Building a Foundation

What do you get when you cross neoliberal policies, economic monopolies and a corrupt political system? You get this:

1. 100 Million people (according to U.S. Census Bureau) are considered poor or ‘near poor’;
2. Number of poor people is expected to increase over the next several years;
3. 45 Million people are on food stamps;
4. 5.5 million people have been jobless for 27 weeks or more and millions more are underemployed;
5. Real wage (wages after inflation is accounted for) growth is actually not growing but falling;
6. In Chicago (where I live), it takes a single parent with two young children $56,300 (per year) to make ends meet vs. if that single parent works a full-time job at minimum wage she would make $17,160;
7. Total student loan debt is $1 trillion;
8. In China, workers are committing suicide; and
9. In Europe workers are losing pensions and wages are being forcibly reduced.

Some may be thinking so fucking what. Yes, but this is our reality as we sit here today and a very harsh reality for millions of people. Other people may say that we’re in the midst of a class war what the fuck do you expect? But a class war implies enemies are battling. Clearly that’s not happening. This is more like economic genocide.

We have an economic and a political system that are creating more poverty, death and destruction than any other systems known to man. Out of all this pain and crisis is an opportunity.

We’ve been programmed to believe ‘there is no alternative.’ Some of us, particularly those who visit Gonzo Times regularly, know this is wrong but many others don’t. It is this programming that is hindering our ability to think of or even consider alternatives.

Continuing to educate/inform people about theoretical alternatives is important but at some point implementation is important. Today, we are seeing direct action and various forms of civil disobedience sweep across the globe. However, in the interest of translating current forms of direct action into real social change other forms of direct action must happen. Mainly, the creation of new institutions and systems.

Rudolph Rocker in Anarchism and Anarcho-Syndicalism said:

Every development of voluntary organisation in the various fields of social activity towards the direction of personal freedom and social justice deepens the awareness of the people and strengthens their social responsibility, without which no changes in social life can be accomplished. [emphasis added]

The creation of new institutions whether in the workplace, education or everyday life are the foundation for the change that many of us seek. Without these new institutions or ‘voluntary organisations’ what have we really accomplished? History and current events show us that it is possible to create new institutions.

One of the institutions that I would like to focus on today is worker ownership and more specifically worker cooperatives. Worker cooperatives are certainly nothing new to United States. Although you wouldn’t know this from talking to people. One of the common refrains I get from people after public presentations on worker cooperatives is ‘why haven’t we heard about this before.’ I tell them it is how we’ve been programmed.

A worker cooperative is a business model (yes, they still operate in a market economy) that is owned and managed by workers. Workers own equal shares and have an equal say in the management of the business. A worker cooperative focuses on meeting the economic needs of it owner/members before profits.

Today, worker cooperatives (hopefully) are organized based on a set cooperative principles and values. First principle being:

Voluntary & Open membership – Co-operatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.

I say hopefully because the nature of the movement would not force any set of principles or values upon anyone.

In the US, during early 1800s, worker cooperatives were organized by some of the first North American labor unions. According to <a href="http://american.coop/node/99"John Curl, a cooperative historian, these early worker cooperatives were basically mutual aid organizations. During this time worker cooperatives became a movement in response to injustices of the rising capitalist system and the concomitant impoverishment and disempowerment of the working classes.

Knights of Labor was a huge supporter and organizer of worker cooperatives. KOL developed the “Cooperative Commonwealth.” It’s mission was to abolish ‘wage slavery’ and replace it with workplace democracy. Worker cooperative movement paralleled the demise of KOL.

Today, we are seeing a re-emergence of the worker cooperative movement. The mission of the movement is centered on democratizing the workplace and social justice. Like the 1800’s worker cooperative development is driven by economic necessity and a desire for alternative ways of operating a business. However, this time much of cooperative development is driven either by not-for-profit organizations helping to organize low-wage workers or groups of people interested in this using this alternative business model and not unions.

Worker cooperatives can and are currently addressing many of the problems we have with capitalism. Worker cooperatives can also provide a foundation for changes that we seek. They are one alternative whose time has come, again.

I hope to share with you more information on worker cooperatives in the weeks ahead but before next time I leave you with this line from the Preamble to the Constitution of the Industrial Workers of the World:

Instead of the conservative motto, “A fair day’s wage for a fair day’s work,” we must inscribe on our banner the revolutionary watchword, “Abolition of the wage system.