Commune

Fri, 01/01/16

The Commune: Paris 1871

A 1971 libertarian appraisal of the Paris Commune by members of Solidarity UK.

We can now examine the Paris Commune in a new light - in the light precisely of the rich experience of Bolshevism and of Trotskyism. We mean, more specifically, in the light of their failure. Stated more concretely, the proletarian revolution of 1871 must now be re-evaluated in the light of the degeneration of the Russian Revolution and of the positive lessons of the revolutionary struggle of the Hungarian Workers' Councils in 1956 against a bureaucratic society in which the means of production were completely 'nationalised'. read more »

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Tue, 01/11/11

Commons and Cooperatives

An examination of the worker cooperative as an example of a labour commons. The authors suggest that the radical potential of co-ops can be extended by connecting with other commons struggles.

In the last decade, the commons has become a prevalent theme in discussions about collective but decentralized control over resources. This paper is a preliminary exploration of the potential linkages between commons and cooperatives through a discussion of the worker cooperative as one example of a labour commons.
We view the worker coop as a response at once antagonistic and accommodative to capitalism. This perspective is amplified through a consideration of five aspects of an ideal-type worker cooperativism: associated labour, workplace democracy, surplus distribution, cooperation among cooperatives, and, controversially, links between worker cooperatives and socialist states. We conclude by suggesting that the radical potential of worker cooperatives might be extended, theoretically and practically, by elaborating connections with other commons struggles in a process we term the circulation of the common. read more »

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Mon, 31/10/11

A luta em Oaxaca: a auto-organização do cotidiano

The fighting in Oaxaca: the everyday self-organization

The subject of this article is the so-called Commune of Oaxaca, mainly the organizational basis before and after the 2006 insurrection. The author highlights observers’ and participants’ accounts, comparing them with theoretical and political criticism. That experience is understood as a positive movement, able to coalesce several fighting and resistance local traditions into the Popular Assembly of the Oaxaca’s Peoples, owing to the teachers’ grass-roots militancy, which stimulated popular self-organization. read more »

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