Notes on Pannekoek's "Workers' Councils"
The main parts of "Workers Councils" was written by Anton Pannekoek during the II World War as an effort to sum up and present the German-Dutch Council Communist positions regarding the history of capitalism and the experiences of the working class through the changing periods of its development until then.
The original Dutch edition was published in 1946 under the pseudonym P. Aartsz as 'De arbeidersraaden' by the Communistenbond Spartacus in Amsterdam.
The English edition was prepared by Pannekoek himself already during the war, but did not reach public before parts of it was printed as supplements to the Australian periodical 'Southern Advocate of Workers Councils' in 1948. For the English edition Pannekoek made several changes and additions to original Dutch version. In 1950 the complete English edition was published as a book by J.A. Dawson and his 'Workers Literature Bureau' in Melbourne, Australia.
The Parts 1-3 was written in 1941-42. Part 4 was written in 1944 and Part 5 was written in 1947.
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The story about the English edition of Pannekoeks "Workers' Councils" is closely related to the story given by Steve Wright in his article on 'Left Communism In Australia: J.A. Dawson and the "Southern Advocate For Workers' Councils".
Some further details from Dawson's ' Southern Socialist International Digest' (SSID) and 'Southern Advocate for Workers Councils - An International Digest' (SAWC) can be added here:
Anton Pannekoek naturally looked for publishers in England and America, but did not find any immediately. Paul Mattick was able to keep alive his small publishing activity in New York for a few years after the war. In 1948 Mattick did bring out an English version of Pannekoeks 'Lenin as Philosopher' in New York, but this was one of the last publishing efforts of 'New Essays' and he was unable to give out the "Workers' Councils" too.
As J.A. Dawson and his bulletin the 'Southern Socialist International Digest' in 1945-46 demonstrated a critical and independent positions in relation to the the SPGB/SPA - mostly in the directions of the IWW, but with some solid insistence on 'marxism' and some interests in 'council communism' also - Paul Mattick suggested Pannekoek to contact Dawson for eventual publishing of the "Worker's Councils".
Thus in autumn of 1946 Pannekoek wrote a letter to Dawson about the "Workers' Councils" - presenting a short outline of the book and the problems of finding ways to have the English version printed in Europe and America. Dawson brought the letter in SSID no 26 of December 1946, but only as an advertisement for others to react on.
As this letter shows Pannekoek had already at this time prepared an English version different from the original Dutch version:
"We have an English translation, or better, a version (it has been written separately) of it ready, and are now investigating the possibilities of having it published"
The letter also gives a short summary of the contents revealing at this moment a plan for only four parts:
1. The Task,
2. The Fight,
3. The Foe and
4. The War.
As for the problems of finding a way of publishing the book Pannekoek explained:
"I fear that an independent middle-class social-minded publisher perhaps would shrink back when he sees that the contents, though written in a mild style, are so entirely uncompromising working class radicalism. And I do not know of any radical-minded group in England who could do it. . . . Surely all leaders and groups who aspire at power for themselves will try to keep down such a propaganda, esp. by a conspiration of silence about everything that appears from our side."
Although Dawson did not at first react to take up the challenge himself, the contacts to Mattick and Pannekoek continued and his bulletin evolved more and more towards Council Communist positions.
In SSID no 29 of February 7, 1947, Dawson brought extracts from a new letter from Pannekoek with the following introduction:
"Dr. Pannekoek writes me that he and his fellow Dutch workers have now hopes that their book (se S.S.R December issue) will be published by a leading publishing house in London. Inter alia, he mentions that Comrade Harris, Newport, Socialist Party of Great Britain, has contacted him and offered an assurance of help by the Party in furthering the matter if negotiations with the particular publishing house fall through."
In the parts of the letter published by Dawson Pannekoek himself stressed that
"The book on Workers' Councils will appear under a pseudonym, for several reasons, a.o., that the ideas therein contained are not personally formed by me, but grown out of discussions of the entire group."
Further on Pannekoek announced to send
"a number of theses shortly summarising the viewpoints of of our group of T.C. [should probably be I.C. for International Communists] (not officially adopted in a session, but written down by myself), strongly influenced by what we experienced after the war."
The theses referred to here were the 'Theses on on the fight of the working class against capitalism' which was later to be published and used by Dawson as declaration of principles accompanying the renaming of the bulletin to "Southern Advocate for Workers' Councils - An international Digest" from no. 33 of May 1947.
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The plans for an English edition of "Workers' Councils" to be published in London did not succeed.
