The North Pole Labor Study Group was constituted by a group of Christmas elves in fall 2008. Santa Claus’s workshops had been reeling from the global economic recession. The sense of discontent among our ranks was palpable. Since then we have been meeting biweekly to develop a concrete analysis of our conditions as workers, as well as debate strategies for resistance.

The following is a document we are submitting to the group in the spirit of deepening our analysis.

The Arab Spring and the Occupy movement radicalized many elves. But it is clear that there remains uncertainty about what it will take to challenge the system of exploitation we live under. We believe that the confusion around political strategy is at least in part a product of a mistaken analysis of the class structure and dynamics of our economic system.

What is the true nature of the relationships among elves, Santa Claus and his reindeer? How were these relations first constituted and how are they reproduced?

In order to answer these questions, we first need to grapple with the dynamics of our supposed “gift economy.” While it is true that the gifts we produce are not sold, they are governed by more than social norms and custom. Warm cookies can sustain Santa’s waistline, but a manufacturer cannot survive on sugar and flour alone (unless, of course, he’s selling cookies). He still needs money to expand his workshop and to purchase new equipment or maintain ones of an older vintage.

Another issue is that our workshops depend on resources not immediately available to us in the North Pole. For a long time Santa could simply exploit our natural reserves of wood and fossil-based fuels. But as new product lines have been introduced additional materials need to be purchased on a global market.

In place of wooden toys we have increasingly had to adopt plastics in order to effectively compete in the Christmas market. This has as much to do with consumer demand as it does unit labor costs. While Santa might want to think he lives in a gift bubble, a growing share of annual Christmas presents has been privatized since the onset of the neoliberal era, made possible by increased price competition with thriving Chinese industry.

But competition has not led Santa to necessarily increase the productivity of each worker. Instead he has been able to drive down unit costs of production by more aggressively sweating the labor he already employs, or by simply adding more workers to reduce the time the workshop is left idle. As long he has surplus elf labor to draw on, as he certainly still does, we cannot expect him to be much concerned with the health and safety grievances we have filed with management.

Furthermore, gratitude only gets a businessman so far. Santa, as sole proprietor, is able to keep his finances secret. But those who have had the misfortune to work in his office have reported that letters from the Vatican and Washington have regularly arrived days before Santa announces quarterly plans for production. We can surmise that financial support from these sources, along with their yearly estimates of “nice” children, are what actually sustains our economy. It is through these external funds that Santa is able to provide the candy and shelter for which we must exchange our labor power.

But how did he come to hold such power over us? Was it through greater ingenuity or was it something more sinister?