Abstract
One of the most unfortunate results of neoliberalism, capitalist culture and our global economy at large is the marginalization of alternative voices, spaces and socio-economic movements. This is particularly true with regard to cooperatives and the cooperative movement.
The (modern) cooperative movement generally began in the early 1800s as an alternative to industrial organization, on one hand, and as an alternative to radical political revolution on the other. 1 Unlike capitalist firms, cooperatives are (1) owned and (2) democratically managed by their members (e.g. clients, workers, producers, etc.), all of which decentralizes power and redistributes resources. They are, indeed, a form of socialism (a term apparently coined in The Cooperative Magazine in 1827). But despite the fact that today, over 1 billion people (about 12% of the human population) are members of a cooperative, they are continually sidelined and stereotyped as ‘niche’, ‘hippie’ or just incapable of addressing today’s pressing social and economic concerns. Cooperatives are also criticized by the left (for cooperating with market, price, and legal structures, not challenging larger political hegemony, etc.) 2 as well as by the right (for countering big capital, replacing profit-maximization with human goals and socializing/democratizing the workplace). Perhaps this is unfortunate given how much cooperatives have accomplished for so many over nearly two centuries, and for how promising they are for the 21st century – where even the United Nations declared 2012 the ‘International Year of Cooperatives’, and popular Marxist economists like Richard Wolff define socialism in terms of worker cooperatives (Wolff 2019).
Cooperatives in the Global Economy is a much-needed series of essays that demonstrate the concrete realities of cooperative economics across the globe. After a foundational chapter on the meaning of cooperative enterprise and its distinction among the endless models and forms of economic activity, the rest of the book essentially looks at geographic profiles. Readers learn about the thriving cooperative movement in Tanzania, India, Philippines, Argentina, South Africa, Armenia, ‘Post-Yugoslav Space’ and others. Some of the chapter contributions are historical and qualitative, while others implement fresh quantitative research on a particular aspect of cooperative economics. Subtopics include areas like public policy, the relationship of cooperative enterprise to state, capital and global markets, financial inclusion, rural development, poverty and poverty reduction, agriculture, management, social integration and responsibility, and others.
As Tapas Dash (the editor) summarizes: . . . a significant position has been assigned to cooperatives through the tasks of alleviating poverty, creating employment opportunities, and improving the socioeconomic standards of people in general and the disadvantaged section of the society in particular. The nonexploitative character of cooperatives, voluntary nature of their membership, democratically controlled organization, decentralized decision-making process, equitable contribution to capital, and a fair share of risks and benefits dignify them as agents for socioeconomic development. (p. 1)
Readers come to appreciate all of this when learning about these developments in numerous countries – where cooperative economics have truly been fundamental, not supplemental. The robust nature of cooperative organizations also becomes evident when looking at, for example, how they survived many regime changes and political movements (from industrialism, to statist communism, to neoliberalism) in Tanzania (Chapters 4 and 12).
The authors are anything but naïve when it comes to cooperatives and identify their precise weaknesses in various social and economic conditions in particular industries. It also becomes apparent when cooperatives function best – for example, when the political apparatus makes room for them; they grow weak and lose their power when the state takes them over. (The ‘autonomy’ principle of the International Cooperative Alliance comes to the fore here.) In reading through the research, the biggest challenge of cooperatives seems to be startup costs (i.e. obtaining capital), almost affirming the proverbial saying ‘It takes money to make money’. Cooperatives face local challenges; they have been co-opted by white supremacy in South African apartheid (see ch 10), for example, and racism continues to hinder their post-apartheid success (p. 186). 3 Readers may also appreciate just how fast the global cooperative movement spread in its earliest phases (for instance, ‘The first cooperative in the territory of the Republic of Serbia today was founded in 1846’, p. 112, which I wouldn’t have expected).
Not all contributors agree on the nature or function of cooperatives. Zamagni in ‘Why Do We Need Cooperatives to Make the Business World Plural?’ frames cooperatives as less threatening to the neoliberal establishment, less radical a model of production and more of a way to achieve important ends that capitalism cannot achieve. But Andrés E. Ruggeri in ‘Workers’ Cooperative Movement in Argentina and Other Latin American Countries’ is less accommodating, and more sympathetic to traditional Marxist theory.
4
He plainly states that: the self-management process cannot be completely avoided from the influence of the capitalist market . . . although workers feel like being the ‘owners’ of their labor process, they cannot escape from the ultimate aspect of alienated labor: the production of commodities for exchange on a market whose logic and purpose is beyond their control. (p. 166)
Thus, If self-managed enterprises are not based on capital accumulation, they must follow an organizational way of life that controls, or even eliminates, the adoption of any type of capitalist logic justifying the exploitation of workers in the workplace and in the society. Democratic and solidarity-based management strategies, with all of the complexity of its mechanisms for participation, are the foundation for generating a noncapitalist logic for guiding ERTs. (p. 167)
The goal of the firm should be for workers ‘to enjoy basic living standards that can provide jobs to others and will be socially integrated’ (p. 169), which noticeably challenges Zamagni’s argument for investor-capital within cooperative enterprise. 5
Cooperatives in the Global Economy is a wonderful collection of original research that provides historical, theoretical, empirical, and geographic insights on one of the most important socio-economic movements growing today. While there is much debate, and many different discourses surrounding the nature and role of cooperatives/cooperative economics, anyone interested in establishing, nurturing and studying successful alternatives to contemporary global capitalism will appreciate this important and fascinating work.