ABSTRACT
This chapter relies upon articles penned by communists and sympathizers who worked at Stollwerck to investigate the experience of factory surveillance. A growing body of scholarship demonstrates that gender relations influence a wide array of work-related issues, including gender segregation, wage disparities, the construction of workspaces, and the use of coercion to promote preferred behaviours. Drawing on this literature, the chapter discusses communists' allegation that Stollwerck deployed surveillance against female employees and how employees experienced and resisted surveillance. Contending that rationalization caused long-term structural unemployment, eroded working conditions, and undermined workers' rights, communists were among the loudest critics of the new production methods. Given that the majority of Stollwerck's workforce was female, gender relations categorically informed surveillance practices at the factory. By decentring power and situating power dynamics within workers' everyday experiences, moments of resistance come to light. Denouncing fellow employees and exposing alleged moles, the cell subverted Stollwerck's surveillance by deploying its own surveillance tactics.
