Works councils failed to dominate as workers’ representatives by the late 1950s

Evidence

In spite ofor because ofthese desires, which were as modest as they were unrealistic, the idea of the works council and of worker participation, paltry remnants of hopes that had been raised in the early post-war period, did not have any consciously dominant role for those questioned. The inadequacy of the works council in the economic field and its limited influence in general on the one hand, and its remoteness from the daily working environment on the other, meant that, although it was seen by a relative majority of those questioned as best representing their interests, this majority only represented a third in absolute terms, with those who saw the shop steward or foreman as their best representatives coming in close behind. — Rolf Wiggershaus, The Frankfurt School, 2072

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Postwar workers rejected labor as a commodity and demanded democratic control of production — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism: An Intervention, 185; Miners’ 1919 control scheme gave workers half the governing council seats — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 1669; Worker councils structurally rotated leadership to keep power with workers. — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 538 (+6 more)

Broader Connections

• Austerity structurally dismantled the workers’ movement and its economic alternatives #complicates (0.80) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 654
• Postwar workers rejected labor as a commodity and demanded democratic control of production #qualifies (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 185
• Worker councils structurally rotated leadership to keep power with workers. #contradicts (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 538
• Postwar strikes were political demands for workers’ self-government, not mere wage disputes #qualifies (0.75)
• Postwar workers explicitly rejected the treatment of labor as a commodity #qualifies (0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 185
• Miners’ 1919 control scheme gave workers half the governing council seats #exemplifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1669
• Factory councils aimed to merge economics and politics through workers’ control #qualifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 581
• Proletarianization created divisions among workers instead of erasing them #complicates (0.72)
• Workers’ self-governance sought to abolish the wage relationship and production for profit #qualifies (0.72) — Clara E. Mattei, Escape from Capitalism, 186