radical america - vol 13 no 6 - 1979 - november december

8/8/2019 Radical America - Vol 13 No 6 - 1979 - November December

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v 13, 6THE STRUGGL

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Noamb-Der 1979

INTRODUCTIO

THE PAS AND FUTRE OF WORKERS' CONROL

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NUERICAL CONTROL OF WORK: WORERS ANDAUTOMATON IN THE COMTER AGEHy Shk

Vol. 13, N

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7

25

WHY DID THEY DIE? A DOCUMENT O BACK EMNISM 41

ALEXANDRA KOLONTA: FEMINISM WORKERS 51DEMOCRACY AND INTERNATIOAIS

A Bff

LETTERS: MORE ON EMINISM AND ENINIS 18


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INTRODUCTIO

In ; i" anb by Dad OnTger ad Hrly Shaien eted nd nn; f th u ontro n th wrkplace Since he pulanuf y C y Hy Baerman n 1974 I[s av n mr awr f wy n wi aal hav eaed lar " by praig h oncqnwr WIt, ' un By xtendn h vi.in ar, xarbatng l huh

PPn of womn and mirit wrkr


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ui d j.d wrk h ,eP " j" a uio ,',,i, ' d d un,d ,


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h h m n w "pe u[-id. th wa( and uha 0 -or labo p .

Anc BobrW i on lda Kol, ie liti1 N nd qUN elev py 1"l lli a Ih.d\ pk. f m. io ;nh ,,l vt pid " Vo0P"I, h l g f,b n ,bl 19 d>l h


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THE PAST AND FUTUREOF WORKERS' CONTRO

DavidMontgm

To a 1 worr troln Ara s diu hu


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'h /-; IH 1m! Th_ 1'UW ld n kem / mu ia"

ty-eM' f wo u u k ainull_. n . r l/a-u

\e LI t th It I r. h ad " ' Ih of 'h1, e'' h , wdg< "d u I N1 -\ >c'I CW "


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T pi III iI" \aa"Ia.d'bd. 01 c,lt>n w< b I\olcd o or l 1a fOmUOuly lblrd lflng ldth o,ctin ,i w ai'


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ms k Sodom nd omo ndPndos Bo, wc numos ltts tot dto of t Machinists' Monthly Joualppd to yozd woksops, ld tdpt nd psnss of t flng n tcft tt scntfc mngmnt ws not ony

tt to woks loods, but so mollyoutgous nd t mcnsts contmpt fot kndly lp nd coopton bngoffd tm by mn of totly dffnttyp of ducton ws cptud n pom,wc Dnns OS wot fo s unonsjoun n 108 O'S ws nspd by toftn ptd sttmnt of Cl Bt, d-sgn of t twbl sd ul fo c-cutng mcn spds nd fds, tt dmd somtms n btwn wok ndsomtms t ngt . . tt t tm wl comwn y d pss wl b spdd just so,nd y pn, y t, t wod o,wl b monzd, j ust k t muscl ptcs t sm l o t wold OSdpctd Bts dm ts wyTh dmonstrator sat in his asy chair,And as h smokd his cigar dramd a dram so

fair,n th haz of th rings of smok h blw,

A pictur h saw of which 'll tl you:n fancy h saw a building grandOf which h was in suprm commandThr wr laths and planrs and milling

machins, tooOf whl prsss and bolt cuttrs thr wr

quit a fworizontal and vrtical mils by th scorOf slottrs and shaprs a grat many morWhil th shop my, what a marvlous plac!

Mn movd lik as though thy wr runninga racAnd h thought of what a grat chang h'd

wroughtSinc h th othr machinists had taughtTo do thir work so quick and fast

And not to b loafing ovr thir task,But mak all th mony for th company, thThy'll b tratd lik cattl instad of lik

mnO' S contnus by contstng t nw us

fo spd wt s tds tdtons of ut

poductonAnd h smild as h thought of th old slowway

Whn a man would tu up on l a dayFirst h'd cntr it up so good and tru,Thn tak a roughing cut or two,And a finishing cut so nic and fin,And thn roll th barings to mak thm shinSquar up th nds, thn mak th fits,Tak it out of th lath, and that was it.But just look how h had changd this way A man had to do twlv of thm now in a dayThy simply whl thm into th lath,Tu th whol thing up in on mighty shavThrow it out again and thn it was don,And th lath man would say, wll, that's goin