In SAWC no. 39 of November 2, 1947 Dawson then made the announcement that he would undertake the publishing of "Worker's Councils":
"In the first issue of 1948, or, at least, the one following, will commence the printing in the English language, for the first time, of the book published in Holland by the SPARTACUS organisation for Workers’ Councils, which was mentioned early in this year in our first issue under the present title of Southern Advocate for Workers’ Councils, which combined the full diagnosis of capitalism and the prescription for self-cure by the workers.
Efforts to print this book in England have been thwarted by the dollar crisis and ... shortage of paper .....
In Australia we are faced with difficulties also. We KNOW that they can be overcome IF WE GET CASH SUPPORT.
We intend to issue the book in monthly parts as a supplement to this paper, and also to print a few thousand copies extra to hold each month till the book is finished, and then have them bound into the full book for circulation in U.S.A., Britain, etc. Our readers can save their monthly part supplements and have them bound when completed.
I am a poor hand at asking for CASH, but I appeal to you, one and all, to help in this imperative aid to the workers to KNOW HOW TO HELP THEMSELVES to freedom and security."
And following this Dawson published a letter from Pannekoek dated October 12, 1947 saying a.o.:
"I thank you very much for your letter of Sept. 16th, wherein you consent to my proposal to publish The Workers’ Councils, eventually; in parts as part of your monthly. So I send to-morrow the first part of the MSS. by sea-mail. It will take probably some months to reach you. . . .
When you publish it I must make one very strict condition: That proof-reading is made with utmost care. Because of the distance I, of course, cannot make the proofreading myself; so I cannot take care that everything is correct. So I have carefully scrutinised the manuscript, that every letter and every comma is correct; you know that in English the omission or displacement of one comma can entirely change or revert the meaning of a sentence. So I must be sure that when the book is printed it is carefully corrected, so that no error remains. I know how difficult it is with a review, where time is pressing; in the Five Theses you printed there is found in Thesis 5 such an error of printing: "The fight of the working class" has been changed into "the right of the working class"; but I assume that every reader will have understood what is meant. . . ."
With the next issue of the SAWC no. 40 of December 1947 Dawson made a very strong focus on Pannekoek and the Dutch Council Communist positions.
First of all Dawson reprinted the "Five Theses" from no. 33 - now correcting the error pointed out by Pannekoek.
This issue also brought Anton Pannekoeks short presentation of "The 'Group of International Communists' in Holland" - originally printed in the bulletin Left, London, October 1947.
And in addition to these this issue also brought a short article on "Workers' Councils" from the Dutch bulletin Spartacus of 1st February 1947.
As for the plan about Pannekoeks book Dawson made this small note on p. 5:
"Remember, we hope to, early in 1948, commence the publication of Workers' Councils so soon as the MSS. arrives from Anton Pannekoek. This book of hundreds of pages was outlined in No. 31 and 32 issues of this journal."
And following the Pannokoek-article on the G.I.C. Holland Dawson commented on p. 8:
"The book mentioned above, Lenin as a Philosopher, is now in process of being printed in U.S.A. by Paul Mattick.
The book, The Workers’ Councils, is to be printed in English by ourselves in Australia, and issued in monthly parts as a supplement to Southern Advocate for Worker’s Councils, so soon in 1948 as the manuscript comes to us from Holland. Dr. Anton Pannekoek told us he was posting it be sea mail last month (See last issue, No. 39 – Editorial).
Extra copies will be printed on the best better book paper that may be available, and will be put aside to be bound in permanent book form when the whole book is completed."
In SAWC no. 41 of January 1948 Dawson celebrated "The Centenary of the 'Communist Manifesto'" with an article drawing up the historical development from Marx's time and contrasting both the Social Democrats as the Communist Parties with the position of 'critical communists' or 'the revolutionary Left Communists' advocating the abolition of wage labor and the self-government of the workers on the basis of workers councils.
In this article Dawson once more announced the publication of "Workers' Councils" and in the text he incorporated Pannekoeks short outline for the book as printed earlier in December 1946
In SAWC no. 42 of February 1948 there is a print version of an Address given by Dawson to the League For Freedom Forum on January 4 on a 'Marxist View' on Russia. During this Dawson made the following remarks:
". . . . . .
The working class must gain the understanding to demand, and to organise for, common ownership, with its freedom and self-rule. That can not be do - as Pannekoek so clearly points out in the Western Socialist (Nov., 1947) - "without fulfilling conditions and shouldering duties of ACTIVE PRACTICE and fight to build up the necessary organisational forms in which the workers themselves are active participants.
