Isn't it amazing just how manufactured consent is everywhere in America? Liberals are the worst. I understand idiotic conservatives evangelizing the sacred market (likely pray to it), since all they want is free money. I.e., trickle-up economics. Capitalism, as I've said above, is private tyranny. We convince ourselves that a two-party, corporate system is democratic, but at least there is a modicum of choice in elections. At work, capitalism is the root of all evil. All we do is rent ourselves to capitalists to exploit our labor -- whether it be janitorial or investment banking. Co-ops are the future, at least I hope so. *Owning the means of production, paid fairly and having actual democracy!*
Some but not all : libcom.org/library/self-management-misery-or-miseries-self-management-terra-cremada The mirage of alternative institutions can cause us to lose sight of the main problem, to bewilder us in the murky world of choosing the product that we like the most, the way we would most like to be exploited, the ethic that is always most advantageous for us whenever we participate in speculation and usury, the sauce in which we have decided we should cook whenever it does not occur to us to attack either private property or the privileges of those who rule over us because … where would we prefer to deposit our money, where would we prefer to work? If we do not ask ourselves the right questions we can end up swallowing the hook and to forget the fact that what is necessary is to continue fighting against money, against work and against all oppression.
Worker co-ops can be good for the transition away from capitalism, but only if they are run with direct and participatory democracy with all workers involved. There also will need to be input from the larger community to protect from the harms of competition. It will do little good if we replace the current scheme by swapping out a greedy class of individuals with a greedy class of worker "gangs".
Frederic Bastiat You’re idea of a voluntary transaction is skewed. Trading money for food is not a voluntary transaction; you need that shit to live dog. What will you capitalist fucks do when automation takes over most if not all jobs? At that point a communist system would be absolutely necessary. And that’s soon by the way, by 2050 it’s projected that 60-80% of all jobs will be automated. Marx was just super ahead of his time lol.
Professor Wolff performs a valuable public service with his weekly economic updates. In this session he briefly talks about the regularity of economic cycles. The cause of economic cycles is a subject I have devoted a good deal of analysis to over the last four decades. My own research has concentrated on the key role of property markets as a (perhaps "the") driver of cycles. The historical data for many different countries reveals an average 18-21 year land market cycle that has operated for at least the last two centuries. These cycles are not natural, however; they are caused by one main factor: the failure of societies to publicly capture economic rent (meaning the potential annual rental value of every location in our towns and cities, of agricultural land, of land the highest use of is resource extraction, and land-like assets that have an inelastic supply or where government has granted competition-limiting licenses).
Last week I was in Liverpool and managed to get to News From Nowhere books which has been a successful co-op since the 1970s. It was a nice bookshop with loads of books, pins, shirts and things. I heard about it on this channel and am pleased to have been able to become one of their customers. Thanks
I am smitten with Co ops, but just as any system can get all twisted up, I worry that even co ops can uphold the unsustainability of the consumption that is the basis of our economic system. How do we pull away from the worldwide consumption of late stage capitalism in this critical period that will spell either the end of species or the beginning of a new Renaissance for humankind in a timely fashion? How can we organize co ops as the way to support families and individuals everywhere as we transition to environmentally sound solutions?
In this video there weren't any statistics or other evidence given regarding any particular increase in the formation of worker co-ops, which was what I had hoped when I clicked on it, so I feel the title is a tad misleading. Other than that, it was a pretty good talk.
One of the most important aspects of worker co ops is workers having a stake in society.. In the UK, people are immensely protective of the national health service. It might be chronically underfunded and has many flaws (mainly due to creeping privatisation etc) but its a national treasure. I think its about 70% of the population would be willing to pay more tax to preserve it. That includes more than 50% of conservatives which is unbelievable... As its been picked away at by capitalism over the years, many of the nurses and doctors are migrants because they're cheap, I have a friend who used to be a nurse 30 odd years ago and she tells me it wasn't just a job to her, it was a vocation...
Seize means of productions and there's no need to start one. U can't expect coops playing major role in this economy. If they start playing this role, capitalist and their parasite government will do best to supress them
John Curl wrote a book on its history called, For All the People: Uncovering the Hidden History of Cooperation, Cooperative Movements, and Communalism in America
I wanted to ask what are those co-ops, but as video continued I realized that they are socialist companies. I haven't heard the specific definition but it reminds me of the self-governed socialism that we had in SFR Yugoslavia. Nice. And about Emiglia Romagnia region in Italia, I am not 100% sure, but I think that there is political party called PD (Partito Democratico) in power, which is left oriented party... if so, effect of socialism has proven once more that it works!
