Lessons from Argentina: Resources and Production

Upon arriving in Buenos Aires, I was immediately struck by the strength of their movements. That strength was marked primarily through the constant presence of social movements felt in the city. In part that presence came from the large and nearly constant demonstrations in the streets. But more than that, it was seeing the cultural centers, radical libraries, widely distributed revolutionary and rank and file newspapers, musicians singing about current causes, and of course, the presence of the worker expropriated businesses.

Originally I assumed that the presence of these available resources were the natural result of having broad support for the various movements. I’ve since come to understand that these movements don’t simply have these resources because they are larger, but that the resources are why they are larger. By giving people things to do other than simply show up to demonstrations, movements begin to build strong activists, volunteer bases, their own power, and a real reason to need more people actively involved in our movements. As we begin to build our capacity for growth, as well as our need for it, these resources can strengthen our ability to recruit new members. Those new members build our capacity to develop new projects and power within our movements. This seems like a cycle that movements in the US could use.

What kinds of resources?

Some of the different resources that I’ve seen used effectively in Buenos Aires are very basic things that movements of any size should be able to produce and use. Others are hopes that would require considerable investments of time, volunteers, and money. But, they aren’t impossible and should be goals to grow towards.

• Diffusion Tables: It‘s incredibly common to see tables of various organizations set up in public spaces around the city. Using a basic banner and a couple of flags they are able to look like serious organizations and attract more people. To set up they only require a couple of volunteers and the development of some basic materials that any group should have – a description of who the group is and what they do and some flyers for upcoming events. Good books or documentaries about the organization’s issues are great to put out as well.

• Physical and Public Space: Historically in Argentina, the beginnings of movements are recognized with the opening of ‘cultural centers’. A location that belongs to the movement is important in demonstrating the organization’s capacity to have an impact, even if that impact starts at one store-front. There are a number of spaces like this throughout Buenos Aires – the café and revolutionary university of the Madres de la Plaza de Mayo, various anarchist, socialist or communist libraries, theatres, and spaces within recuperated businesses. These spaces create genuine ties to the neighborhoods in which they reside while allowing a space to hold teach-ins, discussions, movie screenings, concerts, parties, and any other event an organization may want to hold.

• Political Artists: Plenty of artists exist that claim some sort of radical politics, but how many have any real connection with particular movements? This connection is vital for both – as artists can express the passion and inspiration that movements need and organizations can provide the exposure that artists may want. When this connection isn’t built we only invite the growth of an apathetic public.

• Media: I have been absolutely amazed by the production of media by organizers and activists in Buenos Aires. There are dozens of radical newspapers and magazines, groups producing documentaries, left wing radio programs, websites, and so much more. How can anyone be surprised by the strength of their movements when they have such constant media production and distribution? These sorts of means of production should be one of the goals of any serious movement. Shouldn’t we consistently ask ourselves how we are communicating our message with the public at large?

• Technology: Nearly all of the above resources will require access to and skill with some amount of tech. Computers, cameras, printing press, sound equipment, etc. will often be necessary tools in the building of truly popular movements. Developing these skills within ourselves and our communities is a valuable resource.

• Funding: Whether gained by membership dues, grants, fundraising events, or some other more creative ideas money is going to needed at some point. Good luck on this front!

A focus on developing these resources while building campaigns to win specific demands can help to build our groups from flashes in the pan that create some marginal change into sustainable and productive organizations. It’s precisely this sort of production in our work that can begin to present our ability to organize a more just and free world.

Visiting a Factory without Bosses -- FaSinPat.

Anyone arriving in Argentina with an interest in the workers movements here will be pointed in the direction of Zanon, if the story about Zanon wasn't already the reason they came to Argentina. The ceramics factory of nearly 500 workers in the western province of Neuquen is one of the shining stars of the factory expropriation movement that swept Argentina in recent years.

