Worker Self-management

Sat, 02/01/16

The Social Innovations of Autogestión in Argentina’s Worker-Recuperated Enterprises: Cooperatively Reorganizing Productive Life in Hard Times

An essay that sketches out the most common microeconomic and organizational challenges that Argentina's recuperated workplaces face and maps out the “social innovations” being spearheaded by them.

Argentina’s  worker-recuperated enterprises emerged out of the unraveling of the country’s neoliberal experiment circa 1997. With traditional union tactics proving incapable of addressing workers’ immediate needs, some workers took matters into their own hands by occupying and reopening their bankrupted or failing firms as workers’ cooperatives under the auspices of autogestión (self-management).

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Sat, 02/01/16

Worker self-management in historical perspective

A 2002 essay that surveys the great potentialities of worker self-management and draws up some lessons from historical experiences during the 20th century.

Introduction

Worker self-management (WSM) has re-emerged as a major movement in Argentina, particularly this year with over 200 factories organized and controlled by their workers and a national co-coordinator of self-managed enterprises in the process of being organized. read more »

Geographical: Era: Topic: 
Sat, 02/01/16

Self-Management in Agriculture, Industry and Public Services during the 1936 Spanish Revolution

Excerpt from the book "Anarchist Economics".

Spanish anarcho-syndicalism from its inception had adopted an initial programme not only of wage demands, the right to work, improvements in conditions, but also the realisation of Libertarian Communism. Before 19 July 1936 the anarchists had proclaimed the anarchist Social Revolution in many places in Spain such as Casas Viejas, Alto Liobregat and Gijon, all of which were areas which had a large anarcho-syndicalist following. In all these villages or towns property registers were burned, money abolished and Libertarian Communism made reality. read more »

Geographical: Era: Topic: 
Fri, 01/01/16

Self-Management: Dangers and Possibilities

Some currents argue that the experience of small-scale self-management under capitalism is useful preparation. However, self-management is impossible without real socialist democracy.

The political formation of revolutionaries of my generation and the one immediately preceding it was deeply affected by our experience of the Russian revolution. For the first time in history the working class of a vast country had taken power, abolished the domination of capital, and begun to construct a new society – a society which, before the eyes of the world proletariat, could become a new society, a socialist society. read more »

Theorists: Era: Topic: 
Fri, 01/01/16

Living Utopia

A documentary film about the generalised anarcho-syndicalist collectivisation and self-management of the economy during the 'Spanish Revolution' of 1936.

Living Utopia (Original, 1997: Vivir la utopía. read more »

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Fri, 01/01/16

The malaise on the left

Maurice Brinton of Solidarity's 1974 critique of the statist left and its definition of worker's control.

Forget for a moment the scare campaigns of the recent elections: Scanlon and Jones presented by the yellow press as proselytisers of red revolution, Mr. read more »

Era: Topic: 
Thu, 31/12/15

New Era Windows: Our Story

The struggle that led to the creation of the New Era Windows workers' cooperative, as told by the workers themselves.

In 2008, the boss decided to close our windows factory on Goose Island and fire everyone. In 2012, we decided to buy the factory for ourselves and fire the boss. We now own the plant together and run it democratically. This is our story. read more »

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Wed, 30/12/15

Los Fralibos - A song by and for the workers of Fralib

The workers of Fralib sing about their struggle.

"Thé de l'Eléphant was born in Provence, it must stay in Provence"

The workers of Fralib (the Elephant Tea) in Géménos spent 1336 days of struggle against Unilever, the giant multinational behind the Lipton brand. Their collective strength finally managed to make the multinational cave in, and thus SCOPTI coop was born. Their struggle is recounted here by the workers themselves, in French, to the rhythm of the Los Fralibos protest song. 

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Wed, 30/12/15

Social Waste - "At utopia's fiesta"

A video clip by Greek militant hip-hop collective Social Waste, filmed at the recuperated factory of VIOME.

Captions available in English, Spanish, Italian, Greek. read more »

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Wed, 30/12/15

Occupy, Resist, Produce – Officine Zero

The second in a series of short documentaries on the recuperated factories of Europe.

Officine Zero, former RSI (Rail Service Italia) was dedicated to the maintenance and repair of sleeping cars. When in December 2011 Italian train services decided to stop the night train service and invest in fast track trains, RSI closed. Some 20 workers out of the almost 60 employees strong work force did not accept the closing and took up the struggle. They found support among the activists from the nearby social center, “Strike.” In February 2012 they occupied their work place. Together they started a laboratory on reconversion, organizing public assemblies attended by hundreds of people. read more »

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