Capitalism has surely transformed our lives and brought revolutions to the world, as well as increased living standards and quality of life with the assistance of large business houses but in the present era, it has become distracted from its original purpose, leading firms to feel that their sole job is to make profits and wealth, and that it is not their responsibility to care for society. In order to serve this purpose and mindset, workers are exploited to the maximum capacity and they are not even entitled to a fair share of the money they earn for the corporation. The capitalists keeps their wages low, and their lives improve little until they strike to persuade the corporations that more of the profits should go to those who generated those profits. This system of capitalist corporations is dealing with repeating tendencies toward extreme and deepening economic, wealth, and political and cultural power disparities. This system needs to be replaced, but what would be the alternative to this?

According to my perception, cooperatives could be a possible solution for capitalism. Cooperative economics is an increasingly popular economic model that prioritizes collaboration over competition. It’s not really socialism or communism and it’s not really capitalism. Cooperative economics is unique and it’s based on a new — actually very old — way of seeing work and value. Communally: as something we’re all in together with a vested interest in mutual success. (Brian, 2021)

Co-ops might have existed under the shadow of capitalism, corporations, and global markets, yet they continue to be a powerful source for satisfying people’s needs in fair and participative ways. Worker cooperatives are shifting the way workers used to work and Members of worker cooperatives are employees and owners. They no longer have a faceless corporate headquarters bossing them around: they and their peers are the boss (Brian, 2021). Capitalism, on the one hand, emphasizes on the enhancement of shareholder profit and is self-centred, Co-operatives on the other hand, are people-centred enterprises which brings people together in a democratic manner.

The prominent example of a Co-operative which could be proved as the best example for an alternative to capitalist corporations is ‘Mondragon’ which is the 7th biggest Spanish Company employing over 80,000 people in financial, industrial, retail, and knowledge divisions, with over $19 billion of sales in 2012 and eighty-six subsidiaries in seventeen countries. It originally made paraffin heaters with a handful of workers, but over half a century later, it has developed into an economic giant (Gasper). Mondragon employees have complete authority over their company. Each cooperative’s members gather in a general assembly once a year to pick who they want in charge; this board of directors is chosen to lead the cooperative in making crucial decisions and deciding the company’s direction.

Furthermore, the cooperative is not accountable to shareholders’ needs, outsiders cannot purchase any control, allowing management to focus entirely on their cooperative and the long-term interests of the community. Instead, Mondragon employees earn a portion of the company’s annual profits or losses based on a formula that attempts to reflect each worker’s relative productive contribution.

In conclusion, this worker’s control over production, management and revenues of the enterprise is indeed an alternative and solution to capitalism.

References

Brian, P. (2021, April). 10 ways cooperative economics is changing the way we live and work. Ideapod. Retrieved April 14, 2022, from 10 ways cooperative economics is changing the way we live and work (ideapod.com)

Gasper, P. (n.d.). Are workers’ cooperatives, the alternative to capitalism? . ISR – International Socialist Review. Retrieved April 14, 2022, from Are workers’ cooperatives the alternative to capitalism? | International Socialist Review (isreview.org)

By Gurpreet Kaur(76642) and Sangdeep Singh(76645)