Sin Patrón: Stories from Argentina's Worker-Run Factories

by The Lavaca Collective, Naomi Klein (Foreword), Avi Lewis (Foreword)

The worker-run factories of Argentina offer an inspirational example of a struggle for social change that has achieved a real victory against corporate globalization. Lavaca is an Argentine editorial and activist collective. Naomi Klein is an award-winning journalist and author of No Logo. Avi Lewis is an author and filmmaker. Klein and Lewis co-produced The Take, a film about Argentina’s occupied factories.

Genres: Politics, Nonfiction, Latino, Labor, Latinx, Social Movements, History

320 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 2007

Reviews

[José-Antonio Orosco · Rating 5 out of 5]

A excellent first hand account of several of the worker's cooperatives in Argentina that took over their work places and started running things when the economy tanked. What several of them found out is that the biggest costs in the old system were paying for management bonuses and expenses. Really interesting experiments in participatory democracy and what ordinary people can do when handed the opportunity to organize themselves.

[Nicko · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was given this book by a friend, a sociologist writing a MA Thesis about cooperatives and capitalist-to-worker owned companies. He was also born and raised in Argentina. Explains to the phenomenon of closing capitalist firms converted into cooperatives that not only survive, but thrive! Good if you're interested in social movements, root initiatives and other of the kind.

Using the recuperated Forja factory as a microcosm of the larger Argentine piquetero movement, author Naomi Klein has done a brilliant job documenting the grassroots activism of marginalized workers in the wake of Argentina's dramatic economic collapse caused by years of IMF/World Bank structural adjustment programs and the corrupt presidency of Carlos Menem. Faced with abject poverty and state repression, the unemployed auto-parts workers of the Forja factory have occupied their abandoned workplace and transformed it into a successful cooperative, proving thus the power of labor solidarity. As such, the Forja factory, like all the recuperated factories, neighborhood assemblies, and independent media collectives in Argentina, provides an inspirational example of direct democracy, participatory economics, and horizontal social organizing. Besides being a David and Goliath story with real-world reverberations, as a compelling statement compelling portrait of blue-collar pride and self-esteem it is simply exquisite.

[Jacob Wilson · Rating 4 out of 5]

Inspiring, interesting, and a brisk read. Sin Patron is laid out as a serious if narratives and interviews which lay out the experiences of workers who cooperatised their emoloyers and experimented in worker self-management. 

Really valuable in developing strategic and tactical approaches to cooperative movements, union activism, and state advocacy. 

[Megan · Rating 1 out of 5]

This topic deserves a better book. Maybe I will write it.

[Ryan · Rating 3 out of 5]

Great topic and really interesting subject matter, though the book itself is a little bit underwhelming... the middle chapters highlight case studies of different worker-led organizations that reclaimed factories from this corrupt system, but after a while, they all start to read more or less the same and it's unclear what kinds of different lessons or insights ought to be taken from each one. Think the book takes a very journalistic approach of interviewing people who were there and letting them tell their own stories, but I think all of this would've benefitted from just a little bit of editorial commentary or broader social insight to tie everything together.

[Luke · Rating 4 out of 5]

The collective's introduction describes the debt-fueled consolidation and abdication of ownership in Argentina precipitating collapse in 2001; the accounts and interviews that follow reveal workers occupying their places of employment out of desperation for missed paychecks and to keep owners from stealing the equipment before bankruptcy, and finding a path in the face of violence and corruption to operate the facilities themselves, with the aid of national economic turmoil and popular support for small-scale intermediate options between nationalization and global capitalism.

[Kate · Rating 4 out of 5]

Informative in depth look at a few case studies with some decent context notes

[Davidwmolson]

A worthwhile look at other business and economics.
Only an imperfect look at their nation's own 'Great Depression' that necessitated the workers' steps to reclaim their workplaces.

[Maaret klaber · Rating 3 out of 5]

this is a a very interesting story about the ocuppation of bankrupt factories that are restarted by the workers it is a bit repetitive though

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some interesting stories -- I'm interested in how generalizable the model of worker-owned collectives are.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

Typos galore but I have a much better understanding of workers' rights now.