due to the lack of work. Capitalism provided automation so the population didn’t need to learn and forgot a lot of things. The concept of earth, sea, crops and many other things had been forgotten whereas the machines still had knowledge of this. They had true knowledge of what state the earth was in and what the real mission was. The humans thought they control the machines, but in reality the machines controlled them. Even the captain of the ship felt lesser than the machine when a mutiny occurs, he felt powerless.
Furthermore, the population has also incurred a loss of goals and aspirations.

Among the individuals who live within Homestead, there are some which possess a good understanding of mechanics and engineering. While driving through Homestead, Paul’s car breaks down as he runs into a group of laborers. As Paul gets out of his, the group starts theorizing about what is broken on the car, the oldest of the group says, “Sucking in air. I knew the minute I heard you coming a mile off” (Vonnegut 70). He proceeds to fix the fuel pump and, lo and behold he was right, that was the source of the problem. This individual does not lack the intellectual ability to become an engineer, but lacks the aspiration and ambition to do so. The working class has no purpose; they feel lesser hence they do not have goals or want to be anything other than what they are. Capitalism produces a system where the value of the worker becomes deflated. They are being alienated due to the circumstances surrounding them, the fact that machines are favored gives them the ideology that they cannot compete with a machine. They look down upon themselves and see that they are trapped where they are and no longer aspire to be anything else. In “World Without Work”, the author says “Most people want to work, and are miserable when they cannot” (Thompson). This state of being miserable and depressed stops these proletariats from seeing the bigger picture. They cannot see the end of the tunnel. They become stuck in

their same day to day lives. They have the want, the want to work, the want to enjoy the fruit of their labor. But when they live in a system where everyone is being replaced to maximize production efficiency, that want is unattainable and flickers away into a trail of smoke.
In closing, capitalism has advantages and a majority of the world uses this system. Regardless of its advantages, like any hero, capitalism suffers from a fatal flaw. It creates a disconnect for the workers within it. The main motive of a capitalist economy is to make the most money, the cheapest way. All three sources show this motive that is flawed. The capitalistic emphasis on production value opposed to value of workers alienates the working class through a loss of purpose, intellectual segregation and a loss of aspiration. Money and machines were created to aid humanity, not betray it.