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A workers' council, or revolutionary councils, is the phenomenon where a single place of work or enterprise, such as a factory, school, or farm, is controlled collectively by the workers of that workplace, through the core principle of temporary and instantly revocable delegates.

In a system with temporary and instantly revocable delegates, workers deliberate on what is their agenda and what are their needs, and mandate a temporary delegate to divulge and pursue them. The temporary delegates are elected among the workers themselves, can be instantly revoked if they betray their mandate, and are supposed to change frequently. There are no managers and all the decision power and the organization is based on the delegates system.

On a larger scale, a group of delegates may in turn elect a higher delegate to pursue their mandate, and so on, until the top delegates are running the industrial system of a state. In such a system decision power raises bottom-up from the agendas of the workers themselves, and there is not a decision imposition from the top, as would happen in the case of a power seizure by a supposedly revolutionary party.

Historical examples[link]

Several times in modern history the idea of Workers' councils has been attributed to similar forms of organization, although in most cases the workers didn't actually have full power control, and were subdued to some external authority. Examples include Russia in 1905 and 1917, where the councils were called "soviets";^[1] Germany during 1918 (Räte); Turin, Italy during 1919-1920; rural Ireland during 1920-1921; China during 1926-1927; Spain during 1936; Hungary during 1919 and 1956; France during 1871 and 1968; Chile in 1973 (cordones); Iran during 1978-1979 (shoras^[2]); and from at the latest 2002 to the present in Venezuela.^[3]

Despite Lenin's declarations that "the workers must demand the immediate establishment of genuine control, to be exercised by the workers themselves", on May 30, the Menshevik minister of labor, Skobolev, pledged to not give the control of industry to the workers but instead to the state: "The transfer of enterprises into the hands of the people will not at the present time assist the revolution [...] The regulation and control of industry is not a matter for a particular class. It is a task for the state. Upon the individual class, especially the working class, lies the responsibility for helping the state in its organizational work."^[4][5]

Organization details[link]

In the workers' councils organised as part of the German revolution, factory organisations, such as the General Workers' Union of Germany (AAUD), formed the basis for organising region-wide councils. The council communists in the Communist Workers' Party of Germany advocated organising "on the basis of places of work, not trades, and to establish a National Federation of Works Committees."^[6]

Councils operate on the principle of recallable delegates. This means that elected delegates may be recalled at any time through a vote in a form of impeachment. Recall of management committee members, specialist professionals such as engineers, and delegates to higher councils was observed in the Central Workers Council of Greater Budapest during 1956, where delegates were removed for industrial, organisational and political reasons.

Workers' councils combine to elect higher bodies for coordinating between one another. This means that the upper councils are not superior to the lower councils, but are instead built from and operated by them. The national council would therefore have delegates from every city in the country. Their nature means that workers' councils do away with traditional centralized governments and instead give the power indirectly to the people. This type of democratic order is called council democracy. The Central Workers Council of Greater Budapest occupied this role in the Hungarian Revolution of 1956, between late October and early January 1957, where it was formed from local factory committees.

Councils against unions and Stalinists[link]

A workers' council is a deliberative assembly, composed of working class members, intended to institute workers' self-management or workers' control. Unlike a trade union, in a workers' council the workers are assumed to be in actual control of the workplace, rather than merely negotiating with employers through collective bargaining. They are a form of workplace democracy.

Many Marxists and most anarchists believe that workers' councils embody the fundamental principles of socialism, such as workers' control over production and distribution. Indeed, some have described this as "socialism from below," which they counterpose against what they see as "socialism from above" endorsed by Stalinism and Maoism. According to this view, socialism from above is carried out by a centralized state run by an elite bureaucratic apparatus, whereas socialism from below represents the self-administration and self-rule of the working class.

