{{Short description|Form of political and economic organization}}
{{about|the institution|the 1921 American political group|Workers' Council of the United States|the 1962 Nigerian trade union federation|Nigeria Workers' Council}}
{{distinguish|text=a [[Works council]], a shop-floor organisation}}
{{Socialism sidebar|related}}
A '''workers' council''', also called '''labour council''',<ref>{{cite book|title=[[Anarcho-Syndicalism: Theory and Practice]]|last=Rocker|first=Rudolf|year=2004|page=63|isbn=1902593928|publisher=AK Press}}</ref> is a type of [[council]] in a [[workplace]] or a [[Human settlement|locality]] made up of workers or of temporary and [[Recall election|instantly revocable]] delegates elected by the workers in a locality's workplaces.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Workers' Councils and the Economics of Self-Managed Society|last=Castoriadis|first=Cornelius|year=2014|isbn=9780981289762|publisher=Thought Crime Ink}}</ref> In such a system of political and [[Economy|economic]] organization, the workers themselves are able to exercise decision-making power. Furthermore, the workers within each council decide on what their agenda is and what their needs are. The council communist [[Anton Pannekoek]] describes shop-committees and sectional assemblies as the basis for workers' management of the  [[Secondary sector of the economy|industrial system]].<ref>{{Cite book|title=Workers' Councils|last=Pannekoek|first=Anton|publisher=Communistenbond Spartacus|year=1946|location=Wageningen, Netherlands}}</ref> A variation is a '''soldiers' council''', where soldiers direct a [[mutiny]]. Workers and soldiers have also operated councils in conjunction (like the 1918 German ''Arbeiter- und Soldatenrat''). Workers' councils may in turn elect delegates to central committees, such as the [[Congress of Soviets]].

Supporters of workers' councils (such as [[Council communism|council communists]],<ref>{{cite web|last=Mattick|first=Paul|date=1967|title=Workers' Control|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/mattick-paul/1967/workers-control.htm|access-date=2023-07-27|website=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref> [[Libertarian socialism|libertarian socialists]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite book|last1=Albert|first1=Michael|title=Looking Forward: Participatory Economics for the Twenty First Century|last2=Hahnel|first2=Robin|publisher=South End Press|year=1991|isbn=0-89608-405-1|location=Cambridge, MA|pages=9|language=en}}</ref> [[Leninism|Leninists]],<ref name=":2">{{cite book|last=Lenin|first=Vladimir|title=The State and Revolution|isbn=978-1795754613|publisher=The Leftist Public Domain Project|year=2019|language=en}}</ref>{{Primary source inline|date=December 2025}} [[Anarchism|anarchists]],<ref>{{cite web|title=A Brief History of Popular Assemblies and Worker Councils|url=https://theanarchistlibrary.org/library/morpheus-a-brief-history-of-popular-assemblies-and-worker-councils|access-date=2023-07-27|website=The Anarchist Library|language=en}}</ref> and [[Marxism|Marxists]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Smaldone|first=William|date=March 17, 2023|title=Otto Bauer and the Austro-Marxists Wanted a Socialist Revolution in Democracy|url=https://jacobin.com/2023/03/otto-bauer-austro-marxists-socialist-revolution-democracy-book-review|access-date=2023-07-27|website=[[Jacobin (magazine)|Jacobin]]|language=en-US}}</ref>) argue that they are the most natural form of [[Proletariat|working-class]] organization, and believe that workers' councils are necessary for the organization of a [[proletarian revolution]] and the implementation of an [[Anarchy|anarchist]] or [[communist society]].

The [[Paris Commune|Paris Commune of 1871]] became a model for how future workers' councils would be organised for revolution and socialist governance. Workers' councils have played a significant role in the [[Communism|communist]] revolutions of the 20th century. This was most notable in the lands of the [[Russian Empire]] (including [[Congress Poland]] and [[Latvia]]) in 1905, with the workers' councils ([[Soviet (council)|soviets]]) acting as labor committees which coordinated strike activities throughout the cities due to repression of trade unions. During the [[Revolutions of 1917–1923]], councils of socialist workers were able to exercise political authority. In the workers' councils organized as part of the [[German revolution of 1918–1919|1918 German revolution]], factory organizations such as the [[General Workers' Union of Germany]] formed the basis for region-wide councils.

