Hollywood portrayals of the North Pole — from Disney’s Santa’s Workshop to Will Ferrell’s shockingly orientalist Elf — have been keen to describe life in the company town as one of merriment and spiritual harmony, filled with hot chocolate, rustic craftsmanship, and impromptu singing.

But workers there tell a different story — that of long hours, dangerous speedups, and endless surveillance.

It was no surprise then that on the morning of December 9, the elves who create and deliver “gifts” for children throughout the imperialist world shutdown all twenty of Santa Claus’s production sites.