Self-management and health: Gandulfo's legacy in the "Sanitary Page" and worker's polyclinic (1923-1942)

Abstract

There are many ways to understand self-management. They vary from Government-dependent technical-administrative meanings (i.e. hospital self-management, in the context of health reform in Chile), to those related to efforts to abolish the State. Thus, the "self-management" concept was developed from the very beginning by the anarchist movement as one of its organizational principies. Henee, there is a need to break myths and prejudices about anarchist philosophy seen as a synonym of chaos, and to review its deeply constructive aspects and its highly moral character, hand in hand with genuine self-management in health. In this context, the work of Juan Gandulfo, a physician and anarchist, in the management of the Worker Polyclinic of the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW) and its diffusion media "The sanitary page" must be emphasized. The aim of this paper is to review the history of particular initiatives in self management, complementing them with some biographical aspects of Dr. Gandulfo's life.