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Notes
An earlier version of this article appeared (in Spanish) in Revista OSAL (Observatorio Social Latinoamericano), vol. 9, no. 24 (October 2008). English translation by Victor Wallis.
1. Line from a popular song from 2002, sung since then by workers, neighbors, youth, and students in Neuquén during demonstrations in support of the Zanón workers.
2. [Ed. note: As of 2005, 15,000 workers recovered about 200 enterprises after declaring bankruptcy or confronting eviction, and turned them into cooperatives. “Recovered” enterprises include textile, tile and chocolate factories, slaughterhouses, and a fashionable hotel in downtown Buenos Aires.]
3. Such as Eduardo Galeano, Osvaldo Bayer and James Petras.
4. “The Zanón struggle is on two fronts: economic, against the bosses, and for leadership of the workers, against the union bureaucracy” (Rebón Citation2007: 138).
5. The CGT (Confederación General del Trabajo), founded in 1930, is the oldest federation. It is Peronist, is recognized by the state, and includes the major industrial and service unions. The CTA (Central de los Trabajadores Argentinos) is an alternative federation founded in 1991 without state recognition, and includes teachers and government workers. Its political orientation oscillates between the social doctrine of the Church and social-democratic tendencies. See Cotarelo Citation(2007).
6. De la Rúa was elected in 1999; his regressive economic policies unleashed a popular revolt. Since the election of Néstor Kirchner in May 2003, and coinciding with national and international economic recovery, there has been a significant process of cooptation and institutionalization of many social, political, and human rights organizations.
7. [Ed. note: In the context of massive unemployment, high prices, and meager federal public assistance following the privatization of Yacimientos Petrolíferos Fiscales – the state oil enterprise that is also the biggest employer in the region – the inhabitants of Cutral-Có and the neighboring city of Huincul rebelled twice, in June 1996 and April 1997. These uprisings, considered to be the starting point of a broader national mobilization, popularized roadblocks and pickets as basic methods of organization and struggle.]
8. For a detailed explanation of this process, see Aiziczon Citation(2007).
9. Piquetero, derived from piquete (picket-line), is used to name the brigades of strikers blockading highways through the cortes de ruta. (See note 7.)
10. For Gramsci these workers' councils were a manifestation, at the factory level, of “dual power” (Gramsci Citation1998: 16). See also Werner & Aguirre (Citation2002: 67).
11. “The primordial importance of the committee resides, however, in the fact that it becomes the general staff for the entry into combat of sectors of the working class that the unions are habitually incapable of mobilizing … From the moment that the committee appears, a condition of de facto dual power is established in the factory. It is a quintessential situation of transition, because it harbors two irreconcilable regimes, the capitalist and the proletarian” (Trotsky Citation2008: 73).
12. This theme is developed in depth in Gilly Citation(1986).
13. The newspaper Nuestra Lucha was another one of the extraordinary initiatives of this union. Its aim was to bring the movement for recovered factories together with all the anti-bureaucratic internal commissions and bodies of delegates. The publication drew support from intellectuals and journalists of varied political perspectives.
14. This slogan – “Si tocan a uno, nos tocan a todos” – emerged during the first Conference (Encuentro) of Recovered Factories, in opposition to the “sálvese quien pueda” attitude (“look out for number one”) of the dominant neoliberal ideology.
15. This solidarity would come up again and again, as when the ceramists made a plaque in honor of piqueteros Maximiliano Kosteki and Darío Santillán, who had been murdered by the police.
16. This coordinadora included ceramists, unemployed workers, health workers, teachers, construction workers, human rights and student organizations, and prominent local personalities, as well as left parties.
17. Schoolteacher and union activist killed on April 2007 by a severe head wound from a tear gas canister launched by a Neuquén province police officer against the car carrying striking teachers back to the city after their eviction from a failed corte de ruta. Under pressure, both the CGT and the CTA enacted a 24-hour general strike demanding justice and the resignation of Neuquén's governor. In Neuquén the teachers carried on a strike of more than 50 days.
18. This active support by the ceramists can be seen both in donations to the fondo de lucha (struggle fund) and in their constant political activity of solidarity and encouraging coordination.
19. This theme is developed in Meyer Citation(2006).
20. The campaign extends to small communities in the interior of Neuquén province, such as Cutral Có and Chos Malal, among others. In the city of Neuquén itself, a major event takes place almost every week, with demonstrations at government buildings. During the 23rd National Conference of women, which was held in August 2008 in Neuquén, an event inside the factory was organized by the conference, in support of workers' control and of the rights of women workers.