Workers' control is
participation in the management of factories and other commercial enterprises by the people who work there. It has been variously advocated by
anarchists,
socialists
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the econ ...
,
communists,
social democrats,
distributists and
Christian democrats
__NOTOC__
Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social tea ...
, and has been combined with various
socialist
Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the ...
and
mixed economy systems.
Workers' council
A workers' council or labor council is a form of political and economic organization in which a workplace or municipality is governed by a council made up of workers or their elected delegates. The workers within each council decide on what thei ...
s are a form of workers' control.
Council communism
Council communism is a current of communist thought that emerged in the 1920s. Inspired by the November Revolution, council communism was opposed to state socialism and advocated workers' councils and council democracy. Strong in Germany ...
, such as in the early
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen nationa ...
, advocates workers' control through workers' councils and
factory committees.
Syndicalism
Syndicalism is a revolutionary current within the left-wing of the labor movement that seeks to unionize workers according to industry and advance their demands through strikes with the eventual goal of gaining control over the means of prod ...
advocates workers' control through
trade unions
A trade union (labor union in American English), often simply referred to as a union, is an organization of workers intent on "maintaining or improving the conditions of their employment", ch. I such as attaining better wages and benefits ( ...
.
Guild socialism advocates workers' control through a revival of the
guild
A guild ( ) is an association of artisans and merchants who oversee the practice of their craft/trade in a particular area. The earliest types of guild formed as organizations of tradesmen belonging to a professional association. They sometim ...
system.
Participatory economics
Participatory economics, often abbreviated Parecon, is an economic system based on participatory decision making as the primary economic mechanism for allocation in society. In the system, the say in decision-making is proportional to the impa ...
represents a recent variation on the idea of workers' control.
Workers' control can be contrasted to control of the economy via the state, such as
nationalization
Nationalization (nationalisation in British English) is the process of transforming privately-owned assets into public assets by bringing them under the public ownership of a national government or state. Nationalization usually refers to p ...
and
central planning (see
state socialism
State socialism is a political and economic ideology within the socialist movement that advocates state ownership of the means of production. This is intended either as a temporary measure, or as a characteristic of socialism in the transition ...
) versus control of the
means of production
The means of production is a term which describes land, labor and capital that can be used to produce products (such as goods or services); however, the term can also refer to anything that is used to produce products. It can also be used as a ...
by owners, which workers can achieve through employer provided stock purchases, direct stock purchases, etc., as found in capitalism.
Historical examples by country
Algeria
During the
Algerian Revolution
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
, peasants and workers took control of factories, farms and offices that were abandoned, with the help of
UGTA militants. Around 1,000 enterprises were placed under workers' control in 1962, with that number climbing to 23,000+ in the following years. The
FLN passed laws in the newly independent
Algeria
)
, image_map = Algeria (centered orthographic projection).svg
, map_caption =
, image_map2 =
, capital = Algiers
, coordinates =
, largest_city = capital
, relig ...
which partially institutionalized workers' control, creating a bureaucracy around workers' councils that centralized them. This caused massive corruption among new managers as well productivity and enthusiasm in the project to fall, leading to numerous strikes by workers in protest. Following a military coup in 1965, workers' control efforts were sabotaged by the government which began to centralize the economy in the hands of the state, denying workers control.
Following the
Black Spring in 2001, limited degrees of workers' control have been practiced in the area of
Barbacha
Barbacha is a small region containing 34 separate villages in northern Algeria in the region of Kabylie. The population is mainly composed of indigenous Amazigh people from the Kabyle tribe.
History
Following the 2001 Black Spring in Algeria, ...
.
Argentina
In 1973, with the end of the self-proclaimed
Argentine Revolution
Argentine Revolution ( es, Revolución Argentina, links=no) was the name given by its leaders to a military coup d'état which overthrew the government of Argentina in June 1966 and began a period of military dictatorship by a junta from th ...
