Socialism and workers' participation in Tanzania: a case study of Tanzania Harbours Authority

Several scholars have written on the inadequacy and ineffectiveness of the system of workers’ Participation and how it has failed to extend democracy into the realm of industry in Tanzania. Reasons so far given include the inadequacies in the structures providing for the Workers’ Councils, inadequacy in the roles assigned to the councils, etc. The study goes further to demonstrate that the above quoted reasons are mere manifestations or the immediate causes. The underlying causes, it is argued, lie with the nature of the economy that has been built over a period of time since independence as well as the emerging social structures that have benefited and hence continued to sustain such an economy: a neo-colonial economy in which the old colonial exploitative relations which are predominantly capitalist have been maintained. It is further stressed in the study that capitalism as a socio-economic system, is built upon unequal relations between capital and labour, and especially upon the desire on the part of capital to control the labour process, thus the working class and the decision making process at the enterprise. The nature of the economy that is being build, of necessity, mitigates against the establishment of an effective Workers’ Participation system let alone that of Workers’ control in Tanzania. In conclusion the study holds it that the solution to the problem lies in the restructuring of the economy through the creation of a socialist economic base and the institution of socialist relations of production which would in turn ensure the emergence of a trully egalitarian and democratic system of government at both the realm of politics and industry, and which system would the n be compatible with the interests of the working class and the masses in general.