cooperative economy

Where Teachers Rule

Ethan — Sun, 22 Jun 2008 22:32:36 -0400

A school with no principals? It's like a shop with no bosses. Introducing "Teacher Cooperatives"!

South End Press: Independent & Collectively-Run

Ethan — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 15:12:27 -0400

A radical cooperative press in Boston, since 1977.

Searching For the Next Cooperative Principle

Ethan — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 16:52:31 -0500

By Len Krimerman

In 1995, the International Cooperative Alliance adopted seven cooperative principles to define and guide cooperatives throughout the world. Briefly stated, the "traditional seven" include: voluntary and open membership; democratic member control; member economic participation; autonomy and independence; education, training and information; cooperation among cooperatives; and concern for community.

Our Eyes On the Prize: From a "Worker Co-op Movement" to a Transformative Social Movement

Ethan — Tue, 26 Feb 2008 15:56:02 -0500

While empathizing with those who feel a sense of "inevitability" in the face of today's powerful capitalist economy (and disagreeing with those who see it as generally acceptable), I hold firmly to the perspective that a more just and democratic economy is both necessary and possible. And I believe that the greatest chance of increasing and assuring viability for the workplace democracy movement may rest in our ability to keep our "eyes on the prize"; that is, on the long term replacement of capitalism―an economy which socializes costs and privatizes benefits―with an economy of democratic cooperation―in which costs and benefits are democratically and equitably shared throughout society.

Cooperativization As Alternative to Globalizing Capitalism

Ethan — Wed, 12 Dec 2007 22:48:08 -0500

By Betsy Bowman & Bob Stone, GEO Collective

This Occasional Paper by editor/activists at Grassroots Economic Organizing is meant to stimulate dialog on the future of the grassroots economic democracy movement. This is a fully re-written update of an essay available since 1994 to GEO readers. We hope for wide use of this text, with attribution to the authors and GEO. Please email us with ideas/dialogue.

Our goal is more than simple options for individual improvement. It is more. If the co-operative enterprise does not serve for more, the world of work has the right to spit in our faces.
- Jose Maria Arizmendiarrieta (Quoted by MacLeod 1997)