Workers' councils are bodies in a given locale (containing a mix of workers, peasants and soldiers depending on where they are) which are formed when large numbers of workers come together to defend their own interests against capital.
They are usually run on the lines of direct democracy, with instantly recallable delegates.
They tend to appear before and during all revolutions and near-revolutions, and can become organs of the future self-management of society if not crushed as in Hungary '56 or usurped as in the Russian Revolution.
They are sometimes known as soviets (esp. in Russia) or shoras (esp. in Arabic countries).
