We need to normalize not just starting worker owned and run co-ops, but taking over businesses and converting them to these co-ops.
Federate the co-ops, establish a shared workforce (one co-op goes under/not enough business at x? Come work at y) and have them become actual workers councils
The Marxist critiques of this are not lost on me, co-ops are not immune to exploitation and fool proof by virtue of existing under capitalism but I think we need them for two reasons:
Sitting around and waiting for a revolution from a small group of people with one idea of how to run things is a bad idea
We need to practice what actual day to day life will look like. I think the experiences and connections made will far outweigh all of the bookclubs, protests and other purely political avenues of organizing
It doesn’t need to be all central planning and state owned, it doesn’t all have to be zaney pure communal experimentation right from the start …people could just literally experience going to work at a normal job but feel the agency of having a say in their workplace, not live in fear of an overbearing boss, decide their wages, always have a place in case their job implodes or they become redundant (bounce to co-op y).
Sitting around and waiting for a revolution from a small group of people with one idea of how to run things is a bad idea
This is just a strawman of vanguardism . The bolshevik revolution was only possible with the overwhelming support of the peasants and proletariat class. A revolution is literally not possible without huge numbers of soldiers turning on the government.
What is the name for a strategy to cut out shareholders?
I imagine it’s something like, we syrike and demand 60% of controlling shares or else company dies.
Price tanks, workers buy their own discounted shares.
5 years later do it again, seize 60% of the remainder.
Continue until shareholders are fully marginalized and financing is done through regular finite terms loans. Preferably from loans direct from the central bank at the policy rate.
I always give 100 percent of what I get paid. Minimum wage equals minimum effort.
that’s a lot of work on Wednesday
It’s that one day with no meetings.
Yeah it’s Thursdays for me when I realize that I haven’t done shit this week and need to crank out a bunch of stuff haha
Its only 40s of work.
My dream is to start a co-op bicycle shop/worshop once I finish my mechanic traineeship. But the other trainees don’t seem to share my vision, they only care about making lots of money…
What are they thinking, owners make the most money.
I’ll come help out at your bike shop.
I work 4 10s with Wednesdays off. Deal.
To be honest, with my current job, I would have a 4 days work week, it would change absolutely nothing. I wouldn’t even have to work more on the other days.
Wish this was acceptable to work as, I sit in the same position. I think I am averagely productive at only 23% of the days…
I mean, the counter-argument is that nothing is stopping you from creating such a co-op today. You not doing it is seen as a point in favor of capitalism/ruling class.
Show them wrong?
Funding is stopping me. Lack of investment money to get started. Access to capital.
I don’t have the luxury to stop being an employee, even momentarily because I need the income
How many banks have rejected your business proposal?
You seem to not understand the difference between an investment and a loan
I have applied to a few accelerator programs and haven’t gotten a response
One thing is to get money in exchange for ownership of the company and the other one is to get money that has to be paid back no matter what
So you’re not willing to take any risk? Weird.
It’s different kind of risk when failure means you may not eat or become homeless.
The rich do not incur that kind of risk when they engage in “entrepreneurial-ship”
It’s clearly over their head.
They were given bootstraps to pull themselves up by, so everyone else should be able to pull themselves up by their bootstraps too!
Which is precisely the argument they give for why capitalists are needed, and thus warrant recompense (at the expense of the worker).
That’s not a natural outcome. That’s an artificially created made up barrier. That does not justify capitalists. That shows how they have purposefully rigged the system to be reliant on them.
They’ve designed the system intentionally this way, to keep people dependant on them.
Agreed. It’s very hard to beat the system from within. And their arguments only make sense within it.
Now if only there was a way to break the system… 🤔
Systematically unfair system requires us to continue unchanged to the advantage of an incredibly small number dbags who own everything already, ‘cuz they have all the money to invest’. Good critical thought dude.
Oh don’t get me wrong, it’s a thoroughly unjust system. That is just their argument for perpetuating it. (I could definitely have phrased it better)
And I also believe it’s rigged.
Which means that the only way to win is to break the rules, or play a different game, which sounds more ominous than intended. But I do believe we need to do away with capitalism, or the very least capitalists. Either the $1 billion “you win” cap, or just a wholly different way of economic organisation. Other options are available, but few are as civil.
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101% is abit much…
count again
That hump day is real shit though.