som sm contst s ptd toug dff

nt dptmnts of t plnt But t pomnds n dgtfly unpctd wy, by potyng t dmonstto s n offnd

gnst wokngclss molty nd s opssly outclssd n tcncl knowldg btos to wo s ssung commndsSo his thoughts ran along in this bautul wayAnd in fancy h could har th dirctors say,ou 'r such a good man to kp down th payW hav dcidd to rais yours twnty doars

a day Alas at this point th tlphon rang,And as h took th rcivr a voic throug it

sang,llo s this you dar? am glad you 'r sonar,

v just bn told somthing awful want youto har,

Th boys say you 'r a wlchr, a pikr at hart,


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n a good honst bt you wouldn 't tak partThat you hold your job bcaus of your drags,Whn you ought to b out with a sack gathring

rags,n a cobblr's shop you would surly shin,

Or at pulling th candy you could do just fin.s for taching machinists why lt th thingpass

ublic opinion dcids you r an incomptntss

Of cous t tttuds nd vus vdnt nOSs pom cn b found n mcnmcn sops to ts dy On consunc oft modn sty of mngmnt s t sns ofvy nd mutu contmpt wc pvds

t tons btwn poducton woks ndngns Nvtlss tt nmosty wsspcy pct dung t ys oundWold W , nd t ws lso tn tt tstugg gnst t systmtzd mngmntws most succssful

Hstons v bn somwt msld onts sco by ton Ndwonys study Scintific Managmnt and th nions Ndwonycocty gus tt dung t w ys unon

offcs ncsngy cm to concl tvws wt tos of Tylos folows. Butwt ws ppnng on t sop floo wsut t oppost. T nstbl dmnd fobo gv woks fng of sfconfdnc,wc poducd mong ot tngs mostks dung 117 nd 118 tn ny pvousy n mcn stoy, n spt of t nostk pldgs of t unons T cods of tNton W bo Bod nd ot gncswc ttmptd to coo down ts dsputsv tt ty oftn nvovd tm studs,ncntv py nd wok stnddzton. Tuckst wy woks could b convncd totun to t job ws to gt d of ts nnov-tons

ny stuggs of t Wod W I poc,owv nvovd mo tn just sstnc to

mngmnts nw tcnus. s ustngt gw nd woks bcm mo of t blty to mnput govnmntgncs, woks bgn dvncng t pns fo ognzton of wok lt

Ts pns dffd sgnfcntly fomfm cft tcnus of t t nntcntuy. Bcus t oson of t postoskld woks ws cy vsbl, wod to com to gps wt t nw wy n wfctos optd To b su, som cft budng tds nd mny tool ndmks coud smply dmnd stndd cts nd cft us of t old fom ots, mong wom scntfc mngmd dy wougt tnsv cngs, dopd nov sts of dmnds nd nw fomsfognzton

Consd t mcnsts, lps, nd mks t t vst st cn Comn Pttsbug. Ty stuck n 117 nd n 118 fo t bolton of tmstudy pmum py scms, t stbsmnt o fou stndd wg ts, t ou dy nd cognton by t compny

sop commtt to dl wt gvncs ft pnt Ts pttn of dmnds ws monpc by t nd of t w, nd t dsttnton Fst of , dmnd fo stndzton ws sng n ts nstnc not fommngs, but fom t woks T pymnt plns d gntd polftondvdul wg ts, nd mpoys opdfndd vng s mny ouy ts s umn bngs n t fctoy s ncsfo t ffcnt opton of t woks woks zd tt t old stndd cftws now oplssy obsolt, but ty dd tct dtmnt st of clssfctoncov vyon, nd on wt now spbtwn t gst nd t lowst ts

Scond, stks vtuly vywmndd t stndd wok dy of gt o


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and they enjoyed considerable success on thisfront. The struggle for a shorter work weekmade more headway between 1910 and 1920than in any other decadeofthis century, despiteadamant employerresistance. Third, new ormsfor organizing the collective power of workers

were developed Sometimes craft unions werecoordinated through metal trades councils, andmany unions opened their doors to unskilledworkers, but virtually everywhere someformofshopcommittee or stewards' body assumed thetask of directly representing the rank and fle.Workers of this epoch were keenly aware thatto speak of "workers' control without effec-tively organizing workers' power istodriftintofantasy and