==In Socialist Theory and Movements==
{{Anarchism sidebar|Theory}}
{{Left communism sidebar}}
{{Marxism sidebar|Related concepts}}

===Anarchism===
{{Main|Anarchism}}
Anarchists advocate for a [[stateless society]] based on horizontal [[Social organization#Collectivism and individualism|social organisation]] through voluntary federations of communes, with workers' councils and [[voluntary association]]s acting as the basic units of such societies. Early conceptions of this theory have come from the writings of French [[Anarchism|anarchist]] philosopher [[Pierre-Joseph Proudhon]]. His theory of [[Mutualism (economic theory)|mutualism]] envisioned a society organised through workers' councils, [[cooperative]]s, and other types of workers' associations.<ref>Alger, Abby Langdon; Martin, Henri (1877). ''A Popular History of France from the First Revolution to the Present Time''. D. Estes and C. E. Lauria. p. 189.</ref><ref name="AFAQ">The Anarchist FAQ Collective; McKay, Ian, ed. (2008/2012). ''An Anarchist Faq''. '''I/II'''. Oakland/Edinburgh: AK Press. {{ISBN|9781902593906|9781849351225}}. {{OCLC|182529204}}.</ref>

At the [[International Workingmen's Association|First International]], followers of Proudhon and the [[Collectivist anarchism|collectivists]] led by [[Mikhail Bakunin]] have endorsed the use of workers' councils both as a means for organising [[Class conflict|class struggle]] and for forming the structural basis of a future anarchist society.<ref>{{cite book|last=Avrich|first=Paul|title=The Russian Anarchists|year=2005|isbn=9781904859482|publisher=AK Press}}</ref> Writing for the French anarchist journal {{ill|The New Times (Paris)|lt=''The New Times''|fr|Les Temps nouveaux (journal)}}, Russian theorist [[Peter Kropotkin]] has praised the workers of Russia for using this form of organisation during the Revolution of 1905.<ref>{{cite web|last=McKay|first=Iain|date=July 11, 2019|title=Precursors of Syndicalism III|url=https://anarchism.pageabode.com/precursors-of-syndicalism-iii/|website=Anarchist Writers|language=en}}</ref>

Modern anarchists, such as proponents of [[participatory economics]], advocate for the use of workers' councils as a means for [[Participatory planning|participatory urban planning]] as well as [[Economic planning#Decentralized planning|decentralised planning]] of the economy.<ref>{{cite book|last=Albert|first=Michael|title=Parecon: Life after Capitalism|year=2004|isbn=185984698X|publisher=Verso Books}}</ref>

===Council Communism===
{{Main|Council communism}}
Council Communism  advocates for a system of workers councils ([[Soviet democracy|council democracy]]) to coordinate [[Class conflict|class struggle]]. [[Karl Marx]] described in [[The Civil War in France]] the [[Paris Commune]] as a system with [[indirect election]]s, where district assemblies select at any time [[Recall election|recall-able delegates]] to a higher assembly.<ref name="d895">{{cite book|last=Marx|first=Karl|title=The Civil War in France|chapter-url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1871/civil-war-france/ch05.htm|year=1871|chapter=The Paris Commune|quote="The rural communities of every district were to administer their common affairs by an assembly of delegates in the central town, and these district assemblies were again to send deputies to the National Delegation in Paris, each delegate to be at any time revocable and bound by the mandat imperatif (formal instructions) of his constituents. The few but important functions which would still remain for a central government were not to be suppressed, as has been intentionally misstated, but were to be discharged by Communal and thereafter responsible agents."|via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]] }}</ref> Council communists, such as the Dutch-German current of [[Left communism|left communists]], believe that their nature means that workers' councils do away with bureaucratic form of the state and instead give power directly to workers. Council communists view this organization of a revolutionary government as an [[Anti-authoritarianism|anti-authoritarian]] approach to the [[dictatorship of the proletariat]].<ref>{{cite journal|last=Muldoon|first=James|year=2021|title=After council communism: the post-war rediscovery of the council tradition|journal=Intellectual History Review|volume=31|issue=2|pages=341–362|doi=10.1080/17496977.2020.1738762|hdl=10871/120315|s2cid=216214616|hdl-access=free}}</ref> 