, there was a wave of strikes and workplace occupations that rocked the country as the first elections were held, mainly in state-owned industry. 500 occupations of workplaces were taken out overall, with 350 occurring between the 11th and 15 June, mostly of media outlets, health centres and public transport and government administration. These occupations were predominantly done in support of
Peronism
Peronism, also called justicialism,. The Justicialist Party is the main Peronist party in Argentina, it derives its name from the concept of social justice., name=, group= is an Argentine political movement based on the ideas and legacy of A ...
, and failed to achieve any long lasting results on the eve of the
Dirty War
The Dirty War ( es, Guerra sucia) is the name used by the military junta or civic-military dictatorship of Argentina ( es, dictadura cívico-militar de Argentina, links=no) for the period of state terrorism in Argentina from 1974 to 1983 a ...
.
During the
Argentine Great Depression, hundreds of workplaces were occupied and ran according to the principles of workers' control by angered unemployed people. In 2014, around 311 of these were still around, being run as worker cooperatives. Some of the notable examples include:
*
Brukman textile factory
*
FaSinPat
FaSinPat ( es, Fábrica Sin Patrones, lit=Factory Without Bosses), formerly known as Zanon, is a worker-controlled ceramic tile factory in the southern Argentine province of Neuquén, and one of the most prominent in the recovered factory move ...
*
Hotel Bauen
*
Tandanor shipyard
Australia
Aboriginal Australians
Aboriginal Australians are the various Indigenous peoples of the Australian mainland and many of its islands, such as Tasmania, Fraser Island, Hinchinbrook Island, the Tiwi Islands, and Groote Eylandt, but excluding the Torres Strait ...
arguably practiced degrees of workers' control before contact with Europeans for thousands of years around farming, construction of villages, irrigation, dams and fish traps. In Northern
Queensland
)
, nickname = Sunshine State
, image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg
, map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia
, subdivision_type = Country
, subdivision_name = Australia
, established_title = Before federation
, establishe ...
from 1908 to 1920, the
IWW and the
Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union
The Australasian Meat Industry Employees Union (also known as the Meatworkers Union) is an Australian trade union representing workers in the meat industry including in abattoirs, butchers, and smallgoods manufacturers.
Structure
The AMIEU h ...
organized a degree of workers' control among meat industry workers. From 1971 to 1990, Australia saw a massive wave of workers' control corresponding with strikes all over the country. Some authors have argued that the
green ban
A green ban is a form of strike action, usually taken by a trade union or other organised labour group, which is conducted for environmentalist or conservationist purposes. They were mainly done in Australia in the 1970s, led by the Builders La ...
s constitute a form of workers' control. Including:
* 1971:
Harco Work-In
*1972: Clutha Development Mine Work-In
* 1972:
Sydney Opera House
The Sydney Opera House is a multi-venue performing arts centre in Sydney. Located on the foreshore of Sydney Harbour, it is widely regarded as one of the world's most famous and distinctive buildings and a masterpiece of 20th-century architec ...
Work-In
* 1972:
Whyalla
Whyalla was founded as "Hummocks Hill", and was known by that name until 1916. It is the fourth most populous city in the Australian state of South Australia after Adelaide, Mount Gambier and Gawler and along with Port Pirie and Port Augusta ...
Glove Factory Work-In
* 1974:
Wyong Plaza Work-In
* 1975:
Nymboida Mine Work-In
* 1975: Coal Cliff Work-In
* 1978:
Sanyo Television Factory Work-In
* 1979: Union Carbide Work-In
* 1980: Department of Social Security Work-In
* 1990:
Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/ Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a metro ...
Tramworkers' Strike
Bolivia
Workers' control is practice in several businesses in
El Alto
El Alto (Spanish for "The Heights") is the second-largest city in Bolivia, located adjacent to La Paz in Pedro Domingo Murillo Province on the Altiplano highlands. El Alto is today one of Bolivia's fastest-growing urban centers, with an estimat ...
's
informal economy
An informal economy (informal sector or grey economy) is the part of any economy that is neither taxed nor monitored by any form of government.
