The Lucas Plan

Flyer for the Lucas Plan Conference, which was held on 26th November 2016 in Birmingham. Design: The Coastal Invention Company

What if the workers were in control? http://www.redpepper.org.uk/what-if-the-workers-were-in-control/?utm_source=Pepperista&utm_campaign=a1087be793-Pepperista_Nov_Second_2016&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_2d5c5bf744-a1087be793-67217169   Hilary Wainwright reflects on an attempt by British workers to produce a democratically determined alternative plan for their industry .

The Lucas Plan was a pioneering effort by workers at the arms company Lucas Aerospace to retain jobs by proposing alternative, socially-useful applications of the company’s technology and their own skills. It remains one of the most radical and forward thinking attempts ever made by workers to take the steering wheel and directly drive the direction of change. Today, in 2016 — 40 years after the Plan — we’re facing a convergence of crises: militarism and nuclear weapons, climate chaos, and the destruction of jobs by automation. http://lucasplan.org.uk/