ALGERIANS DISCUSS PROBLEMS OF SELF-MANAGED INDUSTRY
ee By Henri Dumoulin
On March 15 four precongresses were held at. oran, Algiers, Constantine and Annaba [formerly Bone] as. part of the preparation.for the National Congress of. the. Self-Managed Socialist Industrial Sector scheduled for March 28-30 in Algiers,
The. democratic: discussions(1) conducted by the workers on pro-. blems encountered in their struggle to forge the socialist revolution in their country in its transition from colonialism to socialism constitute, with their wealth of lessons, a phenomenon and a practical experience of the greatest importance’ for all. Marxists and revolutionists, :
‘As an eyewitness at one of the precongresses, I should like to indicate the most outstanding problems, those raised.most often by the delegates, ‘who were democratically elected by their fellow workers in all the self-managed industrial enterprises of Algeria,
With the achievement of independence, it is clear that the class struggle, far from coming to an end, has been developing with intense sharpness, The socialist sector, to survive and'to. become rooted, -has had to conduct a permanent struggle against all its enemies and adversaries, :
Constituting at present twelve per cent of the workers in. indus= . try and representing twenty per cent of industrial production, the socialist sector is still minor in relation to the private sector, Inevitably it has had to face intense competition.
The participants at the congress did not fail to emphasize this, Above all they explained, only too often the private sector has. found powerful allies within the administrations from top to bote tom... Here are some examples: ,
"The Customs should favor us in things involving supplies and not obstruct our road with barriers of red tape. Let them concern themsélves instead with protecting us from foreign competitors. 2%
"The ONRA [National Office of Agrarian Reform], the Waters and Forests, the Bridges and Roads, the ,communaL administrations, have not even facilitated our work. . . .
"The EGA [Electric Company] s Should Stop demanding payment of bilis. » . Of the former bosses, . (T)thoe basis for. the discussion was provided by the Draft Program furn= ishcd by the Political Bureau of the FLN [Front de Libération Nation= ale], published in the Algiers daily Le Peuple March 513,
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"The communal administration owes us so many millions, the ONRA so many millions, this or that administration so many millions. ... how do you expect us to meet our budget?"
The list of completely justified complaints like these is a long one. It clearly testifies to the character of most of the state structures,
If some of these structures are proletarian (the workers! and peasants! character of the Ben Bellist government, which is placing . its weight in the socialist direction, can no longer be doubted to-_ day), the majority of the state structures continue to be marked by. the heritage of colonialism, are shot through with bureaucratic defects; and, far from serving the socialist revolution, offer support to the old’ order or, more precisely, to the neocolonialist road.
Thus it was with reason that the delegates stressed the neces~= sity to completely change the present administrative structures in order to eliminate the elements and methods that are injurious to the development of the socialist revolution,
A first step in this direction was the creation of bodies charged with reinforcing and defending the socialist sector against the private, Loosening the brakes. and removing obstacles of all kinds blocking the road, , Some Suggested Changes
Among the motions adopted at Algiers and Oran, the workers demanded in particular:
® The creation of a Buying Center, with regional branches, to take charge of raw material supplies, administrative steps and gales of products from the self-managed industrial sector,
®- The : regroupment, in the form of complexes, of medium and. small enterprises in the same branch of activity. ;
© The assignment of priority to the socialist sector in govern-~ ment buying. :
® Support to and strengthening of the communal and regional councils of animation of the socialist sector,
® The creation of a bank for the socialist sector which would help strengthen it and make it more independent of the private capltalist seotor,
An important aspect of the debates, which deserves strong empha~ sis, was that none of the delegates questioned the system of self government itself,
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The system of workers management, an example of the democratic, socialist management of enterprises by the producers themselves, as defined by the decrees of March 1963, has thus become established as a particularly rich contribution of the Algerian Revolution,
On this subject, the participants were critical of the too often incorrect or misunderstood application of the March decrees,
Some of them explained with lucidity how the relatively low level of education and political experience of the workers increased the difficulty of organizing democratic management. “We must care~ fully learn how," they said, "to put self-management into practice," . 2. Others underlined the importance of the role played by the party [the FIN] and the UGTA [General Union of the Algerian Workers] in educating the workers,
In light of this, on the initiative of the national secretariat of the UGTA,- March 22, the anniversary of the March decrees, has. been designated as a national day for explanation of the decrees, OS
Problem of Remuneration
A warm debate followed on the: problem of remuneration for the workers in the socialist sector, This controversy has been going on for some time. The Political Bureau's Draft Program indicated it quite clearly:(2)
"Remuneration is understood to mean everything that a worker receives in exchange for his labor. Remuneration is divided, in the case of enterprises under self-management, into two main parts:
"(a) Wages and output bonuses.