The council communists in the [[Communist Workers' Party of Germany]] advocated organizing "on the basis of places of work, not trades, and to establish a National Federation of Works Committees."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/reichenbach/1969/retrospect.htm|title=The KAPD in Retrospect|website=www.marxists.org}}</ref> The Central Workers Council of Greater Budapest occupied this role in the [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956]], between late October and early January 1957, where it grew out of local [[factory committee]]s.<ref name=":3">{{cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/history/etol/newspape/isj/1964/no018/nagy.htm|title=Balazs Nagy: Budapest 1956 - the Central Workers' Council (Autumn 1964)|website=Marxist Archive}}</ref>

===Orthodox Marxism===
====Leninism====
{{Main|Leninism}}
Marxist revolutionary [[Vladimir Lenin]] proposed that the dictatorship of the proletariat should come in the form of a [[soviet republic]] with [[democratic centralism]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Lenin|first=V. I.|author-link=Vladimir Lenin|orig-date=1905|chapter=Freedom to Criticise and Unity of Action|title=Lenin's Collected Works|publisher=[[Progress Publishers]]|date=1965|location=Moscow|volume=10|pages=442–443|url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1906/may/20c.htm|via=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210124192311/https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1906/may/20c.htm|archive-date=24 January 2021|access-date=30 November 2011}}</ref> He proposed that the socialist revolution should be led by a [[Vanguardism|revolutionary party]], which should seize state power and establish a [[socialist state]] based on soviet democracy. Lenin's model for the dictatorship of the proletariat is based on that of the [[Paris Commune]], and is meant to fulfil the task of suppressing the [[bourgeoisie]] and other [[counter-revolutionary]] forces, and "[[Withering away of the state|wither away]]" after the counter-revolution is fully suppressed and as the state institutions begin to "lose their political character".<ref name=":2"/>{{Primary source inline|date=December 2025}}

Some academics and socialists disputed the commitments [[Vladimir Lenin]] and [[Leon Trotsky]] had toward workers' councils after the [[Russian Revolution|Russian Revolution of 1917]], noting that workers' councils "were never meant to become a permanent political form of self-governance" and were therefore sidelined by the [[Communist Party of the Soviet Union|Communist Party]].<ref name=":1"/><ref>{{Cite journal|last1=Popp-Madsen|first1=Benjamin Ask|last2=Kets|first2=Gaard|date=2021-01-01|title=Workers' Councils and Radical Democracy: Toward a Conceptual History of Council Democracy from Marx to Occupy|url=https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/10.1086/711750|journal=Polity|language=en|volume=53|issue=1|pages=160–188|doi=10.1086/711750|hdl=2066/228676|s2cid=228852799|issn=0032-3497|hdl-access=free |url-access=subscription}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|last=Brown|first=Tom|date=2012|editor-last=wojtek|title=Lenin and workers' control|url=https://libcom.org/article/lenin-and-workers-control-tom-brown|access-date=2023-07-27|website=libcom.org|language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://jsis.washington.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Russian_Revolutions.pdf|title=Revolution in Russia and the Formation of the Soviet Union|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200112032206/https://jsis.washington.edu/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2018/02/Russian_Revolutions.pdf|archive-date=2020-01-12}}</ref> Some socialists have argued this as an example of the [[Bolsheviks]]' betrayal of socialist principles,<ref name=":1"/> while others have defended it as necessary for the social conditions at the time to maintain and advance the Revolution.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control: The State and Counter-Revolution|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/brinton/1970/workers-control/02.htm#fn12|access-date=2023-07-27|website=Marxist Archive}}</ref>

