Video Workers control democracy and power
Core Argument¶
The central thesis is that genuine democracy is structurally impossible under capitalism, and that workers' control — exercised through democratically organised bodies like soviets, factory committees, and workers' councils — is the only meaningful form of democratic power. The article argues that formal bourgeois democracy, with its periodic elections and separation of powers, is a mechanism for managing class rule, not for transferring power to the majority. The real democratic question is not who votes, but who controls the means of production.
Theoretical Grounding¶
The analysis is rooted in the classical Marxist theory of the state, drawing on Lenin's State and Revolution and Marx's writings on the Paris Commune. It distinguishes sharply between the form of bourgeois democracy (parliaments, constitutions, universal suffrage) and its content (the maintenance of capitalist property relations). The argument also engages with the Marxist tradition on workers' democracy as developed in the early Soviet experience, the Spanish Revolution of 1936, and the theoretical contributions of Trotsky on the nature of the workers' state. It rejects the reformist notion that capitalism can be "democratised" from within its existing institutions.
Conjunctural Relevance¶
The article was published in 2019, a period of deepening political crisis in Britain and internationally. The Brexit impasse, the collapse of the two-party consensus, and the rise of Corbynism had reopened questions about the limits of parliamentary democracy. The article intervenes directly into this conjuncture: it argues that the crisis of bourgeois democracy is not a malfunction but an exposure of its true nature. The working class cannot look to parliament for solutions; it must build its own organs of power. The reference to the "Revolution 2016 weekend school" situates the argument within the political ferment of the post-2008 period, when capitalist instability had radicalised a layer of workers and youth but had not yet produced a clear revolutionary alternative.
Where the Argument Continues¶
The article is a compressed introductory treatment of a theme that In Defence of Marxism develops across multiple formats. The argument on workers' democracy is elaborated in greater depth in the IDOM pamphlet The State and Revolution and in numerous articles on the Paris Commune, the Russian Revolution, and the Spanish Revolution. The question of how workers' control transitions from a defensive demand to a programme for power is taken up in the Against the Stream podcast episodes on dual power and the nature of the Soviet state. The article also points toward the broader Marxist debate on the relationship between democracy and socialism — a theme developed in Trotsky's The Revolution Betrayed and in contemporary IDOM analyses of Venezuela and Bolivia.
Connections¶
- Lenin, State and Revolution — the foundational text on the withering away of the state and the nature of proletarian democracy.
- Marx, The Civil War in France — the analysis of the Paris Commune as the first example of workers' democracy.
- Trotsky, The Revolution Betrayed — the critique of bureaucratic degeneration and the defence of soviet democracy.
- IDOM articles on the Spanish Revolution (1936-37) — concrete examples of workers' control in industry and agriculture.
- IDOM articles on the 1917 Russian Revolution — the relationship between soviets, factory committees, and the Bolshevik party.
- Against the Stream episodes on dual power — the strategic question of how workers' organisations challenge bourgeois state power.
Key Quotes¶
"Under capitalism, democracy is limited to the right to vote every four or five years for a choice between different representatives of the ruling class. Real power — control over the economy, the media, the military — remains firmly in the hands of a tiny minority."
"Workers' control is not just about taking over the factories. It is about the working class learning to run society as a whole — to plan production, to distribute resources, to organise healthcare and education — in the interests of the majority."
"The Paris Commune showed that the working class can take power. But it also showed that taking power is not enough. The workers must smash the old state machine and replace it with their own organs of power."
"Bourgeois democracy is a form of class rule. It is not a neutral framework within which socialism can be voted in. The ruling class will never accept a democratic verdict that abolishes their property and their power."
"The soviets of 1917 were not just strike committees. They were the embryo of a new type of state — a state based on the direct participation of the working class in every aspect of political and economic life."
"The crisis of democracy we see today is not a crisis within capitalism. It is the crisis of capitalism — and the only way out is for the working class to take power into its own hands."