"I would never ignore my longing for freedom for the sake of money!"
This was a fairly famous saying among the Labor Union and the Working Class. Many people had heard it, and it was frequently brought out during important strikes or marches.
Sometimes there were variations, but the general meaning never changed.
Its true meaning was that "workers should not be allowed to work endlessly simply because capitalists paid them overtime." It had originated when the Labor Union was pushing for provisions related to the Labor Protection Law on behalf of the Working Class.
A worker had shouted those words righteously in the Capitol Building, in front of all the congressional Masters.
He refused endless overtime, and even more so, he refused to let the capitalists use overtime and other means to oppress and exploit the Working Class without end!
Later, amendments related to the Labor Protection Law explicitly stipulated that there was an upper limit on a worker's weekly overtime.
After all, factories could encounter emergencies, so completely banning overtime was impractical. Still, in principle, no one should work more than fifteen hours of overtime per week.
Moreover, the capitalists had to pay additional overtime compensation for those fifteen hours on top of the regular hourly wage. Otherwise, workers had the right to refuse overtime.
If workers refused overtime and were discriminated against or even dismissed by the factory, they could sue the factory.
Many people, especially workers, treated this saying as a creed. Some extremists even directly refused overtime for any reason whatsoever—even if they were offered money!
They were poor, but they were poor with dignity. Perhaps that was what they were trying to express.
But every capitalist knew that it was just a joke! "Double pay, until midnight. Anyone who's willing, stay behind. There'll be