====Rosa Luxemburg====
{{Main|Rosa Luxemburg}}
Rosa Luxemburg was a vocal proponent of radical socialist democracy, and advocated for the revolution to be led by workers' and soldiers' councils.<ref>{{cite web|last=Luxemburg|first=Rosa|title=Our Program and the Political Situation|url=https://www.rosalux.de/stiftung/historisches-zentrum/rosa-luxemburg/our-program-and-the-political-situation|website=Rosa Luxemburg Stiftung}}</ref> She was also openly critical of the actions of the [[Bolsheviks]] in the Russian Revolution, arguing that their approach was anti-democratic and totalitarian.<ref name="marxists.org">{{cite book|author-first=Rosa|author-last=Luxemburg|chapter-url=http://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1918/russian-revolution/ch06.htm|title=The Russian Revolution|chapter=The Problem of Dictatorship|orig-date=1918|publisher=Workers Age Publishers|location=New York|date=1940|translator-first=Bertram|translator-last=Wolfe}}</ref>

==Historical examples==
At several times, both in [[Late modern period|late modern]] and in [[Contemporary history|recent history]], socialists and communists have organized workers' councils during periods of unrest. Examples include:

===Paris Commune===
The [[Paris Commune]] of 1871 ({{lang|fr|La Commune de Paris}}) was a revolutionary government that seized control of the city of [[Paris]], which governed the city for two months based on socialist principles through the combined efforts of [[Social democracy|social democrats]], [[Anarchism|anarchists]], [[Blanquism|Blanquists]], and [[Jacobin (politics)|Jacobins]].<ref>{{cite book|last=Rougerie|first=Jacques|title=La Commune de 1871|trans-title=The commune of 1871|year=2014|publisher=Presses universitaires de France|location=Paris|pages=58–60|isbn=978-2-13-062078-5|language=fr}}</ref> The commune was headed by the [[Commune Council (Paris)|Commune Council]] ({{langx|fr|conseil de la Commune}}),<ref>{{cite book|last=Tombs|first=Robert|title=The Paris Commune 1871|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=7mTJAwAAQBAJ&pg=PT74|year=2014|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-1-317-88384-5|page=74}}</ref> which was composed of delegates who were each subject to immediate [[Recall election|recall]] by their electors. The events of this period has been a significant influence on the development of [[Marxism|Marxist]] and anarchist political theory and revolutionary praxis. [[Friedrich Engels]] named the Paris Commune as the first example of a [[dictatorship of the proletariat]].<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/download/pdf/civil_war_france.pdf|title=The Civil War in France|website=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

===Strandza Commune===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Adrianople vilayet]], [[Ottoman Empire]] in [[Strandzha Commune|1903]]<ref>{{cite web|last=Tarinski|first=Yavor|title=The Commune and the Balkans: The Case of Bulgaria|url=https://freedomnews.org.uk/2022/06/06/the-commune-and-the-balkans-the-case-of-bulgaria/|website=Freedom News|date=6 June 2022|access-date=2023-08-28}}</ref>

