Socialism isn't the abolition of labor. That would be silly. It's a redirection of our energy towards meeting society's needs. Compare that to our current syste

Socialism isn't the abolition of labor. That would be silly. It's a redirection of our energy towards meeting society's needs. Compare that to our current system, where a large portion of a day's work is spent enriching the holder of capital. Those who have nothing to sell but their own labor (they lack the capital necessary to acquire means of production) are forced to accept "voluntary" contracts where they are compensated at less than the value their work produces. This alienation is something akin to slavery, except that we can choose our plantation. I won't drag this thread deeply off course with a rundown of Marxist thought, but if you're interested in some light reading (~60 pages) "An Introduction to Marxist Theory" by Ernest Mandel elaborates upon this in a digestible manner. There's also Paul Cockshott's "Towards a New Socialism", which explores the implementation details of proposed alternatives to capitalism. He writes about how me might "maintain a high standard of living and somehow don't have to work [for a privileged few] for a living."