Anton Pannekoek has an article printed in the Western Socialist (Boston W.S.P., USA), explaining theoretically the difference between Public Ownership and Common Ownership, in which it is stressed that the form of political organisation appropriate to a working class liberatin itself from exploitation cannot be devised beforehand:
'Such bodies of delegates, for which the name of WORKERS' COUNCILS has come into use, form what may be called the political organisation appropriate to a working class liberating itself from exploitation. They cannot be devised beforehand, they must be shaped by the practical activity of the workers themselves when they are needed."
See Workers' Councils, to be issued in parts, beginning next issue.
. . . . . . "
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The plan for serial publication of "Workers' Councils" as supplements to the "Southern Advocate for Workers' Councils" was most likely made out of financial and practical reasons. By setting up and printing the book in smaller parts Dawson would be able to stretch out both workload and payments for printing over time.
The actual publication of "Workers' Councils" in English started with the SAWC no. 43 of March 1 1948 with the following announcement:
"We present the first portion of Workers' Councils with this issue as a Free Supplement.
We NEED paid subscribers, however, to get All the parts of this important book into workers' hands.
Send subscriptions to - J.A. Dawson, Box 573 D, Melbourne, Australia."
Together with this first portion of "Workers' Councils" - pages 1 to 32 - the same issue of the SAWC also brought an add for Pannekoeks English edition of "Lenin as Philosopher" published by New Essays in New York.
The SAWC no. 44 held the same announcement as no. 43, but - as revealed in the following issue - without an actual supplement.
With the SAWC no. 45 of May-June 1948 followed the second portion with the following remarks:
"Owing to finance running short we have been compelled to forego out regular monthly issues, and present this issue to cover two months to accompany the second instalment of Anton Pannekoek's "Workers' Councils", pages 33 to 64. We may have to make next issue one for July-August, which will include a third instalment of "Workers' Councils."
Readers who missed the first instalment can obtain copies from Box 573-D, Melbourne, Australia. Enclose postage."
The SAWC no 47 of November 1948 then opened with the the following alarming announcement:
"TO OUR READERS
We have LITTLE CASH to continue.
Hence, in future, a smaller paper issued at longer intervals and only a limited number of supplement parts of "Workers' Councils".
There will be 1000 copies of complete book available when completed for sale and distribution.
We are sorry to RETRENCH, but we have exhausted our funds and printing costs are too heavy
-----:-----
PERSONAL
J.A. Dawson is experiencing a personal economic struggle and cannot devote as much time as before to bringing out this paper."
The last no. 48 of the Southern Advocate for Workers Councils then appeared in May 1949.
So the original plan for the English edition of "Workers' Councils" as serial supplements to the SAWC was failed after only few publications. The workload and the expenses for having the book printed seems to have been to heavy.
But although the SAWC stopped Dawson did finish the work.
In 1950 the printing was finished and "Workers' Councils" was published by Dawson's small publishing house in Melbourne, Australia.
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The English edition of "Workers' Councils" differ from the original Dutch edition from 1946.
Already during the War Pannekoek prepared the English edition as a separate version. The third Part of the Dutch edition entitled 'The Thought' was omitted, sections of it were incorporated in the remaining Parts. In 1947 Pannekoek added the fifth Part to complete the book with some of the perspectives following the II World War.
Chapters from the original Dutch Part on 'The Thought' have later been translated into French by the ICO and published in "Les Conseils Ouvrier", Bélibaste, Paris 1974. These chapters are also included in a Danish version in "Arbejderråd", Rhodos, København 1976.
The English edition from 1950 was available in left circles until the beginning of the 60'ies.
Parts One and Two were reprinted in the US by Root and Branch, initially in 1970 as a pamphlet reproducing the 1950 version, and then in a reset and slightly modified version in the book, 'Root and Branch : The Rise of the Workers' Movements' in 1975.
As pointed out by John Gray the English edition from 1950 has some minor mysteries. At certain places words are marked with [brackets] as if the book was not completely finished before printing. Pannekoek's demand for a solid proof-reading of the typesetting was apparently not followed in full consequence. Dawsons method of sequential printing the book and his economical problems with keeping the 'business' going did not make room for a second resetting before publication. In stead the 1950 edition contained a errata-page as supplement.
The
complete English version was not reprinted until Echanges produced an edition as four pamphlets in the 1980s.
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A German version of 'Workers Councils' were also prepared, but never completed. Through Alfred Weiland Pannekoek arranged the book to be published in Hamburg under the title 'Der Freiheitskampf der Arbeiter'. Unfortunately the post sending of the final manuscript to the publisher was lost. A new transcription of the manuscript was to be made. But the capture of Weiland by the Stalinists in November 1950 prevented that.
This e-version was copied from the
John Gray website For Communism.
The code and layout is changed by Kurasje