The Institute for Workers' Control was founded in 1968 by

Tony Topham Anthony John Topham (27 October 1929 – 2 March 2004) was a British academic and writer. He was an active trade unionist and campaigner for workers rights. Topham was born in Hull. He was educated at Beverley Grammar School, and earned a degree ...

and

Ken Coates Kenneth Sidney Coates (16 September 1930 – 27 June 2010) was a British politician and writer. He chaired the Bertrand Russell Peace Foundation and edited ''The Spokesman'', the BRPF magazine launched in March 1970. He was a Labour Party Mem ...

, the latter then a leader of the

International Marxist Group :''See also the International Marxist Group (Germany). The International Marxist Group (IMG) was a Trotskyist group in Britain between 1968 and 1982. It was the British Section of the Fourth International. It had around 1,000 members and suppor ...

and subsequently professor at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public university, public research university in Nottingham, United Kingdom. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. The University of Nottingham belongs t ...

and a member of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adop ...

from 1989 until 1999. The Institute drew together

shop stewards A union representative, union steward, or shop steward is an employee of an organization or company who represents and defends the interests of their fellow employees as a labor union member and official. Rank-and-file members of the union hold ...

and militant workers to discuss

workers' control 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, communists, social democrats, distributists and Christia ...

of production. It grew out of the Workers' Control Conferences organised from 1964 by ''Voice of the Unions'' and the Centre for Socialist Education. From around 100 at the first meeting in

Nottingham Nottingham ( , locally ) is a city and unitary authority area in Nottinghamshire, East Midlands, England. It is located north-west of London, south-east of Sheffield and north-east of Birmingham. Nottingham has links to the legend of Robi ...

, the figure grew to some 1200 in 1969. The Institute won sponsorship from a number of trade union leaders, including

Hugh Scanlon Hugh Parr Scanlon, Baron Scanlon (26 October 1913 – 27 January 2004) was a British trade union leader. Scanlon was born in Melbourne, to parents who had emigrated from Britain. His mother brought him back from Australia to the UK when he ...

. In the later opinion of the

's journal, the Institute over-accommodated to its sponsors and failed to organise its supporters: "only 26 people attended the AGM in 1970, and affiliation and membership fees have been maintained at a very high level."

External links

Coates and Topha
Readings and Witnesses for Workers' Control
Socialist Renewal -
Institute for Workers' Control pamphlet series in PDF format
Organisations based in Nottingham Politics of Nottingham Political advocacy groups in the United Kingdom University of Nottingham {{UK-org-stub