Hugo shows the world of labour less often than he talks about it, in rather repetitive speeches, which are busy containing his socialism while they are less radical than the fiction, in particular the novels. The issue here is to reconsider work in Hugos writings, starting with the three to four hundred occurrences of the words « travail » and « labeur » work and labour, and with the representation of the natural and historical processes these words refer to. Labour is an old obstetrics issue while work is a new concept in the mechanics contemporary to Hugo. It is then demonstrated that the issue of salary emerges in Hugos discourses even as his fiction ( Les Misérables, Les Travailleurs de la mer) has already disqualified the very idea of instituting « l'état normal du travail » the normal state of work