Wolff, co-ops and socialism

March 2024 Forums General discussion Wolff, co-ops and socialism

Viewing 15 posts - 61 through 75 (of 116 total)
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  • #206591
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    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/

     

    #206614
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    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

    #206628
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    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.

    https://www.bbc.com/news/business-54187674

    #206848
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    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.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/sep/22/canada-mountain-equipment-co-op-members-bid-block-sale-us-firm

    #206850
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    I have seen the same trends for many years

    #208798
    PartisanZ
    Participant

    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

    • This reply was modified 3 years, 4 months ago by PartisanZ.
    #210704
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    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.”

    #210705
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    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

    #210708
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    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

    #218773
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    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.

    Why We Need to Democratize Wealth: the U.S. Capitalist Model Breeds Selfishness and Resentment

    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?

    #219608
    alanjjohnstone
    Keymaster

    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

    #219683
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    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.

    #219684
    ALB
    Keymaster

    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.

    #219686
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    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

    #219687
    Anonymous
    Inactive

    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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