Finay as these strugges became more intense, they were increasingy often inked tofarreaching poitica demands The munitionsworkers of Bridgeport, who had been seasonedby four years of chronic industria batte by11 for exampe, hed huge raies to protestpostwar ayoffs From these raies they peti-tioned the President of the United States for the"creation of Nationa Labor Agencies to assurein a industries a iving wage and every right to

union organization coective bargaining andcoective participation of the workers in contro of industry; a reduction of hours; "exten-sive necessary pubic works to create jobs andfnay the "aboition of competition, criminawaste and profiteering in industry and substituting cooperative ownership and democraticmanagement of industry and the securing toeach of the fu product of his toi

This was the age of the Pumb Pan on therairoads the miners pamphet ow to Run

Coal and the convention of deegates from0000 striking miners in Iinois who voted tomake a condition of returning to work, thecoectivization of the mines Themes of pubicownersp, workers education, and poiticaaction payed a constant counterpoint to shop

foor demands between 118 and 1. ess to say, the empoyers fought tooth anagainst a such proposas Their moosummed up y President Loya A Osbof Westinghouse Eectric, who wrote as aber of the Nationa War Labor Board

chairman, Wiiam Howard Taft waagainst concessions to abor and againstBoard being used as an instrument of pganda by the abor unions Said Osbot is quit natural that you should appths qustions in a diffrnt fram ofthan do w for you hav not for yars, hav bn, fighting th battl for indindpndnc ou hav not had consbfor you as a part of your daily l vid

of bad faith, restriction of output, viodisrgard of obligations and irrsponsthat has ever been the characteristics oforganizations

Osborne's statement reflected the deter

posture which his fellow employers as

before the Board. Representatives of B

port's manufacturers for example, insis

fourprinciples in their personal relations

and exclusive control over production

employers; remuneration of each em

according to his or her individual merits

ation of those merits by the employer

and the resoution of a conflicts be

empoyers and empoyees without "ou

interference, from unions or governme

By the end of the depression of 1920-

resistance of unions to these pretensio

management had been decisivey crus

most basic industries. All that remained

formerly overt struggle for workers' c

wereits faint echoes in the Baltimore andPlan and a few similar "workers' par

tion" schemes on one side, and the progr

sma isoated evoutionary parties oother. Nevertheess unorganized wcaried on the batte in covert forms A


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oter tigs, te reglatio of ott wicieteetcetry craft ios ad eobodiedi te stit did ot disaear fro Aericaidstrial life it wet dergrod Istead ofbeig oely roclaied as io "legisla

tio, restrictio took te for of secretivedefiace by sall gros of workers to aage-ets atority I a word, te stit adbecoe sabotage.

Moreover, it becae soetig of a obses-sio wit workers, as is evidece by a docetliberated fro te Cevrolet coays filesdrig te Flit sitdow strike of 17 iswas a reort of a sy o workers coversatios

drig te first sift Srely oe siaageets scietific caracter was ttat workers were ow kow by rarely by ae A few excerts fro tis sggest te teor of te workers discssi

ottEmploy 7556046 in convrsationhard to say that h had ompltd his prtion by 45 PM, and that h loafd for fiv minuts bfor h quit work at 330

At lunch tim [on th scond shmajority of th mn had compltd from70 camshafts and in chcking th sht vidnt that th othr mn had th sam

on reen & Stee


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ther members mmedate empoyers ad madeuos labe for damages case of strkes voato of cotracts. As early as the 950s twas evdet that the wdespread corporatoof maagemets rghts causes to uo cotracts ad the creasg rgdty of grevace

procedures meat that coflcts over the paceor arragemet of work had reverted to thesubterraea, sabotage forms of preuodays. Strkes about such questos were moreofte tha ot uoffcal ad ths coec-to court decsos restrctg such strkes othe bass of the TaftHartley Act have becomecreasgy mportat. Two years ago the dstrct federa court coverg wester Pesyvaa rued the Eazor Truckg Compay

case that ay uo was abe to damage suts case of a wldcat strke by ts members f theuo dd ot do everythg ts power to getthe members back to work, cudg replacgthe strkers wth scabs.

