Será una edición semanal en papel todos los domingos a partir de este 24 de abril. Además la página web funcionará con noticias las 24 horas del día. Así lo resolvieron los trabajadores que ya funcionan como cooperativa y se encuentran en lucha desde hace 4 meses, tras el lock out patronal que cumple más de 70 días. Reproducimos uno de los últimos comunicados de los trabajadores:

La Asamblea de “Por Más Tiempo” eligió a su Consejo de Administración

El martes 19 de abril más de 100 compañeros votaron a los 7 consejeros titulares y 5 suplentes que integrarán el organismo que tendrá la responsabilidad de capitanear la cooperativa en esta nueva etapa. También eligieron los síndicos titular y suplente. De todas formas, la Asamblea será siempre quien tenga la última palabra. Ratificaron la salida del diario a partir del próximo domingo.

Bien temprano comenzaron a sumarse compañeros a la asamblea que estaba convocada especialmente para las 16.

El objetivo era dar el paso concreto para hacer realidad lo que ya habían decidido semanas antes: elegir el Consejo Administrativo de la cooperativa de trabajadores “Por Más Tiempo Limitada”.

Había sido la conclusión natural de la venta de más de 40.000 ejemplares el 24 de marzo, por un lado y, por otro, del cumplimiento de más de 4 meses sin percibir salarios abandonados por la patronal de Sergio Szpolski y Matías Garfunkel.

La elección del Consejo Administrativo cerró un período de varias semanas de preparación. De debates y de trabajo en comisiones. Noventa y siete compañeros se anotaron para trabajar en alguna de las 7 comisiones que, a diario, se reunieron en la redacción para evaluar concienzudamente el paso que ya habían decidido dar.

Un profundo análisis de la estructura de costos, de las posibilidades comerciales, del padrón de posibles suscriptos (los nuevos surgidos el 24/3 y los que también habían sido estafados, como tales, por el G23), de la campaña de promoción y lanzamiento, de la incursión en el no tan conocido mundo del periodismo en soporte web, de la puesta en pie del área de administración y la de comerciales.

Del inventario de bienes, de la reubicación y adaptación de compañeros a tareas que jamás habían imaginado hacer.

De abrazar compañeros que, aún en la lucha, decidieron acompañar desde afuera esta nueva etapa por algunas puertas que se les abrieron.

Varias semanas de más asambleas, marchas y reuniones.

De consultas y visitas con decenas de cooperativas, con especialistas de diversas vertientes y experiencias políticas, con abogados, contadores, con imprentas, distribuidores y canillitas.

Semanas donde también hubo reuniones con funcionarios y técnicos del Estado para evaluar los aportes formales, y los vericuetos administrativos para que, en última instancia, sea ese el soporte fundamental para garantizar la continuidad laboral de las decenas de familias que viven de su trabajo y que, ya hace más de 4 meses que sobreviven abrazados a una lucha que, no solo siguen decididos a dar, sino que no están dispuestos a perder.

La elección del Consejo Administrativo cerró ese interludio de silencio, de debates, de reflexión, de dudas y de preparación para abrir, con firmeza y mucho vértigo, un nuevo desafío, un nuevo frente de batalla, ahora, para intentar generar, con periodismo, algún ingreso para sus familias.

Ahora, los 135 trabajadores cooperativizados como resultado del abandono de la patronal de Sergio Szpolski, Matías Garfunkel, Darío Richarte, Javier Fernández y Mariano Martínez deberán buscar la mejor manera de darle continuidad a su fuente de trabajo evitando, a como dé lugar, imponer una lógica de autoexplotación que derive en un mayor desgaste y una reducción del colectivo de trabajadores.

Para eso, lo saben, deberán hacer valer sus derechos frente al Estado.

Luchando para que paguen los vaciadores y para que el gobierno asuma la misma continuidad jurídica del Estado que detentó a la hora de pagarle a los fondos buitres para que honre su responsabilidad con los trabajadores entregando, de una buena vez, la pauta publicitaria adeudada al G23 que corresponde, sin lugar a dudas, a los centenares de trabajadores de Tiempo Argentino, Radio América, 7 Días y los diarios zonales.

La cooperativa tendrá ahora la tarea de dotarse del mejor reglamento para su funcionamiento interno. Ese debate aún no se ha encarado en su trazo fino pero, sin embargo, ya existe un criterio unánime acerca del carácter soberano de la Asamblea que será quién determine los grandes trazos de la lucha y considere cada una de las decisiones que tome el Consejo Administrativo compuesto por 7 miembros titulares (presidente, secretario general, tesorera y 4 vocales), más 5 vocales suplentes, un síndico titular y uno suplente.

