A workers' council, also called labour council, is a type of

council A council is a group of people who come together to consult, deliberate, or make decisions. A council may function as a legislature, especially at a town, city or county/shire level, but most legislative bodies at the state/provincial or natio ...

in a workplace or a locality made up of workers or of temporary and instantly revocable delegates elected by the workers in a locality's workplaces. In such a system of political and economic organization, the workers themselves are able to exercise decision-making power. Furthermore, the workers within each council decide on what their agenda is and what their needs are. The council communist Anton Pannekoek describes shop-committees and sectional assemblies as the basis for workers' management of the industrial system. A variation is a soldiers' council, where soldiers direct a

mutiny Mutiny is a revolt among a group of people (typically of a military or a crew) to oppose, change, or remove superiors or their orders. The term is commonly used for insubordination by members of the military against an officer or superior, ...

. Workers and soldiers have also operated councils in conjunction (like the 1918 German ''Arbeiter- und Soldatenrat''). Workers' councils may in turn elect delegates to central committees, such as the Congress of Soviets. Supporters of workers' councils (such as council communists, libertarian socialists, Leninists, anarchists, and Marxists) argue that they are the most natural form of working-class organization, and believe that workers' councils are necessary for the organization of a proletarian revolution and the implementation of an

anarchist Anarchism is a political philosophy and Political movement, movement that seeks to abolish all institutions that perpetuate authority, coercion, or Social hierarchy, hierarchy, primarily targeting the state (polity), state and capitalism. A ...

or communist society. The Paris Commune of 1871 became a model for how future workers' councils would be organised for revolution and socialist governance. Workers' councils have played a significant role in the communist revolutions of the 20th century. This was most notable in the lands of the

Russian Empire The Russian Empire was an empire that spanned most of northern Eurasia from its establishment in November 1721 until the proclamation of the Russian Republic in September 1917. At its height in the late 19th century, it covered about , roughl ...

(including Congress Poland and

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

) in 1905, with the workers' councils ( soviets) acting as labor committees which coordinated strike activities throughout the cities due to repression of trade unions. During the Revolutions of 1917–1923, councils of socialist workers were able to exercise political authority. In the workers' councils organized as part of the 1918 German revolution, factory organizations such as the General Workers' Union of Germany formed the basis for region-wide councils.

In Socialist Theory and Movements

Anarchism

Anarchists advocate for a stateless society based on horizontal social organisation through voluntary federations of communes, with workers' councils and

voluntary association A voluntary group or union (also sometimes called a voluntary organization, common-interest association, association, or society) is a group of individuals who enter into an agreement, usually as volunteers, to form a body (or organization) to a ...

s acting as the basic units of such societies. Early conceptions of this theory have come from the writings of French

philosopher Pierre-Joseph Proudhon. His theory of mutualism envisioned a society organised through workers' councils,

cooperative A cooperative (also known as co-operative, coöperative, co-op, or coop) is "an autonomy, autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly owned a ...

s, and other types of workers' associations.The Anarchist FAQ Collective; McKay, Ian, ed. (2008/2012). ''An Anarchist Faq''. I/II. Oakland/Edinburgh: AK Press. . . At the First International, followers of Proudhon and the collectivists led by Mikhail Bakunin have endorsed the use of workers' councils both as a means for organising class struggle and for forming the structural basis of a future anarchist society. Writing for the French anarchist journal , Russian theorist

Peter Kropotkin Pyotr Alexeyevich Kropotkin (9 December 1842 – 8 February 1921) was a Russian anarchist and geographer known as a proponent of anarchist communism. Born into an aristocratic land-owning family, Kropotkin attended the Page Corps and later s ...

has praised the workers of Russia for using this form of organisation during the Revolution of 1905. Modern anarchists, such as proponents of participatory economics, advocate for the use of workers' councils as a means for participatory urban planning as well as decentralised planning of the economy.

Council Communism

Council Communism advocates for a system of workers councils ( council democracy) to coordinate class struggle.

Karl Marx Karl Marx (; 5 May 1818 – 14 March 1883) was a German philosopher, political theorist, economist, journalist, and revolutionary socialist. He is best-known for the 1848 pamphlet '' The Communist Manifesto'' (written with Friedrich Engels) ...

described in The Civil War in France the

Paris Commune The Paris Commune (, ) was a French revolutionary government that seized power in Paris on 18 March 1871 and controlled parts of the city until 28 May 1871. During the Franco-Prussian War of 1870–71, the French National Guard (France), Nation ...

as a system with indirect elections, where district assemblies select at any time recall-able delegates to a higher assembly. Council communists, such as the Dutch-German current of left communists, believe that their nature means that workers' councils do away with bureaucratic form of the state and instead give power directly to workers. Council communists view this organization of a revolutionary government as an anti-authoritarian approach to the dictatorship of the proletariat. The council communists in the Communist Workers' Party of Germany advocated organizing "on the basis of places of work, not trades, and to establish a National Federation of Works Committees." The Central Workers Council of Greater Budapest occupied this role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, between late October and early January 1957, where it grew out of local factory committees.

