ABSTRACT
Democratic public ownership and control of the means of production and distribution' is neither democratic, nor is it sufficiently extensive. Between non-democratic private companies on the one hand and non-democratic public industries on the other, there is a very tiny island of half a dozen firms which claim to be 'common-ownership enterprises'. The Greater London Council Staff Association introduced an amendment to this resolution, reminding the Trade Union Congress (TUC) that industrial democracy is as necessary in public services as in the private sector, and urging 'the development of the principle of direct participation by public service workers'. Workers in the steel industry, for example, after fighting for the nationalisation - and re-nationalisation - of their industry, are now engaged in a two-fold struggle: to prevent the sale of profitable sections of the British Steel Corporation to private industry, and to extend their power over decision-making, which has so far been limited to an unsatisfactory system of appointed workers' directors.