El comunicado de los trabajadores de “Por Más Tiempo”, difundido luego de la elección de su Consejo Directivo y la ratificación de la salida del diario en papel para el próximo domingo asegura que, ahora, “detrás del diario no hay grupos empresarios, partidos políticos ni gobiernos: hay periodistas, fotógrafos, diseñadores y otros trabajadores que decidieron defender el diario y sus puestos laborales”.

Ya no serán los patrones los que decidan arbitrariamente los contenidos. Ahora, como dicen los trabajadores en una de sus consignas, serán “dueños de nuestras palabras”. Es que, sin patrones, los trabajadores podrán ejercer su libertad de expresión en forma plena. Se manifestarán, genuinamente, las posiciones políticas que existen dentro de la propia redacción.

La Asamblea será el ámbito para que se expresen todas las voces y opiniones que coexisten en la redacción de Tiempo.

Tanto aquéllas referidas al rumbo que irá asumiendo la lucha como también al diario que exprese de la mejor forma el sentir de la redacción.

Tiempo Argentino en manos de sus trabajadores será un diario opositor al gobierno.

A la vez seguirá siendo un aguerrido grupo de trabajadores luchando hasta el final por sus derechos y los de sus familias.

SiPreBA saludó y apoya Por Más Tiempo

El Sindicato de Prensa de Buenos Aires (SiPreBA) saluda y defiende la decisión de los compañeros del diario Tiempo Argentino de conformar una cooperativa con el objetivo de sostener las fuentes de trabajo y la lucha frente al vaciamiento y el lock out patronal, reconociéndolos como afiliados plenos del sindicato.

En el mismo sentido, también celebra el lanzamiento hace unas semanas de El Argentino Zona Norte de los Trabajadores, en una de las formas que adoptó la lucha por el sostenimiento de las fuentes de trabajo o la de los compañeros de Radio América que todos los días ponen al aire una programación de los trabajadores.

En el caso de Tiempo Argentino, la pelea ha adoptado este camino determinado por la falta de voluntad política del gobierno nacional, que de la mano del Ministerio de Trabajo evitó intervenir en el conflicto apelando a artilugios técnicos y amparando así a la patronal ajustadora. En ese sentido, es de destacar el hecho de que la decisión de los trabajadores fue tomada en asamblea y por unanimidad, lo que refleja su firme voluntad de emprender este camino, la misma con la que impactaron el pasado 24 de Marzo con una edición especial del diario, de la que agotaron los 45 mil ejemplares impresos.

La histórica 1ª edición de los trabajadores en papel

Semanas antes del 24 de marzo los trabajadores de Tiempo ya había editado dos ediciones on line del diario con el propósito de desafiar el lock out patronal y retomar el contacto con sus lectores. Se trató de dos medidas de lucha que, a la vez, sirvieron para poner de relieve la voluntad de los trabajadores de seguir haciendo periodismo. Pensadas como ediciones de 48 páginas, finalmente llegaron a 72 y 84 páginas cada una. La iniciativa fue un éxito porque involucró a decenas de trabajadores y porque tuvo mucha repercusión política y social en todo el país.

Pero, claro, todavía faltaba. En primer lugar porque los trabajadores de Tiempo estaban acostumbrados a palpar el producto de su trabajo en papel y, en segundo, porque también deseaban que ese trabajo diera sus frutos en materia de remuneraciones. Así surgió la idea. Aprovechar la jornada del 40º aniversario del golpe para salir con una edición impresa en papel de 16 páginas. Diez gazebos desde las 8 am y más de 150 trabajadores sirvieron para agotar a las 15:00 los 35.000 ejemplares. Se reimprimieron 5.000 más que todavía hoy se siguen vendiendo en plazas y en la redacción de Amenábar 23. Una nueva gesta de esta inmensa lucha.

