Not workers’ control – but joint production committees¶
Core Argument¶
This chapter, titled “Not workers’ control – but joint production committees,” delivers a polemical assault on the Labour government’s post-war industrial policy, arguing that the proposed “tripartite partnership” is a mechanism for class collaboration, not workers’ emancipation. The core argument is that the policy, as articulated by Sir Stafford Cripps and endorsed by Clement Attlee, is designed to reorganise capitalism on the backs of the working class, not to dismantle it. The chapter identifies the “tripartite partnership”—comprising employers, trade unions, and government-appointed representatives of the ‘general public’—as a sham, with the government selecting the chairman and the third section, thereby ensuring control remains in capitalist hands.
Key claims include that the Essential Work Order (EWO), described as the “scaffolding of servitude,” is retained, and its most reactionary features are applied through the Wages Councils Bill, which the TUC endorsed. The chapter uses a quotation from Jas Bowman of the Mineworkers’ Union, who declares a willingness to “assume the role of Stakhanovs of British Labour” to make nationalisation a success. This Stalinist-inspired statement is presented as evidence of the TUC’s capitulation. The chapter argues that the Labour and trade union leaders’ policy will discredit socialism, allowing capitalists to increase profits while workers bear the burdens of capitalist chaos. The capitalists, it claims, hope workers will then turn to Toryism, which offers only a “dark and dreadful future.”
The historical and theoretical context is the immediate post-war period, with the Labour government implementing nationalisation and industrial reorganisation. The chapter draws on Marxist theory, opposing reformist, class-collaborationist approaches. It argues that “half-and-half committees” solve nothing, placing the burdens of capitalist anarchy on workers.
The polemic is directed against the Labour government, the TUC, and the Stalinist-influenced union leaders who endorse the policy. The chapter explicitly argues against the concept of joint production committees (JPCs), counterposing them with a demand for genuine workers’ control. It concludes with a series of demands: nationalisation without compensation, no collaboration with capitalists, abolition of JPCs in favour of workers’ control, full trade union rates for demobilised soldiers and redundant workers, and a genuine working-class programme. The tone is uncompromising, rejecting any compromise with capital as a betrayal of working-class interests.