Moreover what cotractua defeses ofworkers cotro over work reatos uoshave mataed argey through "pastpractces clauses ad through the defese ofmembers agast dscpary sactos, fd

themseves today uder vgorous attack frommaagemets sde at the bargag tabe."Takeback bargag s the curret vogue maagemet strategy ad ts advocates makeo boes about the fact that ther prmaryobjectve s the emato of whatever ob-stacles rema uo cotracts to therauthorty over the workplace. "We pay goodmoey they argue "ad we wat output retur.

Of al workers cotro ssues, the oe whchhas assumed speca promece our owtmes s that of prevetg pat cosgs. Herethe probem s ot how the job s performedbut whether there wl be a job at a. Sce theworkers of Amerca Safety Razor sat dow ts Brookly pat 1954, Amerca workers

have ofte decared that they have a rghtvoce corporate decsos about where ws to be carred o. Most such strugges sthat tme have empoyed potca strategesworkers have mobzed ther commutedemad that ther Cogressoa represe

tves or the epartmet of efese forcecompay to cotue operatg at the oldA few have used the pressure of strkesboycots. I every case the objectve has beforce maagemet to barga over whaways camed as ts excusve ad utmauthorty uder "free eterprse, to dewhat t wated to produce where.

some recet staces workers have soways to reope a pat whch has bee a

doed by a mutpat corporato uder ow maagemet, or some sort of commuowershp. For exampe whe ougstSheet ad Tube aouced that t woud cts Campbe Works oca uo memberssted the ad of a msters couc to proma movemet for acqusto of the pat bycommuty. The mplcatos of ths efforprofoud. As the projects ecoomc sutat Gar Aperowtz has made cear, c

muty owershp of the m caot sucwhout ew govermeta purchasg pofor e wares that are drected prmary aeeds of urba Amerca mass trast, hg deveopmet etc. I other words commutyoperated pat wth ay degreworkers cotro s gog to fucto t mhave ts output determed by the atos for use vaues by the rea ad sorey ected eeds of the Amerca people o

the rue of maxmum proftablty marketpace.

The ougstow dea has ot bee carrefruto, but t has caught o elsewhereBuffao, whe the Heat Trasfer vsoAmerca Stadard threateed to cose dothe Buffalo AFLCIO Coucl voted to t


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oer te plat, i ecessar, ad operate tuder uio directio Seeral plats i J amestow ad Dukirk, New York, ae alreadbee kept alie b teir workers' assumigowersip

Tis is te settig o te most importat discussios o workers' cotrol toda A outstadig example o wat is ow possible asbee proided b te birt ad surial oWiscosi's workercotrolled ewspaper, TheMadision Press Connection Its origis lie i alog strike o te emploees o Madiso'smaor ewspapers, prooked we teir owersudertook to cripple or destro teir cratuios aig goe out o strike ad realizigtat all te skills eeded to put out a ewspaperwere to be oud amog te people walkig te

picket le, tese workers decided to start teirow ewspaper as a rial to teir scaboperatedormer emploers Te Press Connection soodeeloped a etwork o readers suc as ewpapers could boast, because i order to get subscriptios ad operatig uds, ewspaperworkers ad to solicit support rom uio adarmers' orgaizatios all oer Wiscosi Aste did so, te people wit wom te talkedtold tem wat te tougt o ad wated

rom te ewspaper Respodig to readers'suggestios ad criticisms (tat is, creatigsometig useul or te people o Wiscosi)became essetial to te surial o te paper

8

Moreoer, o m ow irst isit to te PressConnection oices ad composig room, Isaw a work place tat looked more busiesslike i te true sese o te term taatig I ad see beore i m lie Eacdepartmet ad bee psicall desiged b te

people wo worked i it, to make teir work aseciet, eas, ad accurate as te could makeit, wile it was also equipped wit te lowers,pictures, etc, ecessar to make te settigcogeial Tese jouralists, bookkeepers, laout artists ad priters were ot socializig:

te were puttig out a ewspaper o alue te local residets Ad te were ruig it teir ow collectie decisios

