workers control

Worker co-operatives and democracy - Bernard Marszalek

Bernard Marszalek discusses the dynamics and contradictions of worker co-operatives under capitalism.

Members of worker co-operatives necessarily live schizophrenic lives. On one hand, we must function as owners of small businesses and contend with all the insidious forces of capitalism – the anti-ethic of profits before people. At the same time we are members of an egalitarian corporate entity that most people can’t imagine existing, much less thriving.

Update from the Greek hospital under workers' control

Submitted by working class s... on Feb 28 2012 00:58

The health workers who have occupied a hospital in Greece and placed it under workers control have issued a new statement regarding the occupation.

The following statement has been made by the health workers occupying the hospital.

Hello all,
Thank you so much for your interest and support.

General strike May 1st: Why?

Why do we need a general strike?

Two things are essential to the production of all goods; materials, such as machinery and land, and labour, or the effort of humans. In our society there are a number of ways to make a living.

Greek hospital now under workers' control

Submitted by working class s... on Feb 5 2012 19:20

Health workers in Kilkis, Greece, have occupied their local hospital and have issued a statement saying it is now fully under workers control.

The general hospital of Kilkis in Greece is now under workers control.

Podcast on workers' control with Immanuel Ness

A podcast on workers' control from Pacifica Radio's "Against the Grain" with Immanuel Ness, labour historian and author of 'Ours to Master and to Own: Workers' Control from the Commune to the Present'.

Wed 31.8.11| Workers' Control

Italy 1920: When 600,000 workers seized control of their workplaces

Tom Wetzel details the Italian Factory Occupations of 1920, which matured beyond conventional trade unionism and at its height involved about 600,000 workers. This article was originally presented as a talk at the Conference on Workers' Self-Organization in St. Louis in 1988.

During the month of September, 1920, a widespread occupation of Italian factories by their workforces took place, which originated in the auto factories, steel mills and machine tool plants of the metal sector but spread out into many other industries -- cotton mills and hosiery firms, lignite mines, tire factories, breweries and distilleries, and steamships and warehouses in the port towns.

Anton Pannekoek and the theory of the transition - Radical Chains

Submitted by blebber on Nov 2 2011 14:57

Pannekoek's experience of the German revolution led him to observe that the workers' own struggle needed continuously to break down regimes and forms resulting from previous struggles. This gave him a powerful analysis of opportunism and enabled him to perceive the dangers of mere representation of the working class. (From Radical Chains no.2)

Pantheon building is poor historical materialism and leads to an impoverished 'history and yet it has been the essence of the bolshevik tradition's historiography. Linked to this is a scholasticim that refers to the writings of the pantheon to resolve all questions and disputes rather in the manner that fundamentalist Christians refer to the Old Testament.

Is revolution back on the agenda? - Mark Kosman

Submitted by ptar on Aug 8 2011 15:02

Women march to Versailles during the French Revolution.

Every attempt to go beyond capitalism has ended in failure. But are capitalism's present problems putting anti-capitalist revolution back on the agenda?

To answer this question, this article looks at past revolutions, with emphasis on aspects rarely considered by the left. These include humanity's origins, gender and military history and the revolutionary transcendence of work and democracy.
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'We will take over!' Women march to Versailles during the French Revolution.

IS REVOLUTION BACK ON THE AGENDA? - Mark Kosman

Worker Co-operatives, Markets and the South African State

An evaluation of the realities faced by co-operatives operating in the market through an analysis of ‘worker control’ and ‘social ownership’ in the former Yugoslavian co-operatives, ‘degeneration of worker control’ in the Mondragon Co-operative Complex in Spain and the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality’s state sponsored co-operative development project in South Africa.

Introduction