I did see a user on a Reddit communism community arguing in a thread about co-ops vs. communism that while worker co-ops aren’t an alternative to communism, they can very well cause or strengthen support for communism as they provide the proletariat that are still under capitalism a taste of collective ownership of the means of production, and shows them living examples that it can totally work, and so communists shouldn’t denounce it.

What are your thoughts? Anyone know more about the theory behind this or can link to resources? If this is the case, should communists support worker co-ops in capitalist countries?

  • T34 [they/them]
    7•3 years ago

    I agree with Rosa Luxemburg’s take on coops:

    As a result of competition, the complete domination of the process of production by the interests of capital – that is, pitiless exploitation – becomes a condition for the survival of each enterprise. The domination of capital over the process of production expresses itself in the following ways. Labour is intensified. The work day is lengthened or shortened, according to the situation of the market. And, 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.

    • Morys
      1•3 years ago

      The experience in the Basque region of Spain, famous for the role played by large coops in the community, suggests that they can be successful in this space