Ten Days That Shook the World · Question
How does Ten Days That Shook the World develop the theme of Workers' Control and Economic Transformation?
Answer
Ten Days That Shook the World by John Reed develops Workers' Control and Economic Transformation across the chapters the companion marks for this theme.
A major theme is the Bolshevik push for workers' control over industry, nationalization of banks, and a unified economic plan, presented as essential for dismantling capitalist exploitation and organizing production for the people's needs.
The chapter describes Factory-Shop Committees as spontaneous organisations created by workers to take over and run factories, illustrating the push for workers' control over industry.
Workers demanded control of factories, while the government and employers resisted, leading to strikes and sabotage.
The All-Russian Conference of Factory-Shop Committees calls for workers' control over industrial production.
Evidence in the book
- Popular Organisations
The chapter describes Factory-Shop Committees as spontaneous organisations created by workers to take over and run factories, illustrating the push for workers' control over industry.
- Background
Workers demanded control of factories, while the government and employers resisted, leading to strikes and sabotage.
- III: On the Eve
The All-Russian Conference of Factory-Shop Committees calls for workers' control over industrial production.
- IV: The Fall of the Provisional Government
The proclamation promises 'labor control over production' and the creation of a Soviet government, reflecting the Bolsheviks' commitment to workers' control.
- V: Plunging Ahead
Bolsheviks assert control over state apparatus, appointing commissars and facing sabotage from unions.
- VII: The Revolutionary Front
Decrees on a workers' militia, housing requisition, and freight car unloading aim to reorganize urban life and distribution, while the question of workers' control of industry is postponed.
- Counterrevolution
The bank strike and the Bolshevik threat to open banks by force highlight the economic challenges of the new regime.
- IX: Victory
The victorious proletarian army and Red Guards symbolize workers' control, with the old workman claiming Petrograd as 'mine.'