@Caleb Strohl here is a bunch of co-ops, many of which have more than 150 people. www.theguardian.com/social-enterprise-network/2012/jan/04/social-enterprise-blog-co-operatives-and-mutuals www.fastcompany.com/40572926/more-u-s-businesses-are-becoming-worker-co-ops-heres-why
@Caleb Strohl "switch to democracy"? What does this even mean? If the workers are making the decisions (and they are doing it probably by voting, especially if there are more than 150) *it already is a democracy!*
About Emilia Romagna: yes, those are the "red" (and productive) regions of Italy (Lamborghini and Ferrari are there), but as society became more "liberal", so did coops, now they're just regular corporations where a small group of founders exploit a large group of workers. About the PD: it's a party derived from the fusion of the Italian Communist Party with the Christian Democratic Party, as of now all leftist members have abandoned it: now it's just a liberal party, leftist only regarding social issues, economy-wise it's a centre-right party. In fact, working-class people don't vote it anymore, they are lucky if they get 20% at the next elections.
@Caleb Strohl But according to your strict definition of Socialism, the URSS was never Socialist, nor any other Communist Republic in which the state controlled the means of production (I'm not saying that you're wrong, I'm just want that you realize that). I don't know if you've ever been to a union's meeting (assembly, conference, gathering... I'm not sure how they're called where you're from) but there's often more than 150 people, and everyone can talk and make propositions. Now, with bigger numbers you certainly need a representation, but a representation it's better than nothing. Isn't this how representative democracy work? Why are you against the democratisation of the workplace?
Canada has a successful workers co-op in British Columbia. I forget its name but it is a successful co-op that produces pulp for paper mills that was going bankrupt and the employees bought it out and formed a co-op that became extremely successful.
*… depending on the requirements of the market, labour is either employed or thrown back into the street. In other words, use is made of all methods that enable an enterprise to stand up against its competitors in the market. The workers forming a co-operative in the field of production are thus faced with the contradictory necessity of governing themselves with the utmost absolutism. They are obliged to take toward themselves the role of capitalist entrepreneur - a contradiction that accounts for the usual failure of production co-operatives which either become pure capitalist enterprises or, if the workers’ interests continue to predominate, end by dissolving.* “Reform or Revolution”, _Rosa Luxemburg_
Having worker co-ops are not the end on itself. The end is to have the power as distributed as possible. Co-ops can collaborate and help each other to avoid them going down, something capitalist companies wouldn't do. It's not always possible but the fact that it happens must be considered before dismissing the idea of co-ops. And of course the government can help, too.
libcom.org/library/self-management-misery-or-miseries-self-management-terra-cremada The mirage of alternative institutions can cause us to lose sight of the main problem, to bewilder us in the murky world of choosing the product that we like the most, the way we would most like to be exploited, the ethic that is always most advantageous for us whenever we participate in speculation and usury, the sauce in which we have decided we should cook whenever it does not occur to us to attack either private property or the privileges of those who rule over us because … where would we prefer to deposit our money, where would we prefer to work? If we do not ask ourselves the right questions we can end up swallowing the hook and to forget the fact that what is necessary is to continue fighting against money, against work and against all oppression.
I love that you are speaking out and doing the world a favor by informing! Curious on what you think of the opioid hysteria? Is it real? Are we being told the truth?
I am sorry for the people who overdose from opiates, but I firmly believe that really doesn't have to do with the pill itself, that is a deeper issue that needs to be addressed. I understand why you state this, but as someone who doesn't get "high" from opiates and needs them for my disease, or pain patients in general who are now being told to take a lethal amount of tylenol for pain, there needs to be something done. I love what this doctor is saying and doing as an advocate for us. www.newsobserver.com/opinion/op-ed/article145348794.html?source=post_page---------------------------
We have many laws supporting corporations, and corporate law is an established part of American jurisprudence. What if worker-directed enterprises and co-ops were equally supported and favored? The American government is a giant subsidy for wealth holders because the government protects property and enforces contracts. Worker co-ops and similar structures should be equally supported as corporations.
Any good sources on implementing Worker Co-ops? I'm very interested in creating my own Translation Agency one day and that seems to be the most feasible model since we'll have a limited number of language pairs and no more than 5-6 people working.
7:55 - 8:20 hmmmm, twenty years ago half of young people earned more than their parents, now half earn less than their parents. Sounds like absolutely nothing has changed. If 20 years ago half of young people earned more than their parents then necessarily half earned less.
