I used to work in a worker's collective 20 years ago.. a radical bookshop in Aberdeen; Boomtown books. Didn't make much money.. but it was an excellent work environment. open when we liked.. which was often into the early hours while we got sloshed on cheap beers etc. we decorated it, had weekly meetings to decide policy etc.. No bosses is just a great way to work.. & live.. the shop was a resource for us all, like an extension of our homes. we valued it and invested our time & love in it.
We also have co-ops here in South Korea, joint businesses owned and controlled directly by the employees. I think it is a great model for the present, and future.
It's about time people start considering these alternatives... A new world is possible, freedom and justice is possible in a world where ordinary people have direct control over their workplaces and community...
Increase in wages does't imply decrease of productivity, it only means the businesses would need to look for other ways of cutting production costs, such as energy efficiency. In fact, resource depletion, leading to ever growing prices of energy and raw materials, is the main cause of economic stagnation over the last 30 years or so. Wages, on the other hand, have been steadily decreasing over the same period. According to your model, productivity should be shooting through the roof by now.
Recognition that governments intervene massively in their economies shouldn't be controversial in the least. Why then is it so ridiculous to think that these economies wouldn't be massively different without these interventions?
In germany we have a long history of workers' control in industry and syndicalism... good to see it is happening in USA also, unfortunately most media do not give much attention to this.
I'm not naive enough to believe that we actually have a free market. I know our government has destroyed the concept with over-regulation and over-taxation, but you can still examine what would make sense in a competitive environment. Worker-owned companies might steal employees away from corporate monstrosities and coerce other businesses into following their model, but when it comes time to cut your pay for the benefit of growth I just don't see it happening. Production always reigns supreme.
The matter of efficiency is an entirely different question, one in which I have little interest (not least because it begs the questions "for what" and "for whom"). The only ridiculous positions I see here are that 1) the "market" economy would still function without state interventions and that 2) egalitarianism is merely some ideological residue worthy of suspicion--both, apparently, yours.
Having lived in France for 8 years. I can assure you that socialism does not work in France! Horrible experiences there. This co-op seems to be a very good idea. Would like to learn more.
"Social economy" structures are a great move forward, but only half the step needed...unless they work to change the framework they are functioning in by changing priorities not just on business level but on cross-business level too, they may just end up reproducing inequality or just form neat little corners among greater conditions of economic destitute and reproduce scenarios of unequal accumulation in smaller scale
Why do you say that? Individuals own private industry, direct them, and decide what to do with the products. Wealthy individuals then use that profit to influence the state and then we get what we see now.
Actually the reality is quite the opposite, have you actually looked in to the figures on the relationship between productivity and wages? If you had you would see a clear trend that over the past few decades productivity has increased drastically, while real wages have stagnated or declined in the U.S and most of the developed world. I certainly wouldn't see "greater productivity" as being an argument for status quo. Perhaps we should also ask what productivity increases have really yielded?
That's a totally absurd, false choice and you know it. Since you're more concerned with pushing your ideology than having a real interchange (you completely ignored most of what I said), I'm going to leave you to yourself. Good night.