A group o tese workers told me tat tad goe to a semiar eld b idustrial reltios experts o te questio o workers' pa

ticipatio i maagemet Te ad listeed all te proects ad experimets describtere, saig otig util close to te ed te da, we oe o tem put up is ad said: I'm sorr We ca't quite relate to tdiscussio You see, we oud i te PreConnection tat we do't eed maagemeparticipatio

QUESTION PERIOD

1 Questio weter struggles agaist placlosigs ca create coalitios betwee workead itellectualsRepl Let me sa tat te wole battle agaiplat closigs i te Uied States is still at

er primitie leel compared to wat oe ii Ital ad Frace, or ideed i te oBrow Sip Yarks i Scotlad Tere tworkers simpl took oer te ards ad kemakig sips, ater te compa ad goe oo busiess

But te act remais tat te questio becomig more ad more widel discusseere Tat discussio itsel is importat Colectie actio sprigs rom people's sese

"real possibilities, ad awareess o te eperieces o oters elps sape tat sesMoreoer, te ultimate success o a attemto reope plats ad operate tem udworkers' maagemet coit maagmet, or a oter collectie orm ca eer b


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achieved if the workers remai i isoatio.They mst have otside aid, fo poitica spport, ogistic sppot, research desigs adsometimes moey. The strgge at gs-tow's Campbe Woks has bee exempay ithis respect

. Objectio that the ogstow commtyeffort has soght govermeta aid ad thatreiace o the state wod simpy repace oefom of beacratic egime for aother.Repl The cotro stgges which ivoveothig bt the immediate participatio ofthose ivoved ae those which emerge ot ofsma grops of wokers i diect reatioshipwith each other. A exampe is the decisio of

cam shaft tres amog themseves as to howmay shafts they wi prodce. Nobody fomotside the grop is eeded fo that sort ofcotro thogh we ms t emember that heparameters withi which wokers make sch adecisio ae decisivey fixed by the boss.

Whe we thik i terms of opeatig a pat,however, two aspects of the qestio mst beceary cofroted. First, it is ot possibe tobid a fy participatory maagemet withithe existig ecoomic famewok. Oe caotmake sociaism i oe factoy. Eve if ThePeope's Campbe Woks was opeed iogstow, it wod sti be emeshed i aecoomy goveed by maket res adorieted i fiacia ad saes practices, as weas i kow maagemet techiqes, towadthe ogic of pofit Those who ae thikig ofprodcig se vaes der coective diectiowithi that system are facig a phi batteevey day.

The sigificace of that phi batte depedso other deveopmets coected with it., adthis is whee the poitica side of the strggecomes i. Oe factory by itsef wi sik, or if itsvives wi ot be sefmaaged very og. IJamestow, New ork, where six factoriesboast their "sefmaagemet, I fod that

three of them wee impossibe to distigfrom ay othe factory, except that the mgeria gop may have icded as maydoze membes.

The secod poit foows fom the What matters is the coectio we mak

thoght ad deed) betwee stgges to chwork eatios ad strgges to chageprpose for which we work. I ecet yeafasciatio with the chaege of paticipademocracy to hieachy ad beacacysometimes obscred the reated, ad fdameta, chaege of popar ecoeeds to podctio for profit A movewhich aims to ik coectiveydirected potio to coectiveydetemied ecoomic

caot be cofied to the workpace aoWi we the ed p with othig bt ao

rig beacacy? The ccia poit is pose this qestio i eitheror terms. Or thig o this mtter may be heped by the strecety pbshed by Adew ZimbaistJa Espioza, of 0 pbicy operated fries i Chie drig the Popa Uity govmet. They fod that the acta evepaticipatio of wokes i pat maage

vaied greaty from oe factoy to aoWhere the pat had bee atioaizedgovermet decee ad a goveig stritrodced fom the otside, the woassmed acta coective diectio vey soif they did so at a. O the othe had, wthe pat had a og history of ogastrgge ad the wokers themseves wee ai its atioaizatio, their eve of ivovewas impessive. Their officia epresetativ

those istaces efected a active base amthe ak ad fie, which made "maagemet a ivig eaity i determthe prodct ie, as we as i wok eatI other wods, the dyamics of rea poistrgge do ot aow s to treat actio "fbeow ad "fom above as mtay esive.


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radical america - vol 13 no 6 - 1979 - november december

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