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La Rioja, Argentina, November 27–29, 2025
Xth International Gathering of “The Workers' Economy”
Call for Participation and Submission of Proposals
The Xth (Tenth) International Gathering of “The Workers’ Economy” will be held in the city of La Rioja, Argentina, from November 27 to 29, 2025.
We call on workers of recovered and self-managed enterprises, cooperatives, social and grassroots organizations, as well as trade union organizations and academics interested and engaged in self-management practices and the project of a new workers’ economy, to participate in this new edition of the “The Workers' Economy”.
The “Workers’ Economy” gathering is a space for debate and coordination among experiences of self-managed work, social and community organizations, and the working class in general. Its goal is to collectively discuss their challenges and achievements together with activists and academics in search of an alternative rooted in work and self-management to confront the crisis imposed on our peoples by global neoliberal capitalism. The International Gathering has been held every two years since its first edition in 2007 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, followed by meetings in Buenos Aires (2009), Mexico (2011), Brazil (João Pessoa, 2013), Venezuela (Punto Fijo, 2015), Argentina (Pigüé, 2017), Brazil (Guararema, Florestan Fernandes National School, 2019), Mexico (2021, in virtual format), and Rosario (2023). Regional Meetings have also been held since 2014, organized by region (South America; North and Central America; Europe). The success of the IVth Latin American Gathering of the “The Workers' Economy”, held in the province of La Rioja in 2024, organized by the historic worker-recuperated cooperative Copegraf, publisher of Medios El Independiente from that province, along with other organizations from across Argentina, was decisive in the decision to hold the international edition this year in the same location—this time welcoming participants from other continents.
Sessions will be held in the capital city of the province of La Rioja, in northern Argentina, at the Pedro Ignacio de Castro Barros Cultural Center, located in the heart of the city.
Context and Debates of the Tenth Gathering
This new International Gathering will take place in the context of an increasingly critical situation in both Argentina and the broader region, marked by a deepening global economic crisis, more frequent and severe attacks on the historic achievements of the working class, and the ongoing expulsion of millions of people into precarity and informality. This unfolds in a world already impacted by a massive environmental crisis that threatens life on the planet itself, compounded by the growing concentration of wealth and the spiraling accumulation of capital at the expense of labor.
The increasingly aggressive rise of right-wing and far-right political options in many countries, the frequent recourse to war to resolve both international and domestic conflicts, and the erratic but dangerous policies of the still hegemonic imperial power—especially, in military terms, the United States—have made the situation even more volatile and dangerous.
Attacks and deportations of migrants, the genocide in Gaza, silent wars in Africa, and the dismantling of living conditions and public policies on health, education, housing, and employment across various Latin American countries, among other calamities afflicting our peoples, also threaten the struggles of the working class.
It is within this context that governments such as Javier Milei’s in Argentina are not only undermining the minimal conditions for dignified life but are explicitly targeting the working class as their enemy—particularly the organizations and political tendencies that seek the collective good.
Self-management and the workers’ economy embody a vision that stands in direct opposition to the rise of the far right. We express an alternative project to capitalism and, therefore, must reflect on the problems, situations, and achievements of our ideas and practices, as well as the possibilities for their coordination, growth, and consolidation. In this way, our trajectories and ideas can be contrasted and presented as one of the few truly viable and effective alternatives—rooted in practice and grounded in the lived experiences of recovered enterprises, cooperatives, and community organizations in both urban and rural contexts. These continue to exist and create, day by day, a different logic.
The purpose of this International Gathering, like the aims of all Gatherings since their founding over eighteen years ago, is to strengthen these alternative experiences through exchange, debate, and local, regional, and international coordination.
With that conviction, we invite you to participate in this new, Xth edition of the International Gathering of “The Workers’ Economy”, with the aim of expanding and strengthening debate and organization, and of rethinking a project of economy and society from the perspective of the working class and its experiences and organizations.
Desde ese convencimiento convocamos a participar en esta nueva edición, apuntando a fortalecer y ampliar el debate y la organización y a poder repensar un proyecto de economía y de sociedad desde la clase trabajadora y sus experiencias y organizaciones.
Main Themes of the Xth International Gathering of “The Workers’ Economy”
Each theme will guide the subjects of debate to be discussed at the Gathering and serve as a reference for organizing the program based on the proposals received. This task will be undertaken by the local and international organizing committees.
Main themes:
1. Analysis of the situation of the working class in the political, economic, and environmental crisis of global capitalism. Self-management in the face of the challenge posed by new and old right-wing movements.
2. Self-management as a practice and as an alternative project.
3. Organizational and political challenges of trade unionism and other forms of organization of waged workers and others in global neoliberal capitalism.
4. Precarization and informalization of work in global capitalism: exclusion, inclusion, or reconfiguration of forms of labor?
5. The Workers’ Economy from a gender perspective.
6. Problems and challenges of self-managed industrial production, commercialization, and coordination within the workers’ economy.
7. Self-managed and community-based agricultural production in the workers’ economy.
8. The State and public policies in the workers’ economy.
9. Popular education and the production of knowledge in the workers’ economy. What role do training, self-development, and innovation play?
Deadlines for Submission of Paper Proposals:
• Abstract submission: September 30, 2025
• Abstract acceptance: October 10, 2025
• Full paper submission: October 31, 2025
Proposals must be submitted as an abstract of no more than one page. It is recommended indicating which of the ten thematic axes the proposal falls under. If approved, the final paper must not exceed 10 pages, using Times New Roman or Arial 12-point font, 1.5 line spacing. Approved papers will be uploaded to a website before the Meeting. For presentation in other formats, please consult the organizers. Proposals and papers must be submitted via the registration form and sent by email to: xencuentrolarioja@gmail.com
Deadlines for Submission of Proposals for Workshops, Book and Journal Presentations, and Audiovisual Materials:
• Submission: September 30, 2025
• Acceptance: October 10, 2025
Workshop proposals must include a justification regarding the theme, methodology, participants, and relevance to the Gathering’s thematic axes. These proposals will also be evaluated based on their relevance and the availability of space during the Gathering.
Registration (free of charge) at: https://forms.gle/Ak9DiHeywQt9YFbM8
Deadline for registration as an attendee is open until the start of the Gathering in La Rioja. Participation is free of charge, and certificates of attendance and presentation will be provided. (To receive a certificate as an attendee, registration must be completed before November 20, 2025).
More information at: www.recuperadasdoc.com.ar
Contact: xencuentrolarioja@gmail.com
