Worker Cooperatives In Theory And Practice

Worker Cooperatives • In Theory and Practice Mary Mellor, Janet Hannah, John Stirling Open University Press Milton Keynes . Philadelphia Open University Press Open University Educational Enterprises Limited 12 Cofferidge Close Stony Stratford Milton Keynes MKll IBY and 242 Cherry Street, Philadelphia, PA 19106, USA First published 1988 Copyright © 1988 The Authors All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, without written permission from the publisher. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data Mellor, Mary Workers cooperatives in theory and practice. 1. Workers' cooperatives I. Title II. Stirling, John III. Hannah, Janet 334'.6 ISBN 0-335-15863-3 ISBN 0-335-15862-5 pbk Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Mellor, Mary . . Worker cooperatives in theory and pratice/Mary Mellor, John Stirling, Janet Hannah. p. cm. Bibliography: p. Includes index. 1. Producer cooperatives. 2. Employee ownership. I. Stirling, John (John W. G.) II. Hannah, Janet. III. Title. HD3121.M45 1988 338.6-dc19 88-5187 CIP ISBN 0-335-15863-3 ISBN 0-335-15862-5 (pbk.) Typeset by Gilbert Composing Services, Leighton Buzzard, Beds. Printed in Great Britain by The Alden Press, Oxford J (') \''''' Contents Acknowledgments Abbreviations Introduction 1 The Cooperative Heritage Robert Owen (1771-1858) - Utopianism in France - Producer cooperation - The Consumer Movement - Trade unions and cooperation - The producer - consumer debateBeatrice Potter and the producer cooperatives - Critics of producer cooperation- William Morris and Guild Socialism - Guild Socialism and syndicalism - Themes of nineteenth century cooperation - CommunalismFeminism - Conclusion 2 The Resurgence of Cooperation Rebuilding cooperation - The Scott-Bader Commonwealth - The alternative movement- Workers' control- The Industrial Common Ownership MovementFederations - Phoenix cooperatives - The Benn cooperatives - Trade union action - The poli tical framework for worker cooperatives legislationCooperatives and the law - Support organizations - A new realism - Conclusion 3 Worker Cooperatives in a Capitalist Economy Worker capitalism- The Marxist debate -workers' control or workers' exploitation - Finance - MarketsEase of entry - Market sector and customer dependency- Worker cooperatives and the labour process - Conclusions VB V111 IX 1 35 66 Worker Cooperatives Vi 93 4 Living with Capitalism: Protect and Survive Cooperatives and market protection - Cooperatives as businesses - Governmental support structures - Criteria of survival- Evaluating commercial performance 5 Worker Cooperatives: The Inside Story Cooperatives as democracies of producers - ManagementTrade unions and cooperatives - Self-development Conclusion 113 6 Worker Cooperation and the Future of Industrial Capitalism The restructuring of work - Ecology - Autonomous production - Socially useful production - Decentralization and the market - Decentralization and ownershipDecentralization and the control of productionCooperation and feminism- Cooperation and Utopianism 147 7 Conclusions and Overview The ideal cooperative - Employment - ParticipationSocially useful products - Organization of workpolitical consciousness - Exploitation - DecentralisationAgents of change 173 Bibliography 180 Index 189 Acknowledgements It may seem an odd set of acknowledgements that begins with mutual back-slapping among the authors. However, our book has been a coo