Co-op ends the divi

The Co-operative model has never really worked for years now so it's no great surprise that they are behaving like any other capitalist buisness. Of course the dream of somehow insulating the Co-op from capitalism was never really viable as Marx pointed out in the Povert of Philosophy when he argued against Proudhonist ideas that there can be islands of co-operation in a capitalist sea. Using this analogy I would say that the capitalist sea has swallowed the co-operative movement just as it should have done.

While not a member of the SPGB I do think that an article on the Co-op with its historical development and the reasons why it had to fail using it's own criteria would be quite useful. It was or should have been no surprise to any Marxist that the end result of the Co-op would be that it would become another capitalist business whether it took a hundred years or a shhorter time frame. Although I'm certain that the Rochdale pioneers would have been disgusted how their beloved enterprise would turn out. After all they did genuinly believe that co-operative businesses could be run using co-operative principles that would also be applied not only to retail but also to the productive sector of the economy.I'm not too certain however whether to give over a full issue of Socialist Standard would be all that productive.

We may have not done a dedicated pamphlet to the co-operative idea but our blogs have not been idle in offering analyses. But it can all be summed up as that co-ops offer some people some form of temporary relief  through the coping mechanism of co-ops but as for them being a stepping stone towards socialism, workers will be sadly disappointed.http://www.socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2013/07/utopian-capitalism.htmlhttp://www.socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2011/06/co-opting-co-ops.htmlhttp://www.socialismoryourmoneyback.blogspot.com/2009/04/worker-co-operatives.html http://socialist-courier.blogspot.com/2013/09/self-managed-exploitation.html http://socialist-courier.blogspot.com/2013/04/the-co-op-cop-out.html http://socialist-courier.blogspot.com/2013/06/co-ops-are-for-coping.html http://socialist-courier.blogspot.com/2013/06/the-new-economics-dusty-old-ideas.html

We can now add the Lefty-capitalist's favourite model Mondragon, to the casualty list. http://www.economist.com/news/business/21589469-collapse-spains-fagor-tests-worlds-largest-group-co-operatives-trouble-workers One of the group’s  constituent co-ops—has found its limit. Fagor has lost money for five years and has run up debts of €850m ($1.2 billion). Its sales have fallen sharply because of Spain’s property bust and low-cost competition from Asia. Even pay cuts of over 20% have not been enough to turn it around. Its factories all ceased production three weeks ago…In the past, losses in one part of the group have been covered by the others, but this time Fagor’s pleas for a €170m lifeline were rejected, even though the Spanish and Basque governments were ready to step in as part of the rescue. Eroski, another co-operative in the Mondragon group and one of Spain’s largest retailers, is also struggling in the face of stiff competition, and it and two other co-ops vetoed Fagor’s plan.

The run on the bank continues.  "local authorities across Britain have been warned by financial advisers to urgently remove their money from Co-op bank accounts"http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/nov/23/labour-faces-co-op-cash-crisis But who is running the co-op – the Tories are  "the Co-op Group after it emerged that the mutual is now being advised by Quiller Consultants, whose senior executives include David Cameron's former special adviser, Sean Worth, and George Bridges, a close friend of George Osborne and former campaign director for the Conservatives under Cameron when in opposition." But every crisis has a silver lining – Co-op donations to the Labour Party is to be cut

Mondragón president Txema Gisasola stated, “We receive visitors from many companies and many countries, and some come here with a magical idea of what Mondragón is. This is not magic. We are in this market, competing in the capitalist world, and the only difference is how we do things and why we do things. We have to be competitive, we have to be efficient, we have to have quality in our products and give satisfaction to our clients, and we have to be profitable. In that sense we are no different from anyone else.” Says it all, doesn't it and if he is truly honest the how they did things and why they did it isn't that much different , either