There is according to verious U-tube contributers a housing Crisis in verious large Cities in the continental United States of America. Two years 1856&1893 are two distinct years of my story. In 1856 was the beginning of the Railways in Ireland and in that year the Great Western Railway started to build a railway line from Dublin to the principal City of Cork the Gateway to the International Shipping Trade. At the small village of Inchicore the GWR decided to build a railway Workshops and at the same time built housing for its future workforce. There was nothing unusual in this at the time as it pays in the long term to keep your employees close as being late for work is bad for production. The type of housing for the lower orders was two down two up long Terraced Housing several hundred were built They also built semi detached and Detached houses for the overseers formen and Management All these Houses are still in use today. 1895 The Cadbury Chocolate factory at Bournville bought Land next to it some 120 Acres built a small Town with housing for the Management right down to the man who swept the floor they built a school a church and a Grocery store but no pub as they didn't encourage drink. Everyone paid rent deducted from there wage each week/month depending on how they were paid in both companies. the cost off building the Housing was eventually recovered which only made the owners RICHER. Now regarding Corporate America do you not think that the time has come for to look at the old world for inspiration paying 1Million for a home that 5 years ago could have been bought for $250,000:00 is insane. Regards Irish citizen
That's interesting.... I wonder what the process is for someone who already has the working equipment but lacks other technical support.. I'm thinking more of the construction field where nothing happens from just one trade (plumbers) (electricians) (concrete folks) so forth and so on... It takes a village to construct a town.
Interesting math here......regarding the ITalian co-ops......Wolff states the initial figure was 40%, then it dropped to 33% of the GDP over 3 different types of co-ops......and then we have "when you talked to the people you had a 1 in 20 chance of talking to someone involved as a worker/owner which is 5%. So you have 5% of the population generating. 1/3 of the GDP of a region.....so if we extend these numbers, we would get 15% generating 100% of the GDP for the region, leaving the rest of the 85% to do what? That doesn't sound like a solution to anything......but we'll leave that for the "unquestioning" worshippers of the co-op fad.
I would assume Wolff's DAW channel is a co-op effort. Also lets say he starts a co-op and fails, would you dismiss the whole idea? How many start-ups die under capitalism?
it seems to me China has every reason to put off doing anything about the trade war until right before the election.make Trump loose,then make a deal w/his predecessor
Good to see your support for the neoliberal EU!? The issue with worker's co-ops is, what happens when they become very successful? The same corruption that affects the macrocosm simply replays in miniature. In fact it's not far off Libertarianism where capitalism rules supreme. And what are the ingrained class loyalties of the majority of people who set up these co-ops? I'm guessing a lot of sweet-talking rich kids with lovely sweaters.
Time is an acceptable way to add to salary. I don't think it's a bad thing to give more money the longer you invest your time in a company so long as it doesn't get crazy.
It seems like the distant cousin of workers co ops or ESOPS are rarely mentioned. Wasn't Parke-Davis prior to Pfizer acquisition (maybe it was the warner lambert) a 100+ year old ESOP? They may have already hit the 1/3 market share by an employee owned instrument prior to acquisition. What about SIAC (?) (Publicly known for flying keel design on America's cup in 80's?) prior to going public around 2008. While not exactly the same as a CO-OP there are enough similarities that should be mentioned. Like any legal mechanism there are issues and it can be mis-used and these need to be discussed to prevent workers from getting taken (i.e. look at Board of Director make up and employee rep/voting rights)..
Money is an evil system of domination and control. Why is there only one type of money? There could be a capitalist form and a socialist form. Or some other form. We need to be creative with money. It's a set of rules. What are the rules? Who makes them and how are they changed. Those are the basic questions. Let's make a new form. Let workers decide where social capital will be created.