Although the informal sector makes up a significant portion of the economies in developing countri ...
with the help of
Fejuve
The Federation of Neighborhood Councils-El Alto ( es, Federación de Juntas Vecinales de El Alto, FEJUVE) is a federalist mode of political organization of over 600 neighborhood councils that provide public services, construction and jobs to citiz ...
.
Bosnia and Herzegovina
In 2015, workers took over a detergent factory that was on the verge of bankruptcy, running it as a co-operative.
Brazil
Around 70 bankrupted enterprises have been taken over by about 12,000 workers since 1990 as part of the recovered factories movement, mainly in the industries of metallurgy, textiles, shoemaking, glasswork, ceramics and mining. This has been concentrated in the South and Southeast of Brazil.
Canada
In 1981, workers took over
BC Telephones' phone exchanges for five days in protest of layoffs and increased deskilling of work.
Chile
During the presidency of
Salvador Allende (1970–1973) 31 factories were placed under workers' control in a system called
Cordón industrial before being destroyed by
Augusto Pinochet
Augusto José Ramón Pinochet Ugarte (, , , ; 25 November 1915 – 10 December 2006) was a Chilean general who ruled Chile from 1973 to 1990, first as the leader of the Military Junta of Chile from 1973 to 1981, being declared President of ...
.
China
Workers' control was practiced in
Guangzhou in the 1920s and the
Shinmin Autonomous Region from 1929 to 1931.
Costa Rica
From 1968 to 1991, there were several workplace and takeovers (mainly in agriculture) that were repressed by the state. Little knowledge exists of these in English.
Czechoslovakia
Workers' control occurred during the
Prague Spring
The Prague Spring ( cs, Pražské jaro, sk, Pražská jar) was a period of political liberalization and mass protest in
the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. It began on 5 January 1968, when reformist Alexander Dubček was elected First ...
, by January 1969 there were councils in about 120 enterprises, representing more than 800,000 employees, or about one-sixth of the country’s workers. They were banned in May 1970 and subsequently declined.
Egypt
Before the
Egyptian Revolution of 2011
The 2011 Egyptian revolution, also known as the 25 January revolution ( ar, ثورة ٢٥ يناير; ), began on 25 January 2011 and spread across Egypt. The date was set by various youth groups to coincide with the annual Egyptian "Police ho ...
, several factories were placed under workers' control.
France
In 1871, the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...
placed 43 enterprises under workers' control as one of the first experiments in modern socialism. Another famous example of workers' control is the
LIP
The lips are the visible body part at the mouth of many animals, including humans. Lips are soft, movable, and serve as the opening for food intake and in the articulation of sound and speech. Human lips are a tactile sensory organ, and can be ...
clock factory, which was occupied in 1973 and operated as a worker cooperative.
Germany
Germany has a history of "Mitbestimmung" (Codetermination) since 1891 (see
Codetermination in Germany). The Weimar Republic required workers' consultative committees in every business employing 20 people, which the Nazi government abolished. Works councils were authorized by the Allied Control Council in 1946 and required by the West German government in 1952; codetermination has been mandatory in all large companies (2,000 employees) since 1976.
Greece
In the early 1980s, two textile factories were taken over by their workers after going bankrupt. In the early 2010s, various workers took over a building materials factory, newspaper, radio station and hospital.
Indonesia
During the
Indonesian National Revolution
The Indonesian National Revolution, or the Indonesian War of Independence, was an armed conflict and diplomatic struggle between the Republic of Indonesia and the Dutch Empire and an internal social revolution during postwar and postcol ...
