Why Should Workers Be In Charge of the Workplace?

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Why Should Workers
Be In Charge of the Workplace?

By Punkerslut

Image: From "Work" Gallery from RadicalGraphics.org

Start Date: July 5, 2009
Finish Date: July 5, 2009

"The Industrial Workers [of the World] is essentially an educational organization—and one of the vitally important things it will teach the workers is the complete operation and control of the industry in which they are employed."
--Eugene V. Debs, 1905
"Class Unionism"

If the workers owned the places where they worked, it would create social harmony. The majority of adult people in the social order are workers. From truck drivers to physicians to entertainers, most people work to earn their living.

Those who don't work are the top elite business owners, those who make a living just by possessing property. They are a very small class compared to the group of workers. The businesses organize the economy for the few that own it, so that they can profit by it. But if we organize the economy so workers benefit from it, then everyone is given an equal opportunity.

"There is, therefore, no solution possible other than an economy directed by the workers through their organisations of control-through the workers' syndicates. In the political sense, federalism will provide us with the structure whereby each region can organise its own life according to its natural resources."
--Federica Montseny, 1937
"Militant Anarchism and the Reality in Spain"

Those who work in their community have a sense of social responsibility. Someone has to make decisions about environmental impact, discrimination, consumer rights, and poverty. When a property-owner makes the decision, they only see dollar signs. When a worker makes the decision, they see their community. And now, workers can make a workplace that fits them perfectly, with complete control over work hours, compensation, and investment.

Those who work are doing it to feed their families, to give education to their children, to give life to their communities. They have the greatest responsibility to make sure the business works, and to make sure that everyone gets paid. They'll make the most responsible decisions in organizing work, in research and development, and all business decisions. They worry about their families, not about their profits.

"As much land as a man tills, plants, improves, cultivates, and can use the product of, so much is his property."
--John Locke, 1690
"Second Treatise on Government," Chapter 5

If you want to end homelessness and poverty, then put the workers in charge! The workers will have the greatest interest in creating employment and inexpensive housing.

If you want to end AIDS and cancer, then put the workers in charge! The common people have a greater interest in curing diseases than medical corporations.

"The railways in Catalonia are an eloquent example of what the workers would have done had they not been paralysed by the concessions made to the bourgeoisie. The three main lines which belonged to three foreign companies constantly competing with one another, were amalgamated to form one company and recently were directed by a central committee of the U.G.T. (General Workers' Union--Socialist) and C.N.T. made up of twelve comrades. There were very few engineers, for most of them were foreigners and had returned to their respective countries. Nevertheless wonderful results were achieved."
--Gaston Leval, 1945
"Collectives in Spain"

If you want to end war and exploitation in third world countries, then put the workers in charge! The common people have no interest in sacrificing their children for some profiteering war.

If you want to guarantee consumer rights and protect the environment, then put the workers in charge! Laborers live in the communities they work in, so they have an interest in a clean atmosphere and safe products for their neighbors.

"I say to the wage class: Think clearly and act quickly, or you are lost. Strike not for a few cents more an hour, because the price of living will be raised faster still, but strike for all you earn, be content with nothing less."
--Lucy Parsons, ~1800's
"The Principles of Anarchism"

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