Strike-Bike Stricken

On November 1, Strike-Bike was locked out. The Nordhausen factory had been occupied by its workers since July 10, producing over 1800 bicycles. (You could order them in any color you want as long as it was red.) Now the court has taken over and the future of the operation is in doubt.



It’s always good when workers take an initiative, but the long term prospects were hardly rosy. This is one more instance in which a worker takeover occurred in response to the failure of capitalist owners, “lemon self-management” so to speak. There was self-exploitation as well: workers paid themselves just 10 euros an hour in their last-ditch attempt to keep the business going.

For a real test of self-organized production there has to be a level playing field: profits to be had by both owners and workers. And the goal would not be (only) to stave off insolvency, but to transform products and production methods for a better world.