Luxemburgism

Rosa Luxemburg was a vocal proponent of radical socialist democracy, and advocated for the revolution to be led by workers' and soldiers' councils. She was also openly critical of the actions of the

Bolsheviks The Bolsheviks, led by Vladimir Lenin, were a radical Faction (political), faction of the Marxist Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP) which split with the Mensheviks at the 2nd Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party, ...

in the Russian Revolution, arguing that their approach was anti-democratic and totalitarian.

Orthodox Marxism

Leninism

Marxist revolutionary

Vladimir Lenin Vladimir Ilyich Ulyanov ( 187021 January 1924), better known as Vladimir Lenin, was a Russian revolutionary, politician and political theorist. He was the first head of government of Soviet Russia from 1917 until Death and state funeral of ...

proposed that the dictatorship of the proletariat should come in the form of a soviet republic with democratic centralism. He proposed that the socialist revolution should be led by a revolutionary party, which should seize state power and establish a

socialist state A socialist state, socialist republic, or socialist country is a sovereign state constitutionally dedicated to the establishment of socialism. This article is about states that refer to themselves as socialist states, and not specifically ...

based on soviet democracy. Lenin's model for the dictatorship of the proletariat is based on that of the

, and is meant to fulfil the task of suppressing the

bourgeoisie The bourgeoisie ( , ) are a class of business owners, merchants and wealthy people, in general, which emerged in the Late Middle Ages, originally as a "middle class" between the peasantry and aristocracy. They are traditionally contrasted wi ...

and other counter-revolutionary forces, and " wither away" after the counter-revolution is fully suppressed and as the state institutions begin to "lose their political character". Some academics and socialists disputed the commitments

and Leon Trotsky had toward workers' councils after the

Russian Revolution of 1917 The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, noting that workers' councils "were never meant to become a permanent political form of self-governance" and were therefore sidelined by the Communist Party. Some socialists have argued this as an example of the

' betrayal of socialist principles, while others have defended it as necessary for the social conditions at the time to maintain and advance the Revolution.

Historical examples

At several times, both in late modern and in recent history, socialists and communists have organized workers' councils during periods of unrest. Examples include:

Paris Commune

The

of 1871 () was a revolutionary government that seized control of the city of

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, which governed the city for two months based on socialist principles through the combined efforts of social democrats, anarchists, Blanquists, and Jacobins. The commune was headed by the Commune Council (), which was composed of delegates who were each subject to immediate recall by their electors. The events of this period has been a significant influence on the development of

Marxist Marxism is a political philosophy and method of socioeconomic analysis. It uses a dialectical and materialist interpretation of historical development, better known as historical materialism, to analyse class relations, social conflic ...

and anarchist political theory and revolutionary praxis.

Friedrich Engels Friedrich Engels ( ;"Engels"
''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''.dictatorship of the proletariat.

Strandza Commune

* Adrianople vilayet,

Ottoman Empire The Ottoman Empire (), also called the Turkish Empire, was an empire, imperial realm that controlled much of Southeast Europe, West Asia, and North Africa from the 14th to early 20th centuries; it also controlled parts of southeastern Centr ...

in 1903

Russian Revolution of 1905

The Russian Revolution of 1905 saw the spontaneous emergence of workers' councils (otherwise known locally as ''soviets'') in the

.Maurice Brinton, pseud. (Christopher Agamemnon Pallis). The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control. (Orig: Solidarity UK, London, 1970)
The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control introduction
/ref> Trotsky would assume a central role in the 1905 revolution and serve as Chairman of the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Delegates in which he wrote several proclamations urging for improved economic conditions, political rights and the use of

strike action Strike action, also called labor strike, labour strike in British English, or simply strike, is a work stoppage caused by the mass refusal of employees to Working class, work. A strike usually takes place in response to employee grievances. Str ...

against the Tsarist regime on behalf of workers.

Revolution in Congress Poland

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

during 1905, ();

Red Clydeside

Glasgow Glasgow is the Cities of Scotland, most populous city in Scotland, located on the banks of the River Clyde in Strathclyde, west central Scotland. It is the List of cities in the United Kingdom, third-most-populous city in the United Kingdom ...

, Scotland during 1915 ('' Rent Strikes'')

Revolutions of 1917-1923

1917 Russian Revolution

Councils such as the Petrograd Soviet were formed by striking workers to coordinate the revolution, exercising political power in the absence of the Tsar's governance. Despite Lenin's declarations that "the workers must demand the immediate establishment of genuine control, to be exercised by the workers themselves", on May 30, the Menshevik minister of labor, Matvey Skobelev, pledged to not give the control of industry to the workers but instead to the state: "The transfer of enterprises into the hands of the people will not at the present time assist the revolution ..The regulation and control of industry is not a matter for a particular class. It is a task for the state. Upon the individual class, especially the working class, lies the responsibility for helping the state in its organizational work." Tony Cliff ''Lenin 2'' Chapter 12
Lenin and Workers’ Control
', section The Rise of Factory Committees'' Council communists criticize the Bolsheviks for superseding the soviet democracy formed by the councils and creating a bureaucratic system of state capitalism.

