The purpose of this article is to discuss the concept of autonomy (occupied factories) and social control (participation in the State apparatus) of and by workers, after decades of social experiments, since the 1990s. It notes that these experiences, instead of strengthening the struggle for the emancipation of work, have led to a growing subordination of workers to the interests of capital and to the loss of previously acquired partial advantages. This situation is aggravated with the destructive structural and production crisis that characterizes the capitalist system, questioning the foundations of the concepts of autonomy, control and democratic social participation that guide them. Self-determination of workers therefore involves true autonomy and social participation, and according to the discussion proposed by the article, these cannot be achieved under the dominant system.
Worker autonomy; Social participation; Social control; Structural crisis of capital; Human emancipation