Abstract
Workers’ Self-Management in the Caribbean brings together the writings of social theorist and labor organizer, Joseph Edwards (also known as Fundi and The Caribbean Situationist). The collection begins with his writings from Abeng, a Black-power newspaper that emerged from the Walter Rodney Riots of 1968 and follows Joseph Edwards’ evolution as a theorist and as a member of the Situationist International in the 1970s and beyond.
While influenced by C.L.R. James, Edwards was also critical of James’ vision of direct democracy, arguing that it did not go far enough. Edwards alternately contends that state socialism and self-management are irreconcilably opposed, and therefore extends James’ vision of direct democracy to include workers’ self-management. Edwards was also influenced by the Rastafari Movement, believing that their political economy was reactionary in that instead of fighting for better structural conditions for workers in Jamaica, they instead call for repatriation to Africa, but Edwards also believed that Rastafari consciousness is radical in that they seek liberation from the domination of capitalism and imperialism. He therefore appropriates the language of Rastafari in some of his central theoretical concepts. In his later writings, however, Edwards cites Herbert Marcuse as an important intellectual influence. The nexus of colonialism, imperialism, capitalism, class, and race in the global context is at the core of Edwards’ theorizing. Although gender is less central in his writings, Edwards was also critical of patriarchy, and wrote that women should be equal participants in trade unions whether as employed workers, unemployed workers, or as romantic partners of male workers. Edwards believed that female romantic partners of male workers, regardless of a couple’s legal marital status, should be union members.
Some of the key concepts that emerge from Edwards’ work are ‘one-menism’ to explain how certain individuals have a disproportionate amount of power within bureaucratic organizations such as political parties, unions, government, business, and religious organizations. A related theoretical concept developed by Edwards is that of ‘workers versus menegement’ which is how Edwards conceptualizes class struggle. ‘Men’ is a Rastafarian-derived term meaning degenerate human, while ‘man’ in contrast represents the ideal human. So, ‘menegement’, for Edwards, is the oppressor class and includes any and all of the classes that oppose the interests of the working class, but is also a riff on the workplace-centered class struggle of workers versus management. The other key theoretical concept that emerges from Edwards’ writing is that of ‘Black working class knowledge’ which captures the intersectionality of working class consciousness, Black consciousness, postcolonial consciousness, and anticapitalist consciousness.
Much of Edwards’ theory centers on the role of trade unions in postcolonial society. As a movement, he contends, the goal of postcolonial trade unions is to strategize for the overthrow of capitalism and to strategically employ its organizational capacity to disrupt American imperialism. The goal of community work, in Edwards’ view, is to develop the political consciousness of workers, not just where they work, but to consolidate working class consciousness across workplaces, employment status, and regardless of whether a worker is a wage-laborer or does unpaid domestic labor. Edwards’ conceptualization of the trade union movement is international in orientation, and divides the global trade union movement into two categories: Black trade unions and European trade unions. While the European working class benefits from higher wages and the welfare state, the postcolonial working class, according to Edwards, is subject to imperialist exploitation. British workers have gained over time, Edwards posits, while Caribbean workers are increasingly exploited over time. Labor internationalism, Edwards claims, has historically been for the unity of White workers, and has not been inclusive to workers in the ‘imperialist-exploited countries’. Because of the racism of labor internationalists from Europe and North America, and because traditional trade unions in the ‘imperialist-exploited countries’ work only in the interest of capital, Edwards proposes that independent unions be formed that instead foster daily associations among the working class to educate workers, fight exploitation, and engage in cultural rejuvenation and consciousness building. Edwards contends that spontaneity, typified by wildcat strikes, are the essential weapon of the anticolonial working class because they reinforce the principle of self-organization and is therefore the tactic that is most compatible with independent unions.
Independent unions are key, for Edwards, as is workers’ self-organization of unions. The two most crucial aspects of an ideal trade union for Edwards is (1) one that organizes small breakout groups in which workers can discuss and educate themselves with the guidance of a trade union organizer (who is not an ‘outside organizer’). These education groups should not only focus on issues in the workplace but can also work toward combatting internalized imperialism and racism within the postcolonial working class. But the most important characteristic of an independent, self-organized trade union is (2) that it be fully democratic, meaning that the general assembly is responsible for decision making, and not an organizing committee or council that meets separately from the workers to make decisions for the trade union. Without incorporating workers in all decision making, the organizing committee members, in Edwards’ view, are simply worker-bureaucrats engaging in one-menism, stifling opportunities for workers’ education and hindering participation of all union members.
Edwards’ utopian vision, articulated toward the end of the book, is for generalized self-management in society, built on the absolute power of workers, and entailing the abolishment of political parties, universities, prisons, trade unions, armies, police, and state. Edwards’ goal in this vision is to develop a society in which workers have more control over their daily lives and in which people work collectively to meet their needs for survival. Self-management, for Edwards, is revolution.
Edwards’ theory bridges culture and structure in that equal weight is given to political economy and Black working class postcolonial consciousness, and these two concepts have a symbiotic relationship. In this merger of the ontological and the political, Edwards makes a macro–micro link. In its nuanced treatment of the intersectionality of race and class in the context of global capitalism and imperialism in the postcolonial world, this book offers useful theoretical concepts for labor historians and labor studies scholars, particularly for those working outside of the United States and Europe (but also for those working on peripheries within the core). Pan-African theorists, postcolonial theorists, global historians, historical sociologists working outside of North America and Europe, along with development sociologists would also find the writings of Joseph Edwards interesting and useful in light of current scholarly debates between cultural perspectives and political economy oriented perspectives. Labor organizers and community organizers may find the ‘how to’ section of the book, in which Edwards delineates his view of an ideal trade union organizer and ideal community organizer based on his years of experience as a trade union leader, of interest.
While the writings published in this collection were written from 1968 to 1984, Edwards’ bridging of culture and structure couldn’t be more relevant to contemporary scholarly debates. Furthermore, his theories challenge current epistemes in mainstream sociological studies that focus on places in the world outside of North America and Europe, in that Edwards’ writings can be read as a postcolonial sociology that critically engages with the term ‘development’. Edwards’ ‘development’ is one that is inseparable from Black-power, anticolonialism, antimperialism, and anticapitalism. And this is not simply ‘southern theory’ (theory is theory regardless of the theorist’s country of origin), but instead, an innovative theoretical paradigm that allows researchers to conceptualize both class politics and class consciousness in the global context, while being equally attentive to race, class, postcoloniality, and structural location within the capitalist system.