===Russian Revolution of 1905===
[[File:Lev Trotsky 1906-3.3 V1.jpg|250x250px|thumb|The [[Saint Petersburg Soviet|Soviet of Workers' Deputies of St. Petersburg]] in 1905: [[Leon Trotsky]] in the center.]]
The [[Russian Revolution of 1905]] saw the spontaneous emergence of workers' councils (otherwise known locally as [[soviet (council)|''soviets'']]) in the [[Russian Empire]].<ref name="BrintonIntro">Maurice Brinton, pseud. (Christopher Agamemnon Pallis). The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control. (Orig: Solidarity UK, London, 1970), [http://www.spunk.org/texts/places/russia/sp001861/bolintro.html The Bolsheviks and Workers' Control introduction]</ref> Trotsky would assume a central role in the 1905 revolution<ref>"A prolific writer and a spellbinding orator, he was a central figure in the Russian Revolution of 1905 and the October Revolution of 1917,
the organizer and leader of the Red Army in the Russian Civil War, the heir apparent to Soviet leader Vladimir Lenin, and the arch enemy and then vanquished foe of Joseph Stalin in the succession struggle after Lenin's death".{{cite book|last1=Patenaude|first1=Betrand|title="Trotsky and Trotskyism" in The Cambridge History of Communism: Volume 1, World Revolution and Socialism in One Country 1917–1941|date=21 September 2017|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-21041-6|page=189|language=en}}</ref><ref>"He emerged from the revolution having acquired an enormous degree of popularity, whereas neither Lenin nor Martov had effectively gained any at all"{{cite book|last1=Lunacharsky|first1=Anatoly Vasilievich|title=Revolutionary Silhouettes|date=1968|publisher=Hill and Wang|page=61|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ptRoAAAAMAAJ|language=en}}</ref> and serve as Chairman of the Petersburg Soviet of Workers' Delegates in which he wrote several proclamations urging for improved [[Labor rights|economic conditions]], political rights and the use of [[strike action]] against the [[Russian Empire|Tsarist regime]] on behalf of workers.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Thatcher|first1=Ian D.|title=Trotsky|date=27 June 2005|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-134-57214-4|pages=1–264|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cU3yFMLm1voC&dq=trotsky+1905+st+petersburg+soviet&pg=PT39|language=en}}</ref>

====Revolution in Congress Poland====
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Poland]] during [[Revolution in the Kingdom of Poland (1905–1907)|1905]], ({{lang|pl|[[Workers' Councils in Poland|rady robotnicze]]}});<ref name=":0">{{cite book|title=Ours to Master and to Own: Workers' Control from the Commune to the Present|last=Ness|first=Immanuel|year=2011|isbn=978-1-60846-119-6|publisher=[[Haymarket Books]]}}</ref>

===Red Clydeside===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Glasgow]], Scotland during 1915 (''[[1915 Glasgow rent strikes|Rent Strikes]]'')<ref>{{cite web|date=2006|title=1915-1920: Red Clydeside and the shop stewards' movement|url=https://libcom.org/article/1915-1920-red-clydeside-and-shop-stewards-movement|access-date=2023-09-02|website=[[libcom.org]]|language=en}}</ref>

===Revolutions of 1917-1923===
====1917 Russian Revolution====
Councils such as the [[Petrograd Soviet]] were formed by striking workers to coordinate the revolution, exercising political power in the absence of the Tsar's governance.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.marxists.org/archive/pannekoe/1936/councils.htm|title=Workers Councils|last=Pannekoek|first=Antonie|website=[[Marxists Internet Archive]]}}</ref>

Despite Lenin's declarations that "the workers must demand the immediate establishment of genuine control, to be exercised by the workers themselves", on May 30, the [[Mensheviks|Menshevik]] minister of labor, Matvey Skobelev, pledged to not give the control of industry to the workers but instead to the state: "The transfer of enterprises into the hands of the people will not at the present time assist the revolution [...] The regulation and control of industry is not a matter for a particular class. It is a task for the state. Upon the individual class, especially the working class, lies the responsibility for helping the state in its organizational work."<ref name="CliffCh12">[[Tony Cliff]] ''Lenin 2'' Chapter 12 ''[http://www.marxists.org/archive/cliff/works/1976/lenin2/ch12.htm Lenin and Workers’ Control]'', section ''The Rise of Factory Committees''</ref><ref>Amosov et al. (1927) ''Oktiabrskaia Revoliutsiia i Fazavkomy'', vol. 1, p. 83. (published in Moscow)</ref> Council communists criticize the Bolsheviks for superseding the soviet democracy formed by the councils and creating a bureaucratic system of [[state capitalism]].{{cn|date=December 2025}}

