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The Watchmakers Revolution

Jacobs, Ron
http://www.counterpunch.org/2019/06/28/the-watchmakers-revolution/

Publisher:  CounterPunch
Date Written:  28/06/2019
Year Published:  2019  
Resource Type:  Article

History of a worker takeover of a watch company in 1970s France. Refers to a recent book by Donald Reid 'Opening the Gates: The LIP Affair, 1968-1981.'

Abstract: 

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Excerpt:

The worker takeover of the plant where the company was housed took place in 1973 after the committee discovered management documents detailing more dismissals. Hundreds of workers occupied the plant and took a couple members of management hostage. The building where the hostages were being held was raided by security forces and the hostages were released. In response, the occupying workers took tens of thousands of watches “hostage,” hiding them in secret caches around the region.

The occupation of the factory continued, as did the production of watches. Inspired by the factory takeovers in France during the rebellion of 1968 and informed by New Left concepts of worker management and autonomy, the workers at LIP organized themselves along non-hierarchical lines to run the factories, educate themselves about managing the company and cooperation across traditional gender, ethnic and occupational segmentation, and keep the police out....

Beyond the specifics of the watch industry and LIP watches in particular were the early soundings of a global economy unlike any such economy that came before. In other words, the time period covered in the book is the period just before the advent of what became known as neoliberalism—the most recent stage of capitalism.
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