, railway, plantation and factory workers across
Java
Java (; id, Jawa, ; jv, ꦗꦮ; su, ) is one of the Greater Sunda Islands in Indonesia. It is bordered by the Indian Ocean to the south and the Java Sea to the north. With a population of 151.6 million people, Java is the world's mo ...
implemented workers' control from 1945 to 1946, until it was crushed by the new Indonesian Nationalist Government. In 2007, over a thousand workers in
Jakarta
Jakarta (; , bew, Jakarte), officially the Special Capital Region of Jakarta ( id, Daerah Khusus Ibukota Jakarta) is the capital city, capital and list of Indonesian cities by population, largest city of Indonesia. Lying on the northwest coa ...
inspired by workers' control in Argentina and Venezuela took over a textile factory in response to
wage
A wage is payment made by an employer to an employee for work done in a specific period of time. Some examples of wage payments include compensatory payments such as ''minimum wage'', '' prevailing wage'', and ''yearly bonuses,'' and remune ...
cuts, repression of a recently organized union and efforts to fire and intimidate union organizers.
Italy
During the
Biennio Rosso, workers, especially in Northern Italy, took control of numerous factories. In 2012, workers took over an office and former car factory, turning it into a recycling plant.
Japan
During the
Allied Occupation of Japan, around 100,000 workers took over 133 workplaces as strike actions. Coal mines, shoe factories, hospitals, government offices, steel works and newspapers were the main sites taken over.
Poland
Workers' control had been practiced in Poland during the
Revolution of 1905
The Russian Revolution of 1905,. also known as the First Russian Revolution,. occurred on 22 January 1905, and was a wave of mass political and social unrest that spread through vast areas of the Russian Empire. The mass unrest was directed again ...
, as workers protested a lack of political freedoms and poor working conditions. Workers' control also occurred in around 100 industries in the aftermath of
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
with around 500,000 participants. Notably in the short-lived
Republic of Tarnobrzeg. As
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
was ending, workers took over abandoned and damaged factories and began running them between 1944 and 1947.
Russia and Soviet Union
Between the
Revolutions in 1917, instruments of worker representation rose up, called the Soviets. On 27 November 1917, the
Council of People's Commissars
The Councils of People's Commissars (SNK; russian: Совет народных комиссаров (СНК), ''Sovet narodnykh kommissarov''), commonly known as the ''Sovnarkom'' (Совнарком), were the highest executive authorities of ...
(SNK) implemented a decree on workers' control.
The USSR experimented with workers' control with the
Kuzbass Autonomous Industrial Colony thanks to the influence from
IWW from 1922 to 1926 before being destroyed by the government.
Spain
During the
Spanish Revolution of 1936, workers' control in
anarchist-controlled areas was widespread, with workers' control being practiced in factories, farms, docks, ships, utilities, railways, trams and hospitals.
Sri Lanka
Workers' control was practiced in the
Ceylon Transport Board from 1958 to 1978 with about 7,000 buses and 50,000 workers.
Syria
Workers' control has been practiced in several cities and towns during the
Syrian Civil War since 2012 as they maintain agriculture, run hospitals and maintain basic social services in the lack of a state. Workers' control is also practiced in
Rojava
The Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria (AANES), also known as Rojava, is a de facto autonomous region in northeastern Syria. It consists of self-governing sub-regions in the areas of Afrin, Jazira, Euphrates, Raqqa, Tabqa, ...
, with around a third of all industry being placed under workers' control as of 2015.
Tanzania
Workers' control was practiced in several factories and hotels during a strike wave from 1972 to 1973 over anger at the ineffective
workers committees, although the government of
Julius Nyerere
Julius Kambarage Nyerere (; 13 April 1922 – 14 October 1999) was a Tanzanian anti-colonial activist, politician, and political theorist. He governed Tanganyika as prime minister from 1961 to 1962 and then as president from 1962 to 1964, af ...
initially supported the factory takeovers, it later repressed them, with some analysts arguing it was a form of
co-optation.
Ukraine
Workers' control was practiced by the
Makhnovshchina
The Makhnovshchina () was an attempt to form a stateless anarchist society in parts of Ukraine during the Russian Revolution of 1917–1923. It existed from 1918 to 1921, during which time free soviets and libertarian communes operated un ...
in both factories and farms from 1918 to 1921, when it was crushed by the
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
.
