Capitalist crisis and workers’ self-management: recovered enterprises in Argentina

Abstract

At the end of 2001 Argentina lived a preview of the apocalyptic economic crisis after a high doseof neoliberal policies. Deregulation deepened labor conditions at work and increased low-wage employment with less social benefits. Privatization of State-owned industries and public agencies left thousands of workers in the streets and diminished the power of the State over such areas as the oil industry, services, clean water, education and health, among others. Liberalization of the financial market caused an outflow of capital and forced the Central Bank to block people from getting money out of their saving accounts. The workers response was channeled through two forms: 1)people started out picket lines in local municipalities and neighborhoods, and 2) others decided to take the management of bankrupt establishments into their own hands, which gave rise to the emergence of a movement called “recovering enterprises”. Such issue is analyzes in this paper.