Postwar labor radicals saw workers’ councils as the seed of a Soviet republic

Evidence

Th e Socialist of January 1919 announced: “the striking masses have spontaneously created the workers’ committees, the basis of the workers’ state … these committees representing every department in every mine, mill, railway, or plant, contain the elements of an organization which can transform capitalism into a Soviet Republic… . All Power to the workers’ committees” (Th e Socialist, January 30, 1919, reprinted in Hinton 1973, 302). … Th at same year, the Italian worker Mario Montagna expressed similar optimism for his own country: “we believe that the construction of the workshop councils (consigli di offi cina) represents the fi rst concrete affi rmation of the communist revolution in Italy and that these councils of peasants and workers are the basis for the whole future system” (Montagna 1919, 202– 3). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 479

Categorization

• XREF: Resonates with council communism and soviet theory; also with recent rank-and-file labor organizing literature. — connects to: Postwar strikes were political demands for workers’ self-government, not mere wage disputes; Postwar labor resistance ranged from reformist unionism to revolutionary council occupation. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 114; Postwar workers rejected labor as a commodity and demanded democratic control of production — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 185 (+3 more)

Broader Connections

• Factory councils were designed to fuse economics and politics in proletarian self-government #expands (0.93) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 534
• Postwar labor resistance ranged from reformist unionism to revolutionary council occupation. #corroborates (0.92) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 114
• Postwar labor unrest aimed at revolution, not just wages. #corroborates (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 375
• Factory councils aimed to merge economics and politics through workers’ control #expands (0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 581
• Postwar workers rejected labor as a commodity and demanded democratic control of production #corroborates (0.84) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 185