Revolutionary RehearsalsColin Barker Five times in the last 40 years, the working class has posed a radical alternative to the status quo. France 1968: A general strike and factory occupations by millions of workers shake the country. Chile 1972: Workers defending the Popular Unity government set up workers' councils--the cordones--and demand control over production. Portugal 1974: Army officers overthrow the dictator Caetano and release an upsurge of "popular power" whichs last 18 months. Iran 1979: The viciously repressive Shah is toppled and workers set up independent councils, the shoras. Poland 1980: Demanding radical change, workers build the independent trade union Solidarity to fight for their own interests, exposing the false socialism of the Eastern Bloc. In each of these cases, the actions of workers themselves were the driving force of struggles with revolutionary potential. They demonstrate that workers can and will fight back on a mass scale. Each episode offers an inspiring glimpse of the way in which workers rise to the challenge of fighting for a better world--and pose their own alternative to the system. Although none of these struggles ultimately achieved their goals, they were "revolutionary rehearsals" that hold important lessons about the struggle for socialism under modern conditions. |
Contents
All power to the imagination | 3 |
The workers united | 39 |
Popular power | 81 |
Long live the RevolutionLong live Islam? | 121 |
The selflimiting revolution | 167 |
Perspectives | 215 |
Abbreviations used in the text | 244 |
Notes | 245 |
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action activists activity Allende Allende's armed forces army attack August began bourgeois bourgeoisie Bydgoszcz called capital capitalist cent Chile Chile Hoy Chilean class struggle Colin Barker Communist Party COPCON cordones coup crisis defend demands democratic demonstration economic elections factories Fedayeen France Gaulle Gdansk groups guerrilla Ian Birchall industrial Iran Iranian Islamic Republic issue June Khomeini Komitehs L'Humanité labour leaders leadership Lisbon Lisnave Lutte Ouvrière major ment militant military Mojahedin nationalisation occupations officers opposition organisations Paris peasants Poland police Polish political popular Portugal Portuguese programme protest provisional government Punto Final radical reform reformist regime represented revolution revolutionary left revolutionary socialist right-wing role ruling class SAVAK Shah Shah's Shoras social Socialist Party society soldiers Solidarity Solidarity's strategy strike committee Szczecin tion trade union Trotskyist Tudeh Party UP's victory vote wages Walesa women workers working-class workplaces