workers councils
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.
1917-1945: Anti-Parliamentary Communism: The movement for workers councils in Britain - Mark Shipway
Anti-Parliamentary Communism --
The movement for workers councils in Britain, 1917-45
by Mark Shipway
online version from: http://af-north.org/
Soviets and Factory Committees in the Russian Revolution - Peter Rachleff
Peter Rachleff traces the development of the Factory Committees from early 1917 until the beginnings of the Bolsheviks' suppression of these organisations shortly after October.
Soviets and Factory Committees in the Russian Revolution
Peter Rachleff
Russian Labour and Bolshevik Power after October - William Rosenberg
William G. Rosenberg analyses the relationship between the working class and the Bolsheviks between 1917 and 1918, emphasising the role of strikes, protests and demonstrations during the period before and after October.
Due to the large number of footnotes from primarily Russian language sources, they have been omitted from this online version. See www.slavicreview.uiuc.edu/ for information about subscriptions and back issues.
Russian Labor and Bolshevik Power after October
William G. Rosenberg
Slavic Review, Vol. 44, No. 2. (Summer, 1985)
Seize Power or Seize the Factory? - Amadeo Bordiga
Amadeo Bordiga's commentary on the Italian factory occupation movement as well as his view for how the movement should move forward.
The working-class disturbances of the past few days in Liguria have seen yet another example of a phenomenon that for some time now has been repeated with some frequency, and that deserves to be examined as a symptom of a new level of consciousness among the working masses.
Proletarian dictatorship and class party
Bordiga's text on the role of the workers' party in the class struggle and enforcement of proletarian power.
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Every class struggle is a political struggle (Marx).
A struggle which limits itself to obtaining a new distribution of economic gains is not yet a political struggle because it is not directed against the social structure of the production relations.
Towards the establishment of workers' councils in Italy - Amadeo Bordiga
Bordiga's contribution to communist theories of the role of the workers party in pushing forward workers councils as a method of class organisation.
We have now collected quite a lot of material concerned with proposals and initiatives for establishing Soviets in Italy, and we reserve to ourselves the right to expound the elements of the argument step by step. At this stage we wish to make a few preliminary observations of a general nature, to which we have already referred in our most recent issues.
Factory Committees in the Russian Revolution - Rod Jones
Alongside the Russian workers' attempts to create socialism -- not as some abstract far-off utopia in a political party program, but through confronting and changing the concrete reality of their everyday life -- were the activities of socialist parties, supposedly sympathetic to working class aspirations. This pamphlet tells the story of the Russian workers' struggle, in particular the efforts of the factory committees.
The success of the Bolsheviks in defeating the working class and crushing all hope of socialism is the other side of the story. Today's supporters of Lenin and Trotsky still parade their writings and their politics as relevant to the working class and to socialism.
The Evolution of Local Soviets in Petrograd - Alexander Rabinowich
The Evolution of Local Soviets in Petrograd, November 1917 to June 1918: The Case of the First City District Soviet
Alexander Rabinowitch
PDF Format (2.2mb)
Beyond Kronstadt - the Bolsheviks in Power - "MK"
"MK" analyses the Russian Revolution, attempting a broader critical analysis than the usual back and forth over Kronstadt, including the arguments within the Bolshevik party between Lennin and the "left-communists", and the demise of the factory committees.
Beyond Kronstadt - the Bolsheviks in power
"MK"
An understanding of the Russian revolution is vital for any understanding of why the left failed in the 20th century. Yet most discussion amongst revolutionaries never goes beyond the usual argument about the Kronstadt rebellion.
Origins of the Movement for Workers' Councils in Germany
Pamphlet on the origins of the Movement for Workers' Councils in Germany, covering the 1918 revolution and its aftermath and activites and reactions of left and libertarian communists.
Written by the Dutch Group of International Communists (GIK), with an introduction by Dave Graham.