A couple friends and I arrived at the factory with barely any advance warning. But, the workers were incredibly open and eager for visitors. We were sent to the press office where we met some of the administrative people. They brought us to a room within the factory that had 4 beds and tile walls covered in posters of their rallies and events. The room was set aside for visitors, and rarely empty. We then spent the next three days at the factory talking to, and eating with, the workers there.

Being from Buffalo, NY I'm not unaccustomed to being around factories. It took me some time to think of what was so different about this factory than those I had wandered in Buffalo. Wait. This factory is moving! As the workers took us through the factory they explained the production process of the tiles. While we walked, I couldn't help but compare to the empty factories of Buffalo -- symbols of decline, joblessness, poverty, and defeat. This factory was moving. This factory was producing.

We were told though that tiles aren't the only think being produced in this factory. They are also maintaining the image and possibility of worker self-management. This is why they produce under the new name FaSinPat (Fabrica Sin Patron or Factory without a Boss). As we went, I became generally interested in the process of tile production and I felt proud to see the cases of tile stacked outside. For even an outsider, the work began to have that sense of pride that capitalist bosses so often demand. But this wasn't pride for making a profit for someone we didn't know. This was a pride of seeing obvious proof that the working class is perfectly capable of running it all ourselves. A pride of knowing that our freedom was possible and that our chains were unnecessary.

How Did They Get Here?

Less than 10 years ago, Zanon was like any other exploitative business. Wages were low, workers had no say in their work lives, production was pushed beyond its maximum -- causing frequent injuries. There was a business friendly union that would inform the company of worker complaints so that those workers could be fired.

There was also the beginning of a radical presence. Social insertion, primarily through the Socialist Workers Party (PTS) had brought socialist ideas to the factory. This early process of radicalizing a small pocket within the factory was essential, but took a long time. However, once there was a militant and class-conscious core, they immediately set to taking back the union from the bureaucrats.

With delegates from Zanon and 3 other ceramics factories in the same area, they voted in a new, combative union leadership. Everyone regarded this as an important first step in their self-organizing. The taking of the union saw a rapid growth in class-consciousness among the workers. They began inddependently organizing a number of internal commissions (solidarity, women's, press, etc.) and having worker assemblies. This experience of self-organization would be incredibly useful in their expropriating of the factory.

In the months before the Argentine economic crisis, a union conflict was intensifying and calling for renewed investment in the factory -- as the management hadn't fixed broken equipment in years, despite consistent state subsidies. They also demanded back wages (some had gone months without pay) and increased safety measures after the death of one worker.

La Toma

This labor conflict quickly turned into a lockout as the boss fought back against the union, hoping to hire a more complacent work force. With the economic collapse in December 2001, management saw their opportunity to announce the temporary closure of the factory. Unfortunately for them the workers also saw this as their opportunity to take the factory. An assembly was called and workers decided to sell the inventory. They then used half of the profits to pay themselves a portion of back wages owed and used the other half to buy raw materials. With the deceivingly simple decision worker self-management began.

Self-Management

Today the factory runs democratically. Once a month one shift is dedicated to an all-factory assembly where important decisions are made by a vote of all members. The factory is divided into 12 sections (production, planning, sales, press, etc.). that each elect a delegate. Each day these 12 delegates meet to decide how to proceed with the necessary tasks of the day. Delegates rotate frequently and every few years administrators are chosen again, with the old administrators returning to the production line.

Has this model of self-management been successful for them? When they took the factory, there were 266 workers involved. Today despite the fact that the government has given them zero subsidies, there are around 470 workers -- many hired from the area unemployed workers movement.

Not only has FaSinPat become a stable source of work during a chaotic economic period, they have used their position to organize in defense of worker self-management throughout the country and in solidarity with a number of other movements. They buy their raw materials from the indigenous Mapuche whose land the previous owners were trying to steal. When the provincial government ignored years of community demands for a hospital, FaSinPat helped to build it in three months. Their workers can be speaking at conferences, at rallies in support of other struggles, or at meetings helping organize further actions. With any luck, we will begin to see more successes in this style of workplace struggle and organization.