"People's factories": Worker co-operatives in South Africa

The aim is to investigate the recent emergence of worker co-operatives or "people's factories" in South Africa. The development of South African worker co-ops is situated in terms of key aspects of the restructuring of the economy and society during the 1980s. New production forms such as producer co-operatives are linked to recession and worsening unemployment, state attempts to reverse economic decline and promote inward industrialisation and to the strengthening of oppositional political forces, especially the trade union movement. The paper analyzes the role of worker co-operatives under late apartheid addressing issues of their formation, characteristics, location and developmental prospects.