United Kingdom
Workers' control was first practiced by the
Diggers, who took over abandoned farm land and formed autonomous collectives during the
English Civil War
The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I (" Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of r ...
. In the 1970s, around 260 episodes of workers' control were witnessed across the UK, including:
* 1971:
Upper Clyde Shipbuilders
*1971: Plessey armaments factory near Glasgow
*1972: Sexton, Son and Everard shoe factories in
East Anglia
East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...
*1972: Briant Colour Printing in East London
*1972: Leadgate Engineering in Durham
*1972: Fisher-Bendix motor components factory near Liverpool
*1972: Bredbury Steelworks near Manchester
*1972: Stanmore Engineering in London=
*Unknown:
Triumph Engineering
*Unknown: Elisabeth Garret Anderson hospital
*Unknown: Hounslow Hospital
Also see the
Institute for Workers' Control
The Institute for Workers' Control was founded in 1968 by Tony Topham and Ken Coates, the latter then a leader of the International Marxist Group and subsequently professor at the University of Nottingham and a member of the European Parliament fro ...
,
The Lucas Plan and
Mike Cooley
United States
Workers' control was practiced in
Seattle in 1919, as workers organized milk deliveries, cafeterias, firefighting and laundry. From 1968 to 1972, General Electric experimented with workers' control in
River Works, Massachusetts to great success.
Yugoslavia
In
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
, there was a limited degree of workers' control of industry which was encoded into law in 1950. This occurred due to the
Tito-Stalin Split and inspiration from the
Paris Commune
The Paris Commune (french: Commune de Paris, ) was a revolutionary government that seized power in Paris, the capital of France, from 18 March to 28 May 1871.
During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard had defende ...
. However, the poorly designed, top-down nature of the workers' councils led to corruption, cynicism and inefficiencies until they were destroyed in the
Yugoslav Wars
The Yugoslav Wars were a series of separate but related Naimark (2003), p. xvii. ethnic conflicts, wars of independence, and insurgencies that took place in the SFR Yugoslavia from 1991 to 2001. The conflicts both led up to and resulted from ...
.
See also
*
Anarcho-syndicalism
Anarcho-syndicalism is a political philosophy and anarchist school of thought that views revolutionary industrial unionism or syndicalism as a method for workers in capitalist society to gain control of an economy and thus control influence in ...
*
Co-operatives
*
Direct democracy
Direct democracy or pure democracy is a form of democracy in which the electorate decides on policy initiatives without elected representatives as proxies. This differs from the majority of currently established democracies, which are repres ...
*
Inclusive democracy
*
Industrial democracy
*
Industrial Workers of the World
The Industrial Workers of the World (IWW), members of which are commonly termed "Wobblies", is an international labor union that was founded in Chicago in 1905. The origin of the nickname "Wobblies" is uncertain. IWW ideology combines general ...
*
Paris Commune of 1871
*
Participatory democracy
Participatory democracy, participant democracy or participative democracy is a form of government in which citizens participate individually and directly in political decisions and policies that affect their lives, rather than through elected repr ...
*
Participatory economics
Participatory economics, often abbreviated Parecon, is an economic system based on participatory decision making as the primary economic mechanism for allocation in society. In the system, the say in decision-making is proportional to the impa ...
*
Worker cooperative
*
Worker self-management
*
Workplace democracy
Workplace democracy is the application of democracy in various forms (examples include voting systems, debates, democratic structuring, due process, adversarial process, systems of appeal) to the workplace. It can be implemented in a variety ...
*
Edvard Kardelj
Edvard Kardelj (; 27 January 1910 – 10 February 1979), also known by the pseudonyms Bevc, Sperans and Krištof, was a Yugoslav politician and economist. He was one of the leading members of the Communist Party of Slovenia before World War II ...
References
Further reading
*
Maurice Brinton, ''The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control''. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1978
External links
Trotsky on workers controlDemocracy At Work
{{DEFAULTSORT:Workers' Control
Socialism
Management
Labor relations
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