the problem I have with worker coops, at least in the United States, is that the local food co-op here has extremely high prices, and seemingly caters to wealthy people. Maybe if we changed our entire economy, so that all industries were run by coops, it would be better
As long as people understand the difference between commodity production and capitalist production then worker co-ops is a great idea. But even a co-op can be subverted by a class of monopoly and imperialistic corporations who control the world price of any commodity. A co-op controls production not price. On second thought, price manipulation would be the weapon the class of corporations would use to destroy co-ops, I doubt it makes sense to even form co-ops within the framework of monopoly capitalism. A vision of a post-capitalist society is needed. A vision based on the available state of technology and science. Americans lack the general and the long term power of imagination to create the world envisioned in the present moment but are a people with great power on the immediate moment, to a fault. This must be changed in the heads of all Americans, they exclude the general and emphaisze the particular, ignore the universal concrete for the abstract concrete. I also think workers' councils under whom a given sector under their control is a more practical approach to de-privatizing the means of production and keep the government out of the production process is a more truer social way of organizing production. Versus 'nationalization of the means of production'. Make illegal to buying and selling and the transfer of private ownership of the machine, technology and scientific making industries. Distribution is a moment of the total production process of any society and it is a place government can function for planning and disaster recovery and evacuation. Every person born is automatically a soveriegn member of the society. Nobody is left out and everyone is in the general atitude of individuals promotes imagination. Imagination is to the human brain what hunger is to the stomach. For instance, the whole of agriculture falls under one worker's council, energy another, services another, health, housing, education and construction, security another. Eight workers councils run the whole field of social production and one national Congress under whom the military is controlled. This would truly close the chapter of the Age of Capital. But it would not close the chapter on Class in Society, social classes are harder to dissolve for they require the rich and powerful be no different than anyone else and do a job for the society they are a part. Control freaks and institutions of social control are not compatible to a cooperative society. The business of security is to make people feel safe, accepted and a part, belonging to a higher community, not to strike fear and trauma into their central nervous system, stunt brain development and incarcerates the body. Religion is not compatible to a cooperative society. But I do not see a reason why it cannot die out on its own through mass education and the remaining faithful free to live without special exemption status by the society, they are not anymore different than anyone else benefitting from the producitvity of labor. Crime and criminals, addicts, abusers, pedofiles, racists, sexists, will die out in the context of a total cooperative society in a short time but need to monitored professionally according to how mushc of a risk they are to the society of new individuals.
I like the idea of worker co-ops. In fact, I don't see it as a controversial idea or some big "F-You" to capitalism. Who would oppose the idea of co-ops competing in a free market without any special support from the government?
Capitalists. The same reason they oppose unions. Not because worker co-ops and unions go against the free market (they don't), but because they go against the power they have. They just want not to be outcompeted, no matter how fair it is. It's not about their principles, they sold them long ago to the highest bidder. It's like the people that complain about "crony capitalism" as if it was a different thing from capitalism. It's just the natural evolution, economic power corrupts politics.
So many comrades chastise Dr. Wolff for placing so much emphasis on worker cooperatives, and they seem to believe that HE thinks that this the only solution to the problems of Capitalism. Then I hear Progressives say that worker cooperatives still operate under a Capitalist system. Well, once the Capitalist is removed from the equation, by the way of cooperative ownership of the enterprise, then how does that still qualify as 'Capitalist??' I think they are misinterpreting the market and its influence on the co-op's decision-making, and they see this as Capitalist. Dr. Wolff has illustrated before that Markets have no exclusive relationship with Capitalism, there have been Markets all throughout the progress of human development. But my Communist friends who go after Dr. Wolff, and who think that he is naive for suggesting cooperative ownership is a cure-all for what ails us are jumping to conclusions. Obviously Dr. Wolff has studied Marx through and through, and certainly, he doesn't believe that cooperatives are the simple remedy. Of course, we need a state and state control and planning of many of the aspects of the economy, but worker cooperatives would be a major step forward and a key step in the overall process. Worker cooperatives would remove the bourgeois Capitalist Class from the equation, and would also serve to clean out a lot of the corruption that has influenced the bourgeois state. Indeed, we do need to develop publicly-owned financial institutions, and we need a proletarian state to build infrastructure and develop public services that would assist economic development in almost every way; and until the bourgeois is defeated around the world, we are going to need the state to raise armies and build mechanisms by which the proletariat can defend itself as well as other exploited peoples around the world. Obviously, Professor Wolff knows all of this, but his ideas are really helping to further our cause and introduce ideas to the overall struggle. I am very grateful to him, as more of our comrades should be.
Hmm, long way to say, he believes in the role of the state lol. Well I’m going to time stamp every time in this video Wolff mentions the state. This will be interesting 😆
Big G Haywood Plz someone who still idolizes Wolff ask him what would happen if a co-op’s costs in a month outnumber the revenue (aka balance sheet in the red) of that co-op ??????? 🙃Hmmm I wonder
The more co-ops we can create the more political clout we can accumulate get with your neighbor sit down have a conversation make a decision and create a co-op company let's do this
I keep listening this video and I still do not get WHY Trump would want to be president when he knows that there will be a potential downturn throughout his presidency term next year. Why don't he just leave with the 'Great America' slogan and someone else deals with it... he will become president again during crisis, next year, what's the point...
