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Libya
Index
Immediately after the revolution, the role that labor unions,
professional syndicates, and other organized interest groups would
play in the new society was in doubt. Regarding labor unions, for
example, Qadhafi stated in a November 4, 1969, speech in Tripoli:
"There will be no labor unions . . . . Laborers and the revolution
are an indivisible entity. There may be certain labor
organizations, but only for ordinary administrative duties." On
November 30, however, Qadhafi stated in an interview that there was
no thought of abolishing labor unions and student organizations,
but they must "truly represent their groups with a revolutionary
spirit. We do not accept intermediaries between the revolution and
its working forces."
After the revolution, most prerevolutionary interest groups
were abolished and new ones created. Functioning within the
framework of the ASU at first, and the GPC after 1976, the new
interest groups lacked autonomy and played an insignificant
political role. In January 1976, the ASU National Congress
emphasized that political activity was to be solely within the
purview of popular congresses. After 1976 labor unions and other
associations performed only administrative duties pertaining to the
occupations or nonpolitical activities of their members. Strikes
have been prohibited since 1972. In Qadhafi's ideology, workers
should be transformed into partners; to work for wages is a form of
slavery. Therefore, he urged workers to take over companies,
factories, and schools and to set up people's committees to manage
production and decide priorities. In theory, this system would make
labor unions unnecessary.
In fact, however, unions continued to exist. In the mid-1980s,
there were some 275,000 members belonging to 18 trade unions, which
together formed the Tripoli-based National Trade Union Federation.
In addition, separate syndicates existed for teachers, engineers,
physicians, lawyers, and other professionals. Other groups
represented women and students. The GPC included components of all
these units. Although Libyan interest groups did not have a real
political role similar to that such groups play in the Western
tradition, their responsibilities included contributing to the
cultural revolution, raising the revolutionary consciousness of
their members, and mobilizing support for national leaders and
their policies.
Before the Revolution of 1969, organized labor played a
significant role in opposing the monarchy. Yet the union movement
was too young to be established firmly, and it had no connection
with the military group that overthrew the king. Consequently,
unions and most other interest groups have not resisted the
limitations imposed within the postrevolutionary framework and the
concomitant lack of a real political role. Students have proved an
exception, however. Early postrevolutionary enthusiasm for the RCC
quickly changed to opposition as a significant number of students
reacted against restrictions on the autonomy of student leaders
(see Student Opposition
, this ch.).
Data as of 1987
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