Three months into the UN year of the co-op, after over half a year of OWS and now beginning the fifth year the continuing economic crisis a vast expansion of interest in co-operatives has been generated. More specifically, this interest has focused on the most radical aspect of co-operative development – worker cooperatives. Those of us who are active in promoting a democratic economy, as an alternative to the economy of the oligarchy, can only be pleased with this interest and the inquiries that we have received. On the other hand, some of this new interest brings with it assumptions, misunderstandings and worse, an agenda. To help clarify the place of worker co-operatives in “the larger scheme of things,” from so to speak, the inside out, I am contributing some thoughts based on my experiences. I expect that these comments will elicit some controversy, so I need to say that they represent my opinions alone and do not reflect the views of Inkworks Press, NoBAWC or JASecon. –bernard read more »
