Edexcel A-level Politics Student Guide 3: Political Ideas by Author

Author:Author
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2019-03-16T00:00:00+00:00

Workers’ control

All socialists are concerned about the negative impact on society and individuals of private property, which they see as leading to inequality and exploitation. Some socialists believe that capitalism should be abolished and the workers should participate in the economic management of their place of work and share in the profits. This theory is an alternative to top-down state central planning and nationalisation, as used by twentieth-century communist states such as the USSR and China, and is therefore much more democratic.

Syndicalists argue for workers’ control via trade unions. A major movement in early twentieth-century France and Italy, syndicalism aimed to overthrow governments through the use of general strikes and radical trade union action.

As mentioned briefly earlier, the cooperative movement is a good example of a non-Marxist approach to workers’ control and an alternative form of economics. Developed in the nineteenth century by the Rochdale Society of Equitable Pioneers, it originally consisted of groups of small retailers coming together to combine their buying power. Cooperatives are democratic organisations controlled by their members, and profits are shared. The Co-operative Group is the largest mutual business in the UK, owned by its 7 million customers and members. There are also workers’ cooperatives, for example Suma, a very successful wholesale business.

Exam tip

Learn three examples of collectivism in practice from contrasting strands of socialism, e.g. state socialism and the cooperative movement.

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