Trabalhadores recuperaram da falência uma indústria metalúrgica constituindo uma cooperativa industrial autogerida. Sua forma peculiar de coordenar as atividades produtivas e comerciais acarretou aumento da produtividade, da participação e da satisfação dos trabalhadores. Teriam eles desenvolvido uma forma própria de autogestão do trabalho e da produção? Este artigo reporta um estudo de caso que combinou períodos de convivência com os cooperados, durante suas atividades de trabalho, com a realização de entrevistas semiestruturadas. A investigação revelou um cotidiano de trabalho marcado por liberdade e por preocupação. Verificamos que, apoiados na liberdade, os cooperados andam pela fábrica, conversam durante o trabalho e intervêm no processo de produção. A liberdade, portanto, acarreta mobilidade, flexibilidade, aprendizagem, comunicação e aprimoramento dos processos produtivos. Por outro lado, enquanto se ocupam da produção, os cooperados também se preocupam com a viabilidade da cooperativa. A preocupação gera responsabilidade, vigilância recíproca e conflitos entre os cooperados. Juntas, liberdade e preocupação permitiram o aumento combinado entre produtividade, participação dos trabalhadores e a satisfação deles. A conclusão do estudo é que esta forma de trabalhar, livre e preocupada, caracteriza um modo próprio de autogestão da produção e do trabalho.

Over the last 30-35 years, we have witnessed and been connected with innumerable self-activities of workers. Even within these, there has been much that has stayed beyond our grasp, much has remained illegible to us. The electric self-activity of workers of Maruti Suzuki (Manesar) between 4 June 2011 and 18 July 2012 not only produced fresh energy and excitement, it also brought forth new questions. We want to share some of these with you today. The intensifying social churning that is apace in industrial areas surrounding Delhi demands reflection in practice; it calls upon us to breathe more creativity into our ways of thinking. We believe the workers of Maruti Suzuki have raised questions that are planetary in their significance. 

A comrade who was engaged inside and outside a factory for 15 years, and then outside factories for another 15 years, said this in reference to the self-activity of the workers of Maruti Manesar:

‘Calling the self-activity of workers “the act of occupying” is a gross misunderstanding. What workers were doing was taking away the occupation of factories by companies and the government, weakening the control they have over factories.’

What the workers of Maruti Suzuki (Manesar) did between 4 and 16 June 2011 is extremely significant. What the workers of Maruti Suzuki, Maruti Engine, Suzuki Casting, Suzuki Motorcyle, Satyam Auto, Bajaj Motors, Endurance, Hailax, Lumax, Lumax DK, Dighania Factories did on 7 October is even more significant. These actions were not about civil or constitutional rights. Neither were they a strike. In Mazdoor Samachar, we called it “workers’ occupation of factories”. To call what the workers did in June and October 2011 in IMT Manesar “occupation of factories by workers” is to see what the workers were doing through a reduced lens. “Occupation” is a misnomer; it is misleading. Occupation is how existing social hierarchies – based as they are on wealth and power – are held in place. Companies and governments today are on an overdrive to gain possession of everything not only on this planet, but also of all that exists in the entire universe. What we want is to wrest out of the clutches of companies and governments that which they have come to see as having a free reign over, and to create a commons. They want to occupy everything – cows, humans, land, houses, water, air. They are eager to occupy even the human heart. It is this greed to occupy that has brought us to the brink of disaster. Given this context, to call what workers of IMT Manesar did “occupation” is to refute the essence of their actions; it is akin to trampling over the possibilities they created. In conversations we have had with workers of Maruti Suzuki, they have abundantly expressed that between 7 and 14 October, when they unshackled the factory from the control of the management and government, they felt a joyousness of life that is usually unimaginable. The significance of what the workers of IMT Manesar did lies in it being a departure point from where on a series of de-occupations followed. Refracted through this lens, the significance of the “Occupy” movement that started in the US becomes clear – as actually being a movement calling for de-occupation, a taking away of the control that companies and governments have.

We shared this insight from our worker-friend in the February 2012 issue of Mazdoor Samachar. It is commonplace to find some older methods insufficient in practice, to reject some of them, and to realise some methods are harmful. Practice makes it expedient to change and mould some methods, and to discard or turn away from some methods. An insight such as this comes from long years of practice and thinking. What is to be done, what avoided; how it can be done, and what should be steered clear of; constantly searching and inventing new methods; relentlessly testing diverse ways through practice – this is a continuous process, and the workers of Marusti Suzuki (Manesar) have given it a new velocity.

During the thirteen days – from 4 June 2011 to 16 June 2011 – when factories were de-occupied of the company and the government, it was as if people who had worked with each other for three, and perhaps four years, were seeing each other for the first time. In the words of a worker from Maruti Suzuki (Manesar):

“Inside the Maruti Suzuki factory, 7-14 October was the best time. No tension of work. No agonizing about the hours of entry and exit. No stress over catching a ride in a bus. No fretting about what to cook. No sweating over whether dinner has to be eaten at 7, or at 9 pm today. No anguishing over what day or date it is. We talked a lot with each other about things that were personal. All of us drew closer to each other than we have ever been before, during these seven days.”