====Makhno Movement, 1918-1921====
During the [[Russian Revolution]], the [[Revolutionary Insurgent Army of Ukraine]] led by [[Nestor Makhno]] established a [[Makhnovshchina|stateless territory]] in Eastern [[Ukraine]] on the principles of [[anarchist communism]]. The Makhnovists established a system of [[free soviets]] (''vilni rady''), which allowed workers, peasants, and militants to self-govern their communities through [[workers' self-management]] and send delegates to the [[Regional Congress of Peasants, Workers and Insurgents]].<ref>{{cite book|title=Nestor Makhno and Rural Anarchism in Ukraine|year=2020|isbn=978-0-74533-887-3|publisher=[[Pluto Press]]}}</ref>

====German Revolution, 1918-1919====
{{main|German workers' and soldiers' councils 1918–1919}}The '''German revolution of 1918–1919''', also known as the '''November Revolution''' ([[German language|German]]: ''Novemberrevolution''), was an uprising started by workers and soldiers in the final days of [[World War I]]. It quickly and almost bloodlessly brought down the [[German Empire]]. In its more violent second stage, the supporters of a [[parliamentary republic]] were victorious over those who wanted a Soviet-style [[Soviet republic|council republic]]. The defeat of the forces of the far left cleared the way for the establishment of the [[Weimar Republic]]. The key factors leading to the revolution were the extreme burdens suffered by the German people during the war, the economic and psychological impacts of the Empire's defeat, and the social tensions between the general populace and the aristocratic and bourgeois elite
*[[Germany]] during [[German revolution of 1918–1919|1918–1919]] ({{lang|de|räte}});<ref name=":0"/>

====Irish Revolutionary period====
During the [[Irish War of Independence]] & [[Irish Civil War]] a number of worker's councils were set up for various degrees of time, between 1919 - 1923. See: [[Irish soviets]].<ref>{{cite book|last1=Allen|first1=Kieran|title=1916: Ireland's Revolutionary Tradition|date=20 Jan 2016|publisher=Pluto Press|location=Ireland|isbn=978-0745336329|edition=1st }}</ref>

===Spanish Revolution===
The [[Spanish Revolution of 1936]] saw the creation of anarchist communes across much of Spain. These communes operated under the principle "[[from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs]]". Decision-making in the communes were conducted through workers' councils ({{lang|es|comités trabajadores}}).<ref>{{cite book|last=González Martínez|first=Carmen|year=1999|title=Guerra civil en Murcia. Un análisis sobre el poder y los comportamientos colectivos.|trans-title=Civil war in Murcia. An analysis of power and collective behaviors.|location=Murcia|publisher=[[University of Murcia]]|language=es|isbn=84-8371-096-X|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=G8xP3ZQnwFMC&q=colectividades+agrarias+castilla+la+mancha+porcentaje&pg=PA103|page=93|via=[[Google Books]]}}</ref>

===Post-Independence Algeria===
[[Algeria]], in the aftermath of the [[Algerian War]], oversaw the widespread practice of [[workers' self-management]]. This was subsequently suppressed by conservative forces in the country.<ref name=":0"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Greenland|first=Hall|title=After Independence, Algeria Launched an Experiment in Self-Managing Socialism|url=https://jacobin.com/2023/02/algeria-independence-self-management-socialism-democracy-coup|website=Jacobin|language=english}}</ref>

===Indonesian War of Independence===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Indonesia]] during [[Indonesian National Revolution|1945–1946]]<ref name=":0"/>

===1956 Hungarian Revolution===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Hungary]] during [[Hungarian Revolution of 1956|1956]] ({{lang|hu|szovjetek}})<ref name=":3"/>

