Radical Worker: The Fight for Self-Determined Work

Timothy Speed - neurodivergent artist, poverty theorist, and relentless disruptor - throws himself between assembly line, boardroom, and bureaucratic frontline. As a Radical Worker, he refuses the paycheck as measure of worth, working instead by moral coherence, ecological resonance, and existential sense. Whether infiltrating corporations undercover or applying to run Germany’s state TV, Speed exposes the deep protocols of a system that converts dignity into obedience and creativity into currency. For the Artistic Research community, this book proves that art isn’t commentary - it’s infrastructure. Research happens in real-time, in real life. For Critical Autism Studies, it’s a rare inside-out account: autistic intensity, rule clarity and focused resistance sharpen into a tool that cuts through institutional myth. For anyone forced to work - or forced not to - this is a living roadmap: self-determined labour, basic income, and the politics of commoning are not just imagined here - they’re practiced, tested, lived. Speed flips the script: poverty is not a lack, but a refusal to play by a broken game. Forced labour is social exclusion. And the true metric of wealth? The time left untouched by the system’s noise. Radical Worker is manifesto, fieldwork, and survival guide - a call not to adapt, but to remake the world from the bottom up.