Australian Left Review
Article Title
The Politics of Workers' Control
Abstract
The National Workers’ Control Conference in Newcastle was in many ways a milepost in the history of working class struggle in Australia, and it is the clear duty of the revolutionary left to support the new militancy and selfconfidence displayed there. But, in itself, that support is insufficient. Gramsci described the revolutionary party as “the general staff of the working class”. By that he meant that the party must familiarise itself with every relevant aspect of the class struggle - the historical conjuncture, the strength and the strategies of the enemy and the fighting strength of the working class itself. Using this Knowledge, it must produce a clear strategy for the class whose instrument it is, and it must do everything in its power to popularise and implement that strategy.