cooperative economy

A list of readings on Black liberation and economic democracy.

Jessica Gordon-Nembhard talks about her research into the history of African-American co-ops.

In this chapter, Luis Razeto identifies the key to the democratic transformation of the market – “the formation of a new social block, a subject of transformational action, the bearer of a new structure of social action” – and analyzes the various theoretical and practical obstacles that must be overcome in order for it to occur.

Designed to process 15,000 kg of green leaves per day, the Sahya Tea Cooperative generates employment for more than 150 workers, most of them recruited from the agricultural working class and peasantry, while also protecting the interests of the peasants amongst the small tea growers.

In order to identify the role that cooperativism can play in addressing the current crisis of the capitalist mode of production, we should analyze the preceding process of capitalist development as well as its contemporary crisis.

Come join Baltimore Roundtable for economic Democracy for a fun filled hour full of conversations about legal structures and capital! We will be discussing the pro's and con's, the differences between these flexible forms of doing business, and how you can put what you learn to work.

We continue to explore the relationship between cooperativism and the market and society. Is cooperativism “a practical demonstration of the possibility of an economy without bosses? A convenient mode of distribution of commodities? An economic form that preserves exploitation of workers and fails to overthrow bourgeois political domination? A way to live out the principles and values of Christianity in the economic terrain?”

The GEO is back in print after 19 years! 

In this chapter, Razeto makes use of a concept that is one of Antonio Gramsci’s most important theoretical contributions – the “determined market.”

Mirlo (“black bird” in Spanish) starts from a simple proposal: the music industry does not work for artists or listeners, and it needs a radical reimagining. Two years in, Mirlo hosts a small but growing community of artists, listeners, organizers, and coders who are trying exactly that: taking lessons from mutual aid and militant political organizing and applying them to a platform built cooperatively.