"(b) The surplus remaining after the enterprise has settled all its financial obligations in relation to the public collectivity
“The problem of the division of the surplus aroused the mést discussion, even the most polemics. Its complexity is a result of the clash of several elements:
"(1) <A political element whichis, in our opinion, the funda-mental element. In Algeria, at the present time, a capitalist and socialist sector coexist, The problem today is to strengthen the socialist sector so that it can develop and become the strongest economically, What would happen if, after the promises and the de~ crees, the workers were told (the workers could be led to accept it) ‘that all the profits must be reinvested? The disillusionment would be great, The workers would no longer feel that they are the pro-
(2) te Peuple March 11,
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ducers, as the decrees say, but mere wage workers for the state, Moreover, on the économic level, one of the consequences to be expected is that the workers would become disinterested in their jobs, bringing about a considerable drop in production. ...
"(2) A sociological element: Is it just to divide up the profits among the workers of an enterprise while hundreds of thousands of unemployed have nothing and enterprises are still closed because of lack of funds to reopen them? Isn't there a risk of making the workers appear to enjoy privileges under the regime, leading to a growth of the contradictions between the workers of the industrial sector and those of the agricultural sector who are in general less | well paid? —
"(3) An element of economic theory: The economists of the socialist countries, with but few exceptions, start from the fact. _ that industry must constitute the main source for accumulation, coming to two conclusions:
(a) The entire surplus must be reinvested, thus excluding the possibility for an enterprise to distribute even a minimum part of the profits, . .
‘{(b) “Thé’ surplus must™bé"placed at’ the disposition of the state, thus banning the enterprise from investing as it pleases any” _part of the profits remaining to it, ; “
"without disputing the importance of the material stimulant," they hold that the problem must be regulated by other means, the granting of productivity bonuses, for example, which we ¢an control.
"Tt is thus difficult to settle the problem. What seems indicated is to place this Pésponsibility with the Workers, involving as it does the problem of doctrines and measures related to economic efficiency, and let the workers decide freely and democratically what should be done with the balance due them insofar as there is a balance."
Various Views
a A number of clashing concepts, in fact, appear to be involved, One of them has been defended by the UGTA(3). In a January 5 resolu~ tion the National Excecutive Committee "underlines the necessity of reopening profitable enterprises and integrating them into the selfmanaged sector, through the investment, if need be, of profits realized by the socialist sector, This formula, although it-.deprives a category of workers of certain immediate advantages, will have the merit of creating new jobs and lowering the unemployment of other workers,"
3 yp svolution et Travaille January 9, | | a
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And in its editorial of February 6, Révolution et Travail declared: "The workers of the self-managed industrial sector who are the vanguard of the toiling masses have shown still more concretely their solidarity by voluntarily abandoning their profits in order to equip and modernize their plants and create new jobs,"
It appears, however, that the UGTA rectified its position later, since M, Belahmissi declared, in the name of the National Secretariat of the UGTA, in the March 12 Révolution et Travail: "The mode of | remuneration ought to be defined as follows: a fixed guaranteed wage, plus productivity and output bonuses according to job scales and work teams, The balance of the revenue of the enterprise or undertaking, after deduction of all the advances made to the workers, of obligations to the state, and costs of production, should be at the free disposition of the workers as a whole, who can either distribute it among the members or reinvest it in the social services of the enterprise or undertaking,"
Another view of the problem has been expressed by the weekly Révolution Africaine in the March 14 issue: “The chapter concerning remuneration of the workers would gain by posing the question of social benefits which preoccupies the workers so much and by clearly insisting on linking the increase of productivity to improvements in the workers! standard of living.
"Self-management, by interesting the workers morally and materially in the management of the enterprises, constitutes the most pro- , pitious framework for likewise increasing investments and improving profitability. oe
"To entrust the management of the enterprises with the workers, including an increasing part of the revenue to be freely distributed by their collective, is a condition for assuring a responsible attitude among them, {Emphasis in original, ]
And this weekly cites in support of its reasoning the success of the Yugoslav experience,
At the Oran precongress, the delegate of the Oran Communal Coun cil of Self-management, declared that with the exception of two enter- “prises, the Workers Assembly of the city favored dividing a part of the profits among the workers in accordance with the March decrees,
A discussion took place with regard to this. Finally a motion was passed referring the decision on this ‘subject to the National Congress,
New Questions Arise
At the present stage, certain obscure points still remain in the debate. In fact, it was felt that it would be inexpedient to distinguish and define’ them with creater clarity.
~ -: (1) ‘The part of the revenue reserved for the workers; and it is evident that the principle of material: interest must be respected, in conformity, moreaver, with. the spirit of the March decrees.”
(2) The part of the revenue allocated to the national oollectivity which constitutes a not unimportant.source for the National Investment Fund which will help to absorb little by little the still remaining chronic unemployment, 8 ma jor difficulty for the Revotution,
Beginning from there, new questions are ‘posed: How are ‘the pro= portions of this division to-be established?- Who is to decide the amount of the part earmarked for investment? And how is the planning of these investments and of the economy to be organized in a spirit. in accordance with the democratic socialism advocated up to now by the Algerian. Revolution? -
These -are the new questions whioh the "participants at the coming congress will have to examine,
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