Occupations are always wobbly. Steps are constantly underway for countering occupations. Time and again, the control that a company has over a factory is weakened in ways that can be called ‘de-occupation’. The temporary workers of Ametip Machine Tools in Faridabad, workers hired through contractors in Hero Honda Spare Parts factory in Gurgaon, permanent and contracted workers, together, in Napino Auto & Electronics factory in IMT Manesar, have de-occupied factories of companies and the government. There are innumerable examples everywhere in the world of students having de-occupied schools, colleges and universities of governments. All over the world, weakening and removing occupation is on its way to becoming a widely practiced and common act. It’s so commonplace in fact, that factories of knowledge-production don’t even deliberate on whether it should be called “occupation” or “de-occupation”. Perhaps it isn’t considered worthy of deliberation, or maybe it just isn’t a point that can be debated academically. From occupy to de-occupy, from occupation to de-occupation is a conceptual leap. We feel that the idea of de-occupation is one of the results of our years of deliberation on unity vs. unison (ektaa banaam taalmel). Unique and together becomes conceivable. All and everyone’s comes into view.

Point number two

The time during which occupation is diminished or removed is an active, alive time for those participating in its happening. It’s a time when many people exchange ideas with each other – without fear, without hesitation, and with leisure. Different angles are shared and mulled over. Many kinds of bonds are forged; new alliances are formed and deepened. And that which may have been considered beyond questioning, and stable stereotypes that may have otherwise been overlooked, begin to be brought up for questioning. Lively discussions about life stoke the fire of desires that seek simple alterations in the present and the near, foreseeable future. Thinking with that which can be brought into practice, people are freed from the vicious encirclement of demands. 

With the de-occupation of Maruti Suzuki (Manesar), the sahibs found themselves confronted with an unsolvable riddle: What do workers want? What in the world is it that workers want? 

Concessions hold meaning only when they can be mobilised, and they can be mobilised only in order to respond to demands. They are meaningless in the face of desires for life and joyous living. This is what 18 July brought. In brief:

Thirty workers were cajoled into submitting resignations. After that, with no further need to be egged on, the company offered what are called “concessions”. Reduction in speed – brought down from one minute to 45 seconds per car. Remuneration for trainees, apprentices and workers hired through contractors was increased. Permanent workers were assured of substantial wage increments over-term, three-year contracts. The number of buses was increased. Parents were included in health policies. Number of vacation days was increased. Heavy cuts in payments for absence of merely one or two days was ended. Workers would now no longer be arbitrarily asked to continue working after their duty hours. Workers hired through contractors would no longer be made to put in an hour and a half extra at the end of every night shift. A second union was registered, and it was given the status of a recognised union. Workers were assured residential quarters would be constructed for them, enough for all. A requisition was accepted from the union for long-term contracts, and follow-up discussions were promised.

If one were to consider the above-mentioned concessions within the framework of concessions, they would seem remarkable. However soon, and as early as February-March 2012, workers started feeling that despite everything that had happened, nothing had changed. Among the workers of Maruti Suzuki (Manesar), any kind of talk of concessions began to be called “the management’s language”. After everything they had brought about, if workers remained workers, then could anything be said to have changed at all? On 18 July, workers rebelled against being workers. Two things that symbolised that workers would be kept as, and in their place as, workers were attacked – managers and the factory building. It wasn’t a small group of 20-25 workers who were doing this. Old workers and new, permanent workers and those who were temporary, all participated in this together. It just happened to happen on 18 July – it could just as well have happened on 15th May or 25th August. 

On 18 July 2012, workers challenged the customs that keep a worker labouring. The question, ‘what next?’, has become a live and vital question today. It is vigorously discussed among workers. A worker from Maruti Suzuki (Manesar) said, “It would have been quite something if what happened on 18 July had happened all across IMT.”

Today, when the ease with which a worker can be kept labouring is under duress, the questions of what comes next, of what can come after this, are questions that carry a force and a challenge for everyone, everywhere. Everyone, everywhere can participate in searching answers. 

