Industrial democracy

Industrial Democracy is an economic arrangement which involves workers making decisions, sharing responsibility and authority in the workplace. Although industrial democracy generally refers to the organization model in which workplaces are run directly by the people who work in them in place of private or state ownership of the means of production, there are also representative forms of industrial democracy. Representative industrial democracy includes decision making structures such as the formation of committees and consultative bodies to facilitate communication between management, unions, and staff.

Industrial democracy and Revolutionary Socialism

In late 19th century and at the beginning of the 20th century industrial democracy, along with anarcho-syndicalism, represented one of the dominant tendencies in revolutionary socialism and played a prominent role in international labour movements. While their influence declined after the defeat of the anarchists in the Spanish Revolution in 1939, several unions and organizations advocating industrial democracy continue to exist and are again on the rise internationally.

Related Topics:
Anarcho-syndicalism - Revolutionary socialism - Spanish Revolution

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The Industrial Workers of the World advance an industrial unionism which would organize all the workers, regardless of skill, gender or race, into one big union divided into a series of departments corresponding to different industries. The industrial unions would be the embryonic form of future post-capitalist production. Once sufficiently organized, the industrial unions would overthrow capitalism by means of a general strike, and carry on production through worker run enterprises without bosses or the wage system. Anarcho-syndicalist unions, like the Confederación Nacional del Trabajo, are similar in their means and ends but organize workers into geographically based and federated syndicates rather than industrial unions.

Related Topics:
Industrial Workers of the World - Industrial unionism - One big union - Post-capitalist - General strike - Confederación Nacional del Trabajo

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