Some left communists (particularly council communists) and anarchists support a council-based society; believing that only the workers themselves can spark the revolution and so workers' councils will be the foundation of the revolution. There are also Leninists (for example the International Socialist Tendency and its offshoots) who advocate a council-based society,^[7] but maintain that workers' councils cannot carry out a revolution without the leadership of a vanguard party.^[8]

During May 1968 ( "The largest general strike that ever stopped the economy of an advanced industrial country, and the first wildcat general strike in history" ), the Situationists, against the unions and the Communist Party that were starting to side with the de Gaulle government to contain the revolt, called for the formation of workers' councils to take control of the factories, expelling union leaders and left-wing bureaucrats, in order to keep the power in the hands of the workers with direct democracy.^[9]

See also[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Workers' Councils: The historically discovered form of the dictatorship of the proletariat

Khaw Boon Wan
Khaw Boon Wan
Minister for National Development
Incumbent
Assumed office 21 May 2011
Preceded by	Mah Bow Tan
Constituency	Sembawang Group Representation Constituency
Minister for Health
In office 12 August 2004 – 20 May 2011
Preceded by	Lim Hng Kiang
Succeeded by	Gan Kim Yong
Chairman of the People's Action Party
Incumbent
Assumed office 1 June 2011
Preceded by	Lim Boon Heng
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Sembawang GRC (Sembawang ward)
Incumbent
Assumed office 7 May 2006
Preceded by	Tony Tan
Member of the Singapore Parliament for Tanjong Pagar GRC (Moulmein ward)
In office 4 November 2001 – 6 May 2006
Preceded by	Lew Syn Pau (Kreta Ayer-Tanglin GRC: Moulmein ward)
Succeeded by	Lui Tuck Yew
Personal details
Born	(1952-12-08) December 8, 1952 (age 59) Penang, Federation of Malaya
Political party	People's Action Party
Alma mater	University of Newcastle
Religion	Buddhism[1]

Khaw Boon Wan (simplified Chinese: 许文远; traditional Chinese: 許文遠; pinyin: Xǔ Wényuǎn; Pe̍h-ōe-jī: Khóo Bûn-uán; born 8 December 1952 in Penang, Malaya) is a politician from Singapore. Since 2011, he has been Minister for National Development and the Chairman of the governing People's Action Party (PAP).^[2][3] He was previously the Minister for Health from August 2004 to May 2011. He has been a Member of Parliament (MP) since 2001.

Career[link]

Khaw began his career in the civil service. He worked in the Ministry of Health and served as the Chief Executive Officer of the National University Hospital, Kandang Kerbau Women's and Children's Hospital, and the Singapore General Hospital.

From 1992 to 1995, Khaw served as the Principal Private Secretary to Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. From 1995 to 2001, he served as the Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Trade and Industry.

Political career[link]

Khaw has been a Member of Parliament since 2001. He represented the Tanjong Pagar Group Representation Constituency from 2001 to 2006, and the Sembawang Group Representation Constituency since 2006.

Khaw was appointed as Minister for Health in August 2004.

As Minister for health, Khaw played a key role in combating the SARS epidemic which tested the Singapore's public health resources. He was also noted for his role in handling the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) scandal, and made Gerard Ee the new Chairman of the NKF following the resignation of T.T. Durai. In a parliamentary speech on 9 February 2009, in the context of tackling the rising healthcare costs, he suggested that Singaporeans can consider sending their elderly parents to nursing homes in Johor Bahru in Malaysia, which are more affordable to lower-income Singaporeans. This was quoted by news reports and a public outcry ensued. Khaw subsequently clarified that his statement was quoted out of context by the media and his suggestion was only one of the many choices available to Singaporeans.

Following the 2011 general election, Khaw was appointed the Minister for National Development.

Education[link]

Khaw completed his education at the University of Newcastle in Australia on a Colombo Plan Scholarship, graduating in 1977 with a Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Commerce.

Personal life[link]

Khaw is married with three daughters, and is known to be a devout Buddhist.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Profile of Khaw Boon Wan at cabinet.gov.sg
• Profile of Khaw Boon Wan at parliament.gov.sg
• [2]

v t e Current members of the Cabinet of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong Deputy Prime Ministers Teo Chee Hean National Security/Home Affairs/Civil Service Tharman Shanmugaratnam Finance/Manpower Cabinet Ministers Ng Eng Hen Defence Heng Swee Keat Education Vivian Balakrishnan Environment and Water Resources K. Shanmugam Foreign Affairs/Law Gan Kim Yong Health Yaacob Ibrahim Information, Communications and the Arts/Muslim Affairs Khaw Boon Wan National Development Lim Hng Kiang Trade and Industry Lui Tuck Yew Transport Lim Swee Say Prime Minister's Office S. Iswaran Prime Minister's Office Acting Cabinet Ministers Chan Chun Sing Community Development, Youth and Sports As of 21 May 2011