A workers assembly is like a community assembly, except it’s made up of rank-and-file workers and based in workplaces, not neighborhoods. It is an inclusive space where folks feel comfortable reporting on their working conditions, speaking out, getting support for organizing, making decisions democratically and building a more powerful workers movement overall.

The workers assembly is meant to be an inclusive, space to democratically develop plans to advance the demands of workers, establish community defense efforts, coordinate militant actions, grow its communal capacity to sustain militant actions, and advance the movement for socialist revolution overall.

A local workers assembly can exist within a single workplace. It can also be made up of workers from multiple workplaces with the eventual goal of building an assembly at each. Every circumstance is different. The goal is to grow the movement toward larger city-wide, state-wide, and region-wide assemblies.

Workers assemblies are meant as a way to organize and unite the working class. They’re meant to provide a space to focus on the immediate needs of the workplace. This could include addressing things like unsafe working conditions, low-pay, lack of benefits like health insurance, deportations, etc.

Workers assemblies should always focus on collectively defending one another against the fascist threat. This threat is both immediate in terms of potentially coming from other people in the workplace, as well as the overall threat that fascists represent to the well being of the working class and other marginalized folks as a whole.

The issues of more immediate concern are combined with a broader, longer-term strategy and goal. As such, each workers assembly organizes toward toward sharing resources communally. This is done to assist in supporting immediate activities, while preparing our capacity for sustaining blockades, occupations, strikes, etc.

In each case, the assembly prepares us for making decisions democratically, including as we build for a socialist revolution against fascism. What’s more, when we seize control of the government and economy, we need the assemblies to govern the whole thing, along with help of the revolutionary organization.

Overall, the workers assembly is a decolonizing process where we make decisions about our collective fight to dismantle colonial, neocolonial, and neoliberal systems. At it’s core is the project of dismantling patriarchy, racism, poverty, capitalism, oppression, exploitation, and violence. We replace those systems with the democratic governance of these assemblies as liberated spaces toward socialist revolution.

Basics of Organizing a Workers Assembly

The following provides a brief guide for starting a local workers assembly.

The first step is to sit down and talk with your closest coworkers. Do it more than once. Read this short guide together, some of the other online tools, and our principles of unity. What are their thoughts? What are their experiences so far? What change does everyone seek? At some point, this talking becomes the core group.

With everyone, be sure to discuss the threat that fascism poses to working class and other marginalized people overall. You can then frame the assembly as a strategy for the collective defense of our needs, well-being, and security. As the saying goes; an injury to one of us is an injury to all of us.

For the core group, try to include 3-5 rank-and-file workers to start. Don’t worry if you can’t find that many people where you work. You might not get that many to start and that’s okay. But do try for 3 at least.

Regardless of how many, be sure to convince them of the need for a workers assembly and a decent amount of agreement with our principles of unity.

With whoever you’ve gotten on board, get together and go to big box stores, shopping centers in working class neighborhoods, corporate chain stores, bus stops, manufacturing plants, etc. to distribute flyers. This is a way to recruit more people from other workplaces.

Be sure to show up for the campaigns and actions of local labor unions or other labor-focused organizations to make connections with rank-and-file activists. Remember though, always be skeptical of non-profit and union bureaucrats. They literally make a living off of never ending reforms that tend to go nowhere.

When you’ve recruited enough people, either in your own workplace or among multiple workplaces, it’s time to host your first meeting. If you’re ready to call it an assembly, go for it. If you just want to host an organizing meeting to then host your first assembly later, it’s totally up to you.

Regardless of what you call your first meeting, ensure that it and every following assembly is an inclusive space where folks feel comfortable reporting on their working conditions, speaking out, and can get assistance for organizing on their job.

You’ll have to set a date and time, find a location, create the agenda, and more. If all this makes you nervous because you’re relatively new to organizing, don’t worry. Check out our other resources, especially Meetings 101 and the other documents about assemblies.

Overall, it’s important make sure from the start that there is collective leadership. That way the majority of the work does not become centered around individuals. There’s this whole thing called a “cult of personality.” It should be avoided at all cost.

And let the struggle guide the work. Don’t get bogged down with formalities, including trying to develop written by-laws or a constitution immediately. Definitely establish democratic decision making rules, like a majority vote, but allow time for the workers assembly to otherwise develop. Let form follow function.

For more details about hosting an assembly, we’ve got you covered in other articles.