Break what should be broken

A COUPLE OF WEEKS ago, I wrote on A Working Library about James C. Scott’s concept of anarchist calisthenics, and I want to expand on it a bit here, because I think it is a very useful—even existentially necessary—skill to be practicing in our workplaces these days. Scott describes living in Germany in 1990 and noticing that the locals seem scandalized by his casual jaywalking—even when crossing a road where there obviously aren’t any cars for miles. Perplexed by this response, he writes: As a way of justifying my conduct to myself, I began to rehearse a little discourse that I imagined delivering in perfect German. It went something like this. “You know, you and especially your grandparents could have used more of a spirit of lawbreaking. One day you will be called on to break a big law in the name of justice and rationality. Everything will depend on it. You have to be ready. How are you going to prepare for that day when it really matters? You have to stay ‘in shape’ so that when…