United States of America

2011 Eastern Conference in Baltimore

Immanuel Ness reports, via the "Rosa-Luxemburg-Stiftung", on the 2011 Eastern Conference for Workplace Democracy. read more »

America’s Worker-Owned Plywood Firms

A 1974 article on the successes of worker-owned and -managed firms within the plywood-manufacturing industry of Oregon and Washington state.

Worker-owned and -managed firms have succeeded impressively in the US , within the plywood-manufacturing industry of Oregon and Washington state.  The following article (downloadable as a .PDF file) presents their history, and examines their inner life in detail. read more »

Worker Cooperatives in the United States: A Historical Perspective and Contemporary Assessment

While labor unions gave some workers a voice, other workers organized in their rural and urban communities to democratically control and take ownership of their workplaces.

    The philosophical foundation of the worker cooperative movement emerged in the 19th century in response to capitalist efforts to destabilize workers during the Industrial Revolution in England.  Two main factors propelled popular demands for cooperatives: invention of the "spinning mule" and the steam engine—new technologies that shaped a vast expansion in textile production, reducing worker wages and lengthening the work day.  Initiation of new mass production also reduced business demand for skilled labor and spurred migration to urban areas.  The deskilling of labor contributed to arduous working conditions and long hours that expanded poverty in the burgeoning industrial cities. The concentration of laborers working in the factories spurred the formation of trade unions to shorten hours, improve working conditions, and increase wages.  While labor unions gave some workers a voice in private businesses, other workers rejected traditional bureaucratic trade unions and sought a democratic voice in the fundamental decisions of their workplaces and communities.  To achieve this goal, these workers organized in their rural and urban communities to democratically control and take ownership of their workplaces, and build greater certainty in their livelihood. read more »

Essential Components in Workplace Democracy

Given the wide variety of attempts at workplace democracy, what could we learn if we were to examine a huge number of those concrete cases, and sought to find out why some democratized companies failed, while others succeeded? In particular, could we discover what was there in the internal functioning of worker-managed companies that led some to thrive over the long-term, while others failed (even though their external conditions such as market opportunities, financial support, etc. were favorable)? read more »

The Impact of Mondragon in the US

Solidarity Economy on the move

"I don't think we get the socialism by multiplying cooperatives - like mushrooms after the rain. I think cooperatives are just one tactic, one weapon among many in our arsenal."
Davidson speaks about the Mondragón Corporación Cooperativa (MCC),

Speech hold the 5th November 2011 at the International Conference: «Den Betrieb übernehmen. Einstieg in Transformation?» / «Occupy, Resist, Produce». Worker Cooperatives – Potential for Transformation?
Panel: Solidarity Economy on the move read more »

Workers' self-directed enterprises

From handling crises to social transformation

«The idea of workers self directed enterprises is that the workers displace and replace the capitalists with themselves. This has to be the next step in the process of transformation.»  read more »

Fire the Boss!

Naomi Klein & Avi Lewis on "The Worker Control Solution from Buenos Aires to Chicago"

Shock Doctrine author Naomi Klein and Al Jazeera host Avi Lewis discuss the workers who are taking over their factories and plants rather than lose their jobs, some to owners who owe money to bailed-out banks. read more »