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alanharperstewart
Oct 20

The Politics of Workers' Control ...part 3

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So when I say as a republican socialist that we should promote a REAL ALTERNATIVE I would argue that a real alternative lies in workers' co-operatives --businesses actually owned and democratically controlled by their workers.

Now workers' co-operatives vary in their origins.

Type One...there are the older, traditional ones like the Scott Bader Commonwealth.

Scott Bader was a chemical company founded in 1921. It was conventionally managed for 30 years.

But the founder and owner Ernest Bader was a Quaker. He'd help set up CND. He was a member of the Committee of 100,

He was never happy with what was called the "capitalist governance structure." So in 1951 the Scott Bader Commonwealth was created. Ownership of the company was transferred to the Commonwealth and the workers became owners.

A full account of what happened can be found in a biography of Ernest Bader -The Man Who Gave His Company Away.

Scott Bader has prospered and still exists today as a cutting edge company producing synthetic resins with 700 employees across six manufacturing sites.

Type Two...Secondly there have also been new start-up co-ops often associated with radical/alternative lifestyles which have boomed in publishing, printing and wholefoods since the 1960's.

One example; There is Highlands Wholefoods Worker's Co-operative for instance supplying local communities with organic, vegetarian, vegan, GM free and fair trade products.

Type Three..Thirdly, there have been "rescue co-ops" set up in response to threatened closures.

In this respect the so-called Benn co-operatives have cast something of a dark shadow. There were three co-ops that Tony Benn, then Industry Minister, backed in the mid 70's.

*There was Kirby Manufacturing and Engineering which produced night storage and central heating radiators and fruit juice!

*There was Meriden -a motorcycle company...remnants of Norton Villers Triumph. Battling against Japanese competition.

*And here in Glasgow there was the Scottish Daily News -a paper started when Lord Beaverbrook closed the Daily Express on Albion Street.

The tribulations of all three have been used by those who want to besmirch the whole idea of worker co-ops.

Yet the reality is that even co-ops set up in such adverse circumstances -where the previous capitalist owner wants out- can with the right approach and backing both survive and prosper.

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  • alanharperstewart
    Oct 20

    John Maclean

    When I was ill this summer I read many books. One of the best I read was Gerry Cairns's biography of John Maclean, "The Red and the Green." In the book Gerry argues that Maclean was a Green Clydesider as well as a Red Clydesider -a man with a particular affinity for the Irish people and their struggles. If so, when did this relationship start? Well, Maclean went to Belfast in 1907, the guest of the city's Socialist Society. He stayed with Jim Larkin. It was a time of industrial unrest and Maclean noted that, much to the consternation of the state and employers, Larkin was uniting Protestant and Catholic workers. Later Maclean witnessed the Gordon Highlanders fire on crowds on the Falls Road. It caused Maclean to describe the British, not for the last time, as "murderers" in Ireland. What else did he do? Well Nan Milton, Maclean's daughter, wrote that Maclean sent co-operative food parcels to Dublin during the Lock Out. He supported the Easter Rising -unlike many on the Left. And in 1918, whilst campaigning in the Gorbals, he raised the issue of two Sinn Fein prisoners Barney Friel and Joe Robinson, who he'd met whilst incarcerated in Peterhead. Robinson in particular was Commandant of "A" Company -the IRA in Scotland. What else did he do? Well in May 1919 he shared a platform with Constance Markievicz at a May Day event on Glasgow Green, In June 1919 he was invited to a Connolly Commemorative event in Dublin. There Maclean argued for a Connolly Memorial Workers College. And in 1920 Maclean continued to do what Gerry calls "sterling solidarity work" calling "Hands Off Ireland" meetings and distributing a pamphlet, "The Irish Tragedy: Scotland's Disgrace." The Disgrace was of course that Scottish troops were being sent to Ireland by the British Government to supress fellow Celts -the Irish people. Finally in 1920-21 Maclean was teaching at the Scottish Labour College. One of his students was Andrew Fagan, the IRA's Quartermaster in Scotland. Fagan learnt about Marxist economics. Maclean learnt even more about the revolution in Ireland. So Gerry was right. Maclean was indeed a Green as well as a Red Clydesider. The two should go together. And I will finish with the line Maclean used to finish many of his letters and articles with... "Up Ireland! Up Scotland! Up the social revolution!
  • alanharperstewart
    Oct 20

    The Politics of Workers' Control ….part 4

    Take Tower Colliery in Hirwaun, 25 miles north of Cardiff, South Wales. In 1994 British Coal shut it down claiming it was uneconomic. Local NUM branch Secretary Tyrone O'Sullivan and 239 mineworkers decided to buy out the pit with their redundancy money -£8,000 a piece. They also got a £2 million loan from Barclays (after the Co-op Bank turned them down!). The loan incidentally was only partly used and paid back within a year. They also got financial advice from Price Waterhouse -the accountancy firm used by the Tory Government to sequestrate NUM funds during the miners' strike. In any case, far from being uneconomic, the pit ran a handsome profit as it continued to supply coal to power stations and private homes until reserves finally ran out in 2008. The first colliery in "British" history to be owned and run by its own workers had 13 years of proving people wrong. As Sean Kippin (2009) reflects, Tower Colliery was a "triumph of co-operative action in the face of Thatcherism." But it is the international experience that provides us with the best example of workers' control and the contribution workers co-operatives could make to the economy of a post independence Scotland. Mondragon stands out as a case in point. *It's a federation of workers' co-ops. *Based in the Basque country, *Founded in 1956, in a town of that name. *Now it's the largest Basque business group. Over 80,000 employees, 85% of whom are co-operative members. *It reaches into agriculture, housing and education. *It is high tech. It has a training arm and its own research and development agency. *It's democratic, social dimension and its business success go together. *It shows that workers' self management does work. Marx wrote of transforming society into a "free association of producers," It's a vision worth fighting for. A society based on workers' control. Socialism from below.