Workers’ takeovers and workers’ self-management of companies have usually taken place in times of crisis, as in many Western European countries in the 1970s. West Germany saw fewer takeovers than Italy, France or Spain. In this article, the workers’ initiatives in the German glassblowing industry are analysed not only as a crisis phenomenon, but also as an offshoot of the grass roots democratic awakening in the world of work around 1968. Common assumptions about the passivity of workers saturated with prosperity or structurally deter-mined from the outside are being challenged. Five case studies from the glassblowing industry are used to analyse the reasons why workers’ takeovers were so rare and so seldom successful in the West German context. Finally, the implications of these historical experiences are discussed for current disputes, for the intensifying struggles around distribution and about workers’ takeovers’ potential as an emancipatory means of industrial action.