British engineers, Communist railwaymen and labour organization in the workshops of the Central Argentine Railway during the first decades of the twentieth century

Abstract

This article is focused on analysing labour organization inside the Central Argentine Railway workshops of the first decades of twentieth century in Argentina. We are primarily interested in the incorporation of elements related to the principles of scientific management. It is stated that in that period, the company took steps to restructure railroad work on “scientific”
bases. We address this topic through documents written by British engineers on the workshops, as well as by workers who belonged to communist cells in addressing the world of work and labour relationships, taking into account the two social subjects involved: workers, on the one hand, and employers or company representatives, on the other.