The bee makes the honey and another eats it — the one who works does not always benefit from the fruits of their labour. A sardonic observation on the unfairness of economic arrangements.
The beehive was one of the primary sources of sweetness in the pre-sugar economy of rural Piedmont. The beekeeper who managed his hives, watched the swarms, and harvested the honey was intimately acquainted with the industry of the bee. The bee's situation was the worker's situation: total, instinctive dedication to production, with the fruit of the labour appropriated by another. In the tenant farming system of the Piedmontese hills, where the mezzadro gave half his harvest to the landlord, this proverb had literal force. In the industrial era it described the factory worker who created value that went entirely to the shareholder. The proverb is not a call to revolution but an observation — sometimes wry, sometimes bitter — about how production and benefit are distributed.
Piedmontese social proverb. The bee and the honey as metaphors for labour and its appropriation appear across European folk traditions.
A Piedmontese farmworker in the sharecropping era
Seminiamo, coltiviamo, raccogliamo. L'ava a fa el mel e l'alter al magna — metà va al padrone che non ha fatto niente.
We sow, we cultivate, we harvest. The bee makes the honey and another eats it — half goes to the landlord who did nothing.
A Fiat assembly worker in Turin reflecting on his career
Ho montato macchine per quarant'anni. L'ava a fa el mel e l'alter al magna — la famiglia Agnelli ha guadagnato quanto di me non immagino.
I assembled cars for forty years. The bee makes the honey and another eats it — the Agnelli family earned what I cannot imagine.
A Piedmontese artisan whose designs were copied
Ho inventato quel modello e adesso lo producono in Cina. L'ava a fa el mel e l'alter al magna — avrei dovuto brevettarlo.
I invented that model and now they produce it in China. The bee makes the honey and another eats it — I should have patented it.
A Turin software developer on platform economics
Creiamo le app, la piattaforma prende il trenta per cento. L'ava a fa el mel e l'alter al magna — ma almeno ci danno accesso al mercato.
We create the apps, the platform takes thirty percent. The bee makes the honey and another eats it — but at least they give us market access.