Description

During the economic and political crisis of 2001–2003, thousands of Argentine workers took action. They occupied their workplaces and defended them with their bodies against the state’s batons, tear gas and bullets. In most cases, what drove them was not a revolutionary conviction, but the desire to defend their right to a livelihood when the bosses and owners had squandered the money and left nothing but debts behind.

In Sweden, the situation is different. We have not yet experienced a crisis on the scale of Argentina’s, but no one is immune to the vagaries of global capitalism. Here too, factories are closing down, often profitable companies that, with the help of taxpayers’ money, are relocating production elsewhere to improve their margins by a further couple of per cent. With catastrophic consequences for entire towns.

When you read about Zanon, Brukman, or the Chilavert cooperative, think of the tyre factory in Gislaved, the steelworks in Degerfors, the health centres in Gothenburg. Consider what would happen if Swedish workers followed the example of their Argentine comrades. This is a book for anyone interested in the workers’ struggle. Workers and grassroots activists should read it and let themselves be inspired.