===Protests of 1968===
====May '68====
During the [[May 68|May 1968 events in France]], "[t]he largest general strike that ever stopped the economy of an advanced industrial country, and the first ''[[Wildcat strike|wildcat general strike]]'' in history",<ref name="beginning">"[http://www.cddc.vt.edu/sionline/si/beginning.html The Beginning of an Era]", from ''[[Situationist International]]'' No 12 (September 1969). Translated by [[Ken Knabb]].</ref> the [[Situationist International|Situationists]], against the [[Trade union|unions]] and the [[French Communist Party]] that were starting to side with the [[Charles de Gaulle|de Gaulle]] government to contain the revolt, called for the formation of workers' councils ({{lang|fr|comités d'entreprise}}) to take control of the cities, expelling union leaders and left-wing bureaucrats, in order to keep the power in the hands of the workers with [[direct democracy]].<ref name="beginning"/>

===Solidarność riots, 1970===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*1970, ({{lang|pl|[[Workers' Councils in Poland|rady robotnicze]]}});<ref name=":0"/>

===Sri Lanka===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Sri Lanka]] during the 1970–75 [[United Front (Sri Lanka)|United Front]] government established [[Workers' Councils and Advisory Committees in Sri Lanka]].<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Goonewardena|first=Leslie|date=1975|title=Employees Councils and Self Management in Sri Lanka|journal=State|volume=1|pages=32–37}}</ref>

===Australia===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Australia]] during 1971–1980 and 1990<ref>{{cite book|title=New Forms of Worker Organization: The Syndicalist and Autonomist Restoration of Class Struggle Unionism|last=Ness|first=Immanuel|year=2014|pages=184–203|isbn=9781604869569|publisher=PM Press}}</ref>

===Processo Revolucionário Em Curso===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Portugal]] during [[Ongoing Revolutionary Process|1974–1976]]<ref name=":0"/>

===1979 Iranian Revolution===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Iran]] during [[Iranian Revolution|1978–1979]] ({{lang|fa|[[shura|shoras]]}});<ref>{{cite book|last=Poya|first=Maryam|title=Revolutionary Rehearsals|editor-first=Colin|editor-last=Barker|chapter=Iran 1979: Long live the Revolution! ... Long Live Islam?|year=2002|orig-year=1987|publisher=[[Haymarket Books]]|location=Chicago|isbn=1-931859-02-7|pages=143–149}}</ref>

===Solidarność Strike, 1980-1981===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*1980–1981 ({{lang|pl|[[Workers' Councils in Poland|rady robotnicze]]}});<ref name=":0"/>

===Canada===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Canada]] during 1981<ref name=":0"/>

===December 2001 Riots, Argentina===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[December 2001 riots in Argentina|2001]]<ref name=":0"/>

===Rojava Revolution===
{{Expand section|date=May 2025}}
*[[Democratic Autonomous Administration of North and East Syria|Rojava]] from 2012 onward<ref>A Small Key Can Open a Large Door: The Rojava Revolution (1st ed.). Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness. 4 March 2015. According to Dr. Ahmad Yousef, an economic co-minister, three-quarters of traditional private property is being used as commons and one quarter is still being owned by use of individuals...According to the Ministry of Economics, worker councils have only been set up for about one third of the enterprises in Rojava so far.</ref>

==See also==
{{Portal|Socialism|Communism|Anarchism|Organized labor}}
{{cols|colwidth=16em}}
*[[Dual power]]
*[[General assembly (Occupy movement)]]
*[[Grassroots]]
*[[Guild socialism]]
*[[Syndicate#Labor syndicates|Labor syndicate]]
*[[Murray Bookchin#Municipalism and communalism|Libertarian municipalism]]
*[[Popular assembly]]
*[[Revolutionary socialism]]
*[[Syndicalism]]
*[[Zapatista territories]]
{{colend}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{Commons category|Workers council}}
*[http://en.internationalism.org/node/621 Workers' Councils: The historically discovered form of the dictatorship of the proletariat]
*[https://www.marxists.org/archive/pannekoe/1947/workers-councils.htm#h17 Workers' Councils, Anton Pannekoek]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Workers' Council}}
[[Category:Workers' councils]]
[[Category:Anarchist theory]]
[[Category:Labour movement]]
[[Category:Mutualism (movement)]]
[[Category:Socialism]]