I just can't envision worker co-ops working widely and successfully in America. I'd like to draw your attention to this report by Ivey Business Journal on the successful rise of Huawei in Shenzhen, China. They use the expression super-fluidity to express their way of organizing to capture global opportunities. The method won't work in the US, and it has no resemblance to a co-op. iveybusinessjournal.com/learning-from-huaweis-superfluidity/
not really surviving. there is a terrible housing crisis for people who need government housing. I have been moving around to survive since 1999 and can't do it anymore due to my disability. Trump wants to take this away. He wants to spy on disabled people to make sure they are. Yes, something has to change.
@@kristenmitchell2118 well then u may have to depend on community, just like u r now on government, in communist society. Obviously There can be better ways, there may be any laws, but at least as far as I know, communists haven't written exclusively something on this matter. Because they still only have rough idea of how the society will be, but they still don't know how it is going to function, which they are going to know only when it's established. As they have such big and important questions about functioning of their model itself,they haven't dealed yet with internal issues common in all societies. So u may have to wait to actually know what would be their stance on this.
Italy is soon reaching a point of bankrupt, could you please explain, how are people suppose to take a working coop example from a country on the verge of bankrupt, seriously?
So in 1980 half of Americans did better than parents and 2019 half do worse. That's not a tremendous collapse, Mr. Wolff. I love these economic updates but don't get lazy and start going through the motions.
Worker co-ops might work in some sectors, but not in natural monopolies. You're still talking about the profit motive. Workers in charge of health, power, water, public transport could profiteer just like bosses. And you don't transform capitalism into socialism by putting the workers in charge, you just transform the workers into capitalists. And are worker co-ops that great to work for?, the workers I know who work for co-ops just seem as miserable as any other bunch of workers. Ultimately workers and unions like nationalized industries. Nationalized industries seem to become a way of life, rather than just businesses. The public service ethos and all that. Plus they generate public amenities for the wider community such as choirs, swimming baths, sports clubs etc stuff you don't generally see with co-ops I really don't know why nationalized industries get a bad rap from some Western socialists.
What about worker-consumer co-ops? They're similar to nationalized industries except that the democratic model is more explicit and one doesn't need that much support from the government, I think.
@@DiThi State ownership in of itself isn't a bad thing. I think anti-statism becomes something of a fetish with Western Leftists. Which probably stems from fear of monolithic state controlled industries in the Eastern bloc. But even there, there were many successful state controlled industries that were popular with consumers and workers. However, in the West state control would look like the NHS, Air France, the German Railways etc etc. I think the public servant aspect is important, rather than everything coming down to worker 'ownership'. Plus workers and unions had far more power in nationalized industries than is often imagined.
@@JAMAICADOCK Yeah, I don't think nationalized industries are bad either. It's just that there's too much push back from most of the political spectrum, not just lefties. Some alternatives are more desirable and attractive to the public, and if they can work just as well then why not. Also privatization is not possible if the companies are already "private".
Then you are the exception. For most people this is not true at all. Adjusted for inflation, real wages in the USA have remained the same ever since the 70s, while the costs have gone up across the board.
Yet you can be assured without other people, those children would never have been able to accomplish that. No one is an island, and cronyism is the system
Learn a little about how statistics work before commenting stuff like this. Generally, it's the *average* that is lower. Obviously your kids aren't the average if they earn more than you.
@@sogghartha Not true about all "costs going up". Many things have gone up, but as a result of globalization, manufactured goods have actually gone DOWN! All imported manufactured goods (clothing, electronics, hardware, equipment etc.)currently cost a small FRACTION of what they cost when made in the USA.
@Sasha Da Masta You need to ask the hundreds of millions of Chinese, Indians, etc., who have raised themselves out of poverty in recent yrs, whether they prefer what you call theirr "sweatshops", or would rather go pack to being starving peasants farming for $1.00/day!
True! it's so hard to start a co-op with the small finacial support available to them. Banks/investors don't lend for various reasons so you'd litarally have to use your own money to start one up!
Or we could elect honest people and legislate them into existence. Like it or not the fact is our current system is not doing a good job of meeting the needs of the people. It's not the fault of brown skin people, or gays, or public schools, or unions, or whatever other boogeyman fox tells you to hate. I have a decent paying job that allows me to support my wife and her son, but at 56 I've seen a massive erosion in the standard of living for working class people. Change is coming.
Well, if I could collect all my unemployment fund, together with others in the same sitiation, WE could start one. It's called Marcora Law, and Italy has it.
