The BobboSphere: Don't believe everything you think.

In the wake of the 20th century rise of Nazism, psychologist Eric Fromm wrote a book called Escape from Freedom in which he explored why people choose totalitarianism over freedom. Published in 1941, the book makes this central point:

"The person who gives up his individual self and becomes an automaton, identical with millions of other automatons around him, need not feel alone and anxious any more. But the price he pays, however, is high; it is the loss of his self."

And what does it mean when a person loses their sense of self?

"This loss of identity then makes it still more imperative to conform, it means that one can be sure of oneself only if one lives up to the expectations of others. If we do not live up to this picture, we not only risk disapproval and increased isolation, but we risk losing the identity of our personality, which means jeopardizing sanity."

In short...do what you are told. Go along to get along. Anything else is madness.

Anyone who has spent time at an American workplace meets those walking wounded who shuffle through the workday, their spirits broken and their lives a gray dull routine.

These are the workers who vote against union representation or fail to vote at all, not out of fear, or out of hatred of unions, but out of the feeling that nothing could possibly make their situation better, so it's best just to go along with management and avoid being noticed.

What does it say about American democracy when our most of our workplaces are bastions of totalitarian thinking that use the  latest forms of psychological manipulation to turn people into the "automatons" that Fromm talks about?

Sadly, the labor movement has not really addressed the  dysfunctional culture of workplace totalitarianism, except to wage protests against individual acts of management intimidation.

In fact  unions often sacrifice democratic values themselves in the belief that it is a luxury in the grim day-to-day class war where the very survival of the labor movement is  called into question.

Elaine Barnard of the Harvard labor studies program makes the point that," Viewing labor rights as part of a wider struggle for democracy is essential for the growth of the labor movement today."

Management consultant Linda Adams tells how a lack of democratic culture at NASA helped lead to both the Challenger and Columbia space shuttle tragedies. People were simply afraid to speak out about the questionable safety decisions that led to the destruction of the shuttles and their crews.

Totalitarian thinking in the workplace not only robs people of their spirit, it can rob them of their lives.

So what does Eric Fromm suggest to counteract our "Escape from Freedom" culture?

"The victory over all kinds of authoritarian systems will be possible only if democracy does not retreat but takes the offensive and proceeds to realize what has been its aim in the minds of those who fought for freedom throughout the centuries. It will triumph over the forces of nihilism only if it can imbue people with a faith that is the strongest the human mind is capable of, the faith in life and in truth, and in freedom as the active and spontaneous realization of the individual self."

Hmmm...you mean a democratic labor movement fighting for a democratic workplace?

I think Eric Fromm would approve.