Point number 3

How are factory workers reading the current circumstances and situation, what new kinds of interpretations are they bringing to bear on them, and how is this getting reflected in their practice and ways? This is very significant for understanding the challenges they have posed to power and the everyday changes that have resulted. Here are two examples, in brief:

1. On 14 October 2012, approximately 1600 permanent workers, trainees and apprentices gathered inside the Maruti Suzuki (Manesar) factory. Following an inspection of the factory by a constable, the DC, accompanied by gunmen and 20-25 officials, arrived. Here is how a worker described the scene: 

The DC walked around a little bit, then took his position in one place and started speaking. He said, you are good workers, you are educated, you have worked well the last five years, you have produced this much, you have contributed this much by bringing in tax, your salaries are better than those of others, your management is decent, you have been misled by some people, your occupation of the factory is unconstitutional, you must pay heed to the order that has been passed by the High Court, you will have to follow the order and vacate the factory, there is no other way, we won’t let you disregard law like this, Rico Auto lost a lot of orders when its workers got waylaid, if Maruti Suzuki were to shut down you would lose your jobs, but, moreover why should the government have to suffer losses?

The workers gave the DC their full attention for the half hour he spoke. But then the DC started telling a story, one that the workers had heard umpteen times from the management: The story of the tortoise and hare, only a little extended. The second time around, this version goes, the hare didn’t sleep, and he reached the finish line first. The third time around, even though the tortoise stopped for a drink of water on the way, he reached the finish line before the hare. The fourth time around, the route was sometimes even, sometimes treacherous, and water was needed as well, and sometimes the hare rode on the back of the tortoise, sometimes the tortoise rode on the hare’s back. Teamwork! The management and workers should walk together. The moment the DC started narrating this tale, workers started lying down, dozing off, chatting among themselves. At the end of his narration, the DC said that very soon he would arrange for a compromise with the management, but that for now the workers should follow orders. Then another official started waxing forth on law – that this is an illegal occupation, that we must vacate the factory. When the DC started to leave, a worker stepped up to where the mic was and said, ‘We heard you out, now you should listen to what we have to say.’ The DC stopped, but when workers started asking questions one after the other, he decided to leave. Workers now started shouting slogans, and when their shouting became a roar, the DC and his team pretty much scampered out of the factory.”

2. A worker hired through a contractor in Maruti Suzuki (Manesar) was on duty in shift-B on 13 January 2012, when he received a phone call from a worker in Allied Nippon that a worker had sustained burns in a fire in the factory. The company had got him admitted in Sapna Nursing home, and the doctors had said that he would be released from the hospital by evening. Both his legs, from the thigh down, had been severely burned. The worker at Maruti Suzuki advised that the injured worker should be kept at the nursing home. The next day, on 14 January, a Saturday, 10-15 workers hired through contractors in the Maruti Suzuki factory went to the nursing home to visit the injured worker. When the doctor said that he was ready to release the injured worker, they asked him instead to continue treating him, and that they would cover the expenses if the company didn’t. No one from the management visited the nursing home on Saturday or Sunday, though, of course, workers did. When they called the production manager of Allied Nippon, he lied that he had no idea a worker had sustained burns at the factory. When workers went to the nursing home on Monday morning, the doctor said that if they didn’t pay the nursing home’s fee, the worker would be transferred to ISI. The visiting workers called their colleagues, and within half and hour 70-80 workers from the press shop, assembly, paint shop and weld shop of Maruti Suzuki, and workers of Suzuki Powertrain hired through contractors gathered at the nursing home, from where they went together to Allied Nippon factory. They demanded to meet the manager. He refused to come out to discuss anything in connection with the injured worker. The workers assured him that he needn’t be scared, that he could talk to them from the safety of the other side of the gate, but he refused to meet them. The workers kept waiting, and when they had waited for half an hour, the supervisor of the contractor company, through whom the worker with burn injuries had been hired, arrived. A discussion ensued and it was decided that the expenditure of the nursing home till now would be borne by the company, that the injured worker would receive his wages for the duration of his recovery, and that his family would be informed by phone and brought here. He was shifted to ISI hospital in IMT, Sector 3. For gaining admission into Emergency, the hospital demanded the worker’s ISI card, but one didn’t exist. The supervisor requested the doctor to give him two hours, and that is how an ISI card for a worker who had been working in a factory since 12.12.2010 got made on 16.1.2012. An accident report was filed. The injured worker’s father arrived from the village. It’s 24 January today; the worker continues to be treated at the hospital. 

