‘The Impossible Fordist Baggage of Latin American Anarcho-syndicalism’ – a response

In response to Ben Debney’s recent article, ‘The Fordist Baggage of Anarcho-Syndicalism’, Guilherme Falleiros, Katiuscia Galhera, and Guilherme Nicolau highlight some historical and contemporary manifestations of anarcho-syndicalist organising in Latin-America, and especially Brazil. The authors argue that these experiences confound Debney’s argument that anarcho-syndicalism has been left out-moded by the changing face of capitalist labour forms, because Latin-America has never been under a Fordist paradigm, and because anarcho-syndicalist activists in this ‘Global South’ context are, and have been, primarily concerned with organising in the sphere of ‘immaterial work’, as well as emphasising political repertoires of ‘self-management, mutualism, and mutual aid’.

‘The Impossible Fordist Baggage of Latin-American Anarcho-syndicalism’