“Just remember, if you’re not stealing from work, you’re stealing from your family,” a young woman declares in a video promoting Steal Something From Work Day.  The April 15th event encourages stealing from work as a protest against capitalism as a system that derives profit from unpaid labor, which itself is “stolen” from workers.

Whether or not it represents a comprehensive anti-capitalist strategy, history has shown theft to be tactic widely utilized by workers and consumers during economic crisis.  In the 1970s, radical economics professor Harry Cleaver noted that workers in the US practiced widespread “self-reduction” of rising prices by refusing to pay for food, gas and utilities.

In the same decade, Italian radicals argued that theft had evolved from a defensive social struggle to a coherent strategy:

“Squatting and organized mass appropriation of groceries from supermarkets - this struggle becomes more than merely a defensive one. It becomes - as some militants have called it - a struggle for the re-appropriation of social wealth produced by the working class but unpaid by capital.”

More recently in Europe, groups have distributed food to the public after Robin Hood-style raids on supermarkets.  In Sweden, a membership-based fare dodgers organization was formed in response to public transportation rate hikes.   The group encourages commuters to refuse to pay fares and uses membership fees to cover fines of those who get caught.

Business owners recognize shoplifting as a direct response to layoffs, wage cuts, and inflation—fundamental components of capitalism acutely felt by workers during economic downturns.  The National Retail Federation reported last year that the “troubled economy increases shoplifting rates,” while an ABC News report quoted an industry economist explaining that, “[w]ages aren't keeping up with inflation, especially the price of food and energy.  It just leaves less money for everything else, and that breeds a lot of temptation.”

In December, a New York Times article “Shoplifters? Studies Say Keep an Eye on Workers” reported:
 

“Employee fraud involving gift cards appears to be growing sharply as retailers struggle to contain overall theft, now estimated at $36 billion a year in the industry, or 1.51 percent of retail sales, according to a leading national study. Even as total sales have been falling, employee theft and shoplifting have been rising across the United States.”
 

From the perspective of employers, the drag that employee theft represents to profit margins becomes more troublesome during economic contraction, and requires a collective response.

With colorful euphemisms and vulgar descriptions of workers, retail industry associations and consultants produce studies on how employers can effectively prevent inventory “shrinkage” by combating “the enemy within.” One report advises employers to increase worker surveillance, background checks and inspections in order to avoid becoming a “victim of employee theft” such as improper reporting of sick leave and vacation.

This pervasive employer morality absurdly paints corporations as victims in order to justify its laws and culture that prioritize private profit at the expense of society’s basic needs.  It is reflected in an Associated Press article that claims “the pain is often more than monetary. A boss feels a sense of betrayal, anger and shame” when employees steal from work.

In a rare break with such ideology, a British Anglican Priest recently stirred controversy after a sermon that defended the rights of poor people to shoplift.   Although the Church of England quickly condemned the sermon, the offending Reverend Tim Jones explained: “[W]hen we shut down every socially acceptable avenue for people in need then the only avenue left is the socially unacceptable one.”

Do you steal from work?  Is shoplifting simply an inevitable part of the economy or is it viable form of struggle?  What is your opinion of Steal Something From Work Day?