Durgesh, the worker of Allied Nippon Factory who sustained injuries while at work, stays on rent in Baas village. The workers of Maruti Suzuki and Maruti Powertrain, who took steps after he sustained burns, live on rent in Aliyar and Dhana. None of them knew Durgesh before this incident. Unshackling the factory from the control of the company and the government twice in six months has kindled in the workers of Maruti Suzuki ways of thinking and feeling that exceed known and familiar bonds. Permanent workers and trainees de-occupied the factory of the company and the government between 7 and 14 October to insist that workers hired through contractors be retained. Workers of eleven factories in IMT stood alongside them through de-occupation. This has transformed the environment; all those who are strangers have become ones own.

Point number 4

Lets look at another aspect. The speaking order that was passed by the Managing Director of Maruti Suzuki in August 2012 reflects the management’s terror of 18 July. But perhaps even more telling is what the speaking order betrays via the management’s views on ‘incitement to violence’ and ‘participation in violence’. Here goes: The Managing Director sent letters individually to 546 workers. Each letter states, for every worker it addresses, that he both incited and participated in violence. This means the management sees every worker as an instigator as well as a participant.  And what this means is that the company recognises that each and every worker is a potential de-occupier. Even in the eyes of the management, every worker has today become the fountainhead of a destabilising force. The language of the leader and the led has lost its valence; it has become obsolete.

The self-activity of workers has blurred the partitions that separate intellectual labour from physical labour. It is time, therefore, that in order to participate in the creation of a new world, all of us take the cue and let go of long-held assumptions and settled theories.

Point number 5

Instead of wrapping up with a conclusion, lets broaden the scope of our discussion some more. The young, 20-22 year-old workers of today often have work experience from 10-12 places under their belt. They exchange the wealth of experience and understanding and thinking that comes with this with each other, freely and rapidly. This is a global trend. Here is one worker’s trajectory – he started by working in Essar Steel in Hajira (Gujarat), then he worked in Gail, Bharuch (Gujarat), Jindal Steel & Power in Raigarh (Chhatisgarh), JSW Plant in Bellary (Karnataka), Jindal Stainless Steel Plant in Jajpur (Orissa) and Reliance Refinery in Jamnagar (Gujarat). Today he works in NOIDA.

We have already discussed the self-activity of workers in Maruti Suzuki (Manesar). And though little detail is known about the activity of workers in NOIDA on 20 February, everyone is aware that something quite extraordinary happened. It caused such alarm in Napino, Honda, Maruti-Suzuki and other factories in NOIDA, that all the factories were closed down the very next day. We have discussed the activities of the workers in Okhla on 21 February 2013 in one of the issues of Mazdoor Samachar. Here’s what a propagandist-thinker who would rather have existing and old ways continue ad infinitum said about 21 February: “It is understandable that when workers get angry, they can get violent. This anger can be reigned in through offering concessions. But what we saw in NOIDA and Okhla was different – the workers weren’t angry; they were enjoying being violent. This is an extremely problematic situation.”

Friends, it is time to let go of the image of tired, defeated and despondent workers. Our experience of factories in Faridabad, Okhla, Gurgaon and IMT Manesar urges us that we unfetter ourselves from these chains. And what we have seen in these factories is only a small glimpse of a transformation that is much more vast. In the course of six months, the workers of Maruti Suzuki (Manesar) were compelled to sign three agreements, but in their practice the workers saw them and treated them as meaningless scraps of paper. The image that is emergent today is that of workers who are filled with restlessness and are harbingers of a deep churning. This image challenges settled ways of seeing and thinking. Accept this challenge. This is an opportunity to shape the world anew, to think the world anew. This opportunity is for everyone. The events of 18 July have a place of immense significance in the chronology of events that have shaken the world recently. It emits a sense of the deep transformation the world is going through in our times. We are living in a time in which we can all stand up against prevalent ways and make them obsolete, more and more obsolete. It is for times like this that it has been said, “audacity, more audacity and still more audacity!”

In his classic work, The Frontier of Control, Carter L. Goodrich examined the workplace organisation amongst miners and others workers, as well as the growing syndicalism in the unions and the guild socialist movement, in the UK in the turbulent period of 1919-1920.  In this he identified the site of struggle around the frontier between management prerogative - or 'complete executive control' - and full workers' control.  He sees the increasing strength of workers able to encroach on management control, in a shifting frontier, building up the strength and initiative of workers in their self organisation.  This approach has been influential in many historical accounts of workers' movements - such as in David Montgomery's Workers' Control in America - and for the Institute for Workers' Control.