The Case for Workers' Control: Nottingham & Hull, 1966–1967
Red Mole Guides, #7
by Ken Coates et al.
Publisher: Red Mole
This Red Mole Guide gathers two foundational documents of the mid-1960s British workers'-control revival. The Nottingham 1966 Conference report (The Week / Centre for Socialist Education) collects seminar findings on industrial democracy across mining, docks, steel, buses, aircraft, and health and safety, alongside Ken Coates on definitions and a study of Poland's workers' councils. The Hull University Socialist Society symposium (Spring 1967, ed. Tom Fawthrop) argues the case in four parts: the needs of society; plans and problems in Britain (nationalised industries, steel, common-ownership firms, planning); the practice of industrial democracy abroad (Yugoslavia, Poland, Norway, the kibbutz, Algeria); and policy and prospects for the future. Contributors include Coates, Tony Topham, Walter Kendall, Roger Hadley, and Vic Allen. Together they press the socialist case for democratic control of industry by workers themselves—against mere "joint consultation" and reformist management.
