Part
7 - Democracy in the Workplace
In what was perhaps the most
radical announcement in his speech, Corbyn called for the development
of workplace and community democracy all over society, to take power
out of the narrow corridors of Westminster.
This is vital. Corbyn’s
programme will face constant opposition and sabotage from big
business, the media, and crucially, many of his own MPs and the army
of civil servants in Westminster.
The only force he can rely on to
fight for its implementation is the millions of working class
supporters he has in society. They must be democratically organised
up and down the country, from workplace to workplace, to ensure that
his policies are implemented.
Unfortunately, this part of
Corbyn’s speech was also the most vague. Ultimately, the principle
of workplace democracy lies in sharp contradiction with that of
private ownership.
If Corbyn’s government attempts
to implement his plans for investment in high quality and affordable
housing, we can expect that the unionised construction workers who
would build such housing would naturally be supportive. Hence, giving
them some democratic control over the construction firms in which
they are employed would help ensure this policy’s implementation.
But these are private firms. They
must obey the law of the market - to make as big a profit as
possible, or be outcompeted by others. Even workers’ cooperatives
must do this, or risk going bankrupt or losing business share to
competitors.
Hence, to make a success of real
workplace democracy, the workplace must be owned by the public and
incorporated into a national plan of production, so that the workers
can exercise their democratic control to the end of the common good
and not the profit of their company.
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