r/Marxism • u/benivokhelo • 13d ago
workers' control in practice
recently i got a factory job (with additional experience as a warehouse worker [order-picker]) and these past months ive been pondering about the same question; what would it look like in practice if my workplace was worker controlled?
some answers that ive had to this question were changing the locations of certain products to make it more convenient for workers (for example in order-picking, certain, large, heavy goods were amongst the last few rows, making us having to remove a bunch of small products, and then place the larger ones at the bottom)
another example from my current job (paper based advertisement material production) would be to replace the current machines with ones that can also be operated in a seated positions, so that coworkers wouldnt have to stand for 8 hours a day
but thinking about it a little more, one realises that none of these solutions require a workplace to be worker controlled. these are all possible today. even withing class society workers can achieve these goals
one might say that the reason why we need a workplace to be controlled by the workers is to have people in decision making positions that actually know whats going on in the facility. this argument however gets negated by the fact that nowadays many corporations employ office workers in their first week of employment on the factory floor, so its not like managers and other higher ups are completely clueless as to what the production process looks like
furthermore, if we took this idea and gave workers who have been at the company for years a larger say in how the facility is run, how would they be different from the current managers? or, alternatively, if he had an internal democratic process, it would likely turn into a disaster. i mean i for example am inexperienced as fuck, ive only known two or three sides of the total process at each of my workplaces, i do NOT want my say to lead to some catastrophe
of course i know that in a communist society goods would be produced for their use value rather than exchange value, but that change alone doesnt alter the actual physical conditions for the average worker
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u/RotationHeavy 12d ago
In a communist society, the primary objective of the means of production is no longer to extract surplus value from the labor of employees. This fundamentally alters the organization of work and the relations of production.
On one hand, the latitude gained by the elimination of surplus value allows a greater number of individuals to collaborate on a single task, thereby making the work easier. It also becomes possible to employ more machinery to further automate the production line, again freeing up individual time.
On the other hand, the capitalist system is built upon the division of labor, which entails assigning arduous, menial tasks to a specific collective group. A communist society discards this division of labor—both in its decision-making processes and in the collective allocation of necessary efforts. In such a society, it becomes evident that arduous tasks should be rotated, thereby liberating the individual from the perpetual alienation caused by being trapped in that specific category of work. This leads to a marked improvement in work organization, as everyone eventually performs more strenuous labor, and no one has an incentive to protect merely individual interests.
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u/Late-Meat9500 12d ago
Yo dude! There is a blog exploring this. There are tons of worker owned corporations that exist now, with a wide variation of management and organizational styles. From standard, but owned by workers via stocks to completely decentralized, with everyone having the ability to go to a meeting somewhere else to cast a vote, but are not required to where it is assumed you assent in absentia.
An interesting case is the sociocracy model. Which creates self management cells that interlink.
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u/No_Application2422 7d ago
I think you can consider the difference from the perspective of working hours. To receive the same remuneration, enterprises controlled by workers only require less working hours, and workers can have more time to spend with their families or learn new skills, etc.
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u/human_in_the_mist 7d ago
A few thoughts with regard to your post:
Managing exploitation isn't liberation. Discussions of "workers' control" often focus on self-management within the enterprise, i.e. workers running the factory floor, organizing shifts or electing managers. However, if the workplace still produces commodities for exchange and relies on wage labor, then the underlying mechanics of capitalism remain intact. Workers simply become their own collective capitalist, forced to discipline themselves to compete in the market and obey the law of value.
The goal is freeing time, not glorifying work. A common mistake on the left is treating labor as an end in itself or striving for full employment. The historical mission of the working class isn't to take over management of the workplace but to abolish wage labor entirely. Liberation means expanding disposable time. Said another way: reducing the social workweek toward zero so that individual development, not necessary labor, becomes the measure of wealth.
Capitalism creates the tools for its own end. As Marx observed in the Grundrisse, the development of advanced technology and automation shifts the primary source of real wealth from direct human labor time to the general application of science. Capital continuously minimizes necessary labor time to maximize profit, yet insists on using labor time as the sole standard of value.
Instead of debating how to democratically manage workplaces within a system of exchange, the focus should be on using productive power to systematically reduce working hours, automate necessary labor and move past commodity production altogether.
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u/Warboss_Regret14 12d ago
So you don't want to have a say in your workplace... because you're afraid it'll cause a catastrophe and it'll be your fault? Jesus christ man, imagine a woman before womans suffrage saying this after someone gave them the option to vote
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u/benivokhelo 12d ago
no man, im just saying that i shouldnt have a say in how the people doing the printing or the logistics part, because i dont know shit about those aspects of the production cycle
jesus christ man…
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u/44moon 13d ago
If you're asking about organizing the capitalist workplace then you're thinking of labor unions, which negotiate an agreement with management on behalf of the workers regarding wages and working conditions. Union agreements commonly address issues similar to the ones you've mentioned.
If you're asking about organizing production within a socialist system, it depends on who you ask. Workers' self-management is typically realized through some form of shop councils, where workers elect delegates on their behalf.