The Political Sociology of Workers’ Self-Management at Kazova, Turkey: From Unity to Fragmentation

• In Event: 4166 - Section on Marxist Sociology Refereed Roundtables (1 hour)
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: 2. What if We All Just Co-operate? Examining Labor from the Worker’s Perspective

Abstract

Kazova represents Turkey’s first experiment in workers’ self-management to exert a significant political influence in the neoliberal era. Based on fieldwork data, this article identifies four sets of factors that explain the emergence, fragmentation, and survival of the Kazova movement since 2013. First, Kazova workers spontaneously rose against unpaid labor practices, despite their unfamiliarity with working-class militancy inhibited through despotic and manipulative measures. Second, Kazova’s transformation into a self-management experiment beyond spontaneous organizing and corporate demands was strongly mediated through the involvement of external leadership dynamics, particularly left-wing intellectuals who provided Kazova workers with crucial organizational guidance. Third, the Gezi Park protests’ political conjuncture helped the Kazova movement to radicalize and strengthen its alliances, albeit only temporarily. Fourth, the Kazova movement has managed to survive political fragmentation, decreased support, and economic hardships, mainly thanks to the presence of a narrow leadership core driven by the principle of autonomous cooperative organizing.

Authors

• Efe Can Gurcan, Simon Fraser University

• Berk Mete