Wolff, co-ops and socialism
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Another pro-cooperative article that is entirely ignorant of why Mondragon was set up by the right-wing Catholic Church with the aid and assistance of Franco
https://www.counterpunch.org/2020/09/14/resisting-authoritarianism-one-co-op-at-a-time/
In the Caribbean region, the Coops was also set up by the Catholic church in 1949, and especially in those countries who have signed Concordatos with the Vatican
John Lewis, that bastion of co-ownership, has confirmed that staff will not receive a bonus for the first time since 1953.
Even before Covid-19 hit, the chain had warned it might not pay the usual staff bonus as competition ate into profits.
Mountain Equipment Co-op, Canada’s largest retail cooperative, announced it would be acquired by the Los Angeles-based private investment firm Kingswood Capital Management – a move that blindsided many of the co-op’s five million members.
Executives “had a stark choice: preserve the MEC brand and business under new ownership or enter liquidation ending the MEC legacy.”
The company has said that by entering creditor protection, it does not require approval from its members, since companies can sell assets with court approval.
I have seen the same trends for many years
Here is some more Wolffism this time in respect of Cuba’s readjustment of percentage allocations from state to private, cooperative and state management of its economy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpgM80xLF9I&feature=youtu.be
Having endorsed the vote for the lesser evil, Wolff now says that Biden’s policies could lead back to another Trump-style presidency
How Biden could pave the way for the next Trump – Alternet.org
“Biden gives every sign—in conditions of even worse economic and political decline—of repeating these oscillating failures. In so doing, he prepares the way for the next Trump.”
And then, some are saying that we are Champaign socialists and that we were wrong. Let’s hear the opinion of Noam Chomsky and Naomi Klein. Alexandria Cortez is already distancing herself from Joe Biden, and they are blaming her for the loss of some democratic seats in the House of representative. Bob Avakian is asking why 70 million peoples voted for a fascist. We know that there are not fascists, and there is not fascism
Here is some more Wolffism this time in respect of Cuba’s readjustment of percentage allocations from state to private, cooperative and state management of its economy.
This time they do not call it Neoliberalism, and we know that the problem is not neoliberalism, the problem is capitalism. Like the Socialist Standard said : Old religion repacked
Wolff’s latest starts well, that we don’t perceive our problems in the re-distribution of wealth but in addressing the inequalities at the production part of the economy.
Then it is downhill all the way with his customary praise of WSDEs
“…converting workplaces from their current capitalist organization (i.e., hierarchical divisions into employers—public or private—and employees) into worker cooperatives…”
Has any member ever had any direct contact with him on his ideas?
A rare critique of Wolff and co-ops by some IWW-ers
You can’t win without a fight: Why worker cooperatives are a bad strategy
I do not know why Richard Wolf call himself a Marxist when the coop movement is a creation of Robert Owen and the Utopian Socialist, probably, he has not read Engels book on the utopian socialists.
Not bad. Makes the same point that worker cooperatives can only operate on the margins of the capitalist economy and, as businesses producing for the market, are subject to same pressures to keep costs down and accumulate capital to innovate so as to stay competitive as any other business. And that workers already cooperate to run industry and services from top to bottom, only not in their own interest and so have no need to learn how to do this.
But the article offers no alternative to capitalist production for the market by wage workers, just that unions are needed to resist downward pressures exerted by capital on wages and conditions. No doubt unions are better than coops, but they have their limitations too and are fighting a permanent defensive battle.
I thought that the IWW was committed to the abolition of the wages system. In that case they missed an opportunity to spell out that this is only possible on the basis of the common ownership and democratic control of the means of production.
That experiment was done several times in Argentina, they were run as capitalists enterprises by the workers and when companies started to produce profits, the state took the enterprises from the hands of the workers and they were given back to their original owner, or the state became the partner of the original owners
I thought that the IWW was committed to the abolition of the wages system. In that case they missed an opportunity to spell out that this is only possible on the basis of the common ownership and democratic control of the means of production.
Those were the original Wodbblies who were more radicals, and were different to the AFL-CIO. The USA working class has received many defeats and the capitalists have obtained many victories
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