Makhno Movement, 1918-1921

During the

Russian Revolution The Russian Revolution was a period of Political revolution (Trotskyism), political and social revolution, social change in Russian Empire, Russia, starting in 1917. This period saw Russia Dissolution of the Russian Empire, abolish its mona ...

, the Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine led by Nestor Makhno established a stateless territory in Eastern

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

on the principles of anarchist communism. The Makhnovists established a system of free soviets (''vilni rady''), which allowed workers, peasants, and militants to self-govern their communities through

workers' self-management Workers' self-management, also referred to as labor management and organizational self-management, is a form of organizational management based on self-directed work processes on the part of an organization's workforce. Self-managed economy, ...

and send delegates to the Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents.

German Revolution, 1918-1919

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

during 1918–1919 ();

Irish Revolutionary period

During the

Irish War of Independence The Irish War of Independence (), also known as the Anglo-Irish War, was a guerrilla war fought in Ireland from 1919 to 1921 between the Irish Republican Army (1919–1922), Irish Republican Army (IRA, the army of the Irish Republic) and Unite ...

Irish Civil War The Irish Civil War (; 28 June 1922 – 24 May 1923) was a conflict that followed the Irish War of Independence and accompanied the establishment of the Irish Free State, an entity independent from the United Kingdom but within the British Emp ...

a number of worker's councils were set up for various degrees of time, between 1919 - 1923. See: Irish soviets.

Spanish Revolution

The

Spanish Revolution of 1936 The Spanish Revolution was a social revolution that began at the outbreak of the Spanish Civil War in 1936, following the Spanish coup of July 1936, attempted coup to overthrow the Second Spanish Republic and arming of the worker movements an ...

saw the creation of anarchist communes across much of Spain. These communes operated under the principle " from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs". Decision-making in the communes were conducted through workers' councils ().

Post-Independence Algeria

Algeria Algeria, officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered to Algeria–Tunisia border, the northeast by Tunisia; to Algeria–Libya border, the east by Libya; to Alger ...

, in the aftermath of the

Algerian War The Algerian War (also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence) ''; '' (and sometimes in Algeria as the ''War of 1 November'') was an armed conflict between France and the Algerian National Liberation Front (Algeri ...

, oversaw the widespread practice of

. This was subsequently suppressed by conservative forces in the country.

Indonesian War of Independence

Indonesia Indonesia, officially the Republic of Indonesia, is a country in Southeast Asia and Oceania, between the Indian Ocean, Indian and Pacific Ocean, Pacific oceans. Comprising over List of islands of Indonesia, 17,000 islands, including Sumatra, ...

during 1945–1946

1956 Hungarian Revolution

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

during

1956 Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan after 57 years. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, E ...

()

Protests of 1968

May '68

During the May 1968 events in France, " e largest general strike that ever stopped the economy of an advanced industrial country, and the first '' wildcat general strike'' in history",The Beginning of an Era
, from ''

Situationist International The Situationist International (SI) was an international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and political theorists. It was prominent in Europe from its formation in 1957 to its dissolution ...

'' No 12 (September 1969). Translated by Ken Knabb. the

Situationists The Situationist International (SI) was an Proletarian internationalism, international organization of social revolutionaries made up of avant-garde artists, intellectuals, and Political philosophy, political theorists. It was prominent in Eu ...

, against the unions and the French Communist Party that were starting to side with the de Gaulle government to contain the revolt, called for the formation of workers' councils () to take control of the cities, expelling union leaders and left-wing bureaucrats, in order to keep the power in the hands of the workers with direct democracy.

Solidarność riots, 1970

*1970, ();

Sri Lanka

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

during the 1970–75 United Front government established Workers' Councils and Advisory Committees in Sri Lanka.

Australia

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

during 1971–1980 and 1990

Processo Revolucionário Em Curso

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

during 1974–1976

1979 Iranian Revolution

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...

during 1978–1979 ();

Solidarność Strike, 1980-1981

*1980–1981 ();

Canada

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

during 1981

December 2001 Riots, Argentina

* 2001

Rojava Revolution

* Rojava from 2012 onwardA Small Key Can Open a Large Door: The Rojava Revolution (1st ed.). Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. 4 March 2015. According to Dr. Ahmad Yousef, an economic co-minister, three-quarters of traditional private property is being used as commons and one quarter is still being owned by use of individuals...According to the Ministry of Economics, worker councils have only been set up for about one third of the enterprises in Rojava so far.

References

External links

Workers' Councils: The historically discovered form of the dictatorship of the proletariat
{{DEFAULTSORT:Workers' Council Anarchist theory Labour movement Mutualism (movement) Socialism