62 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
62 lines
3.1 KiB
Markdown
**For Workers' Power** is a 1965 leaflet written by [Chris
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Pallis](Chris_Pallis "wikilink") and published by
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[Solidarity](Solidarity_\(UK\) "wikilink"). It is a short critique of
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the nature of capitalism, the failure of trade unions and a call to
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working class action.
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## Transcript
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The standard of living of workers has improved considerably during the
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last century. The impoverishment predicted by Marx has not taken place.
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But capitalism remains an inhuman system where the vast majority are
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bossed at work and manipulated in consumption and leisure. Increased
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wages are balanced by speed-up and the creation of artificial needs.
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Both East and West, society is still dominated by ruling classes who
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control the means of production, use the state in their own interests
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and who are prepared to risk the destruction of humanity to defend these
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interests.
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The decay of the [trade unions](Trade_Union "wikilink") and of the
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traditional parties has gone much further than is generally admitted.
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They cannot be reformed. They have come to terms with the existing
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system, of which they are now a key part. The degeneration of working
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class organizations, itself the result of the failure of the
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revolutionary movement, has been a major factor in creating working
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class [apathy](apathy "wikilink").
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The same applies to the Communist Parties. They are equally impotent and
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although they seek to create a superficially different kind of society
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(namely [state capitalism](State_Capitalism "wikilink") on the
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[Russian](USSR "wikilink") or [Chinese](China "wikilink") model) their
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aims can hardly be called socialist.
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The road to socialism - and socialism itself - means the conscious and
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independent action of workers. It means the end of the division between
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leaders and led. By their rigid, hierarchical structure most
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"revolutionary" organizations encourage precisely those divisions. A
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socialist society will be one in which decisions will be taken by
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[workers' councils](Workers'_Council "wikilink"), [composed of elected
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and revocable delegates](Confederation "wikilink"), and where the
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[workers themselves will manage
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production](Workers'_Self-Management "wikilink").
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The class struggle today takes mainly "unofficial" forms.
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Revolutionaries should be active in these struggles rather than
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attempting to take over the traditional organizations. Working class
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resistance to the employers and the union leaders is as strong as ever.
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But these struggles are mainly reflex actions: their aims are inevitably
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limited. If the working class is to learn and generalize its experiences
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and if it is to struggle for socialism it must form revolutionary
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organizations. These must be instruments of struggle, not a general
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staff imposed from the outside.
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The idea that socialism can be achieved by an "elite" party, however
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"revolutionary" acting on behalf of the working class, is both absurd
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and reactionary. *Solidarity* does not present itself as yet another
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"leadership" but merely as a tool of struggle.
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## External Links
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- [For Workers'
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Power](https://www.marxists.org/archive/brinton/1965/06/workers-power.htm)
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at [marxists.org](marxists.org "wikilink") |