Setting Up A Workplace Co-op

As an anarchist, I am always interested in finding alternative (i.e. non-capitalist) ways of organising production and society.  The idea of worker co-operatives has always appealed to me as a step toward both an economy and a decision-making process based on mutual aid rather than exploitation.

I came across this really interesting video that covers a lot of ground about setting up a co-op and thought it worth sharing:

 

It has to be remembered that all of the organization discussed here is setting up within a capitalist economy; establishing it within a mutual aid model would need some tweaks.

However, variations of the basic model works at any scale, as I have discussed previously in regard to the banking industry.

Image: Northern Wheat

Tintin at 90!

 

Yesterday, I missed a really important birthday — the always wonderful Tintin was 90 years old!  His first adventure was published by Herge on January 10, 1929 in a small Belgian paper.

In 1961, when I was slipping between 11 and 12, my father was working in the south of France and I stayed with him in Nice for eight to ten weeks.  It was there that I first came in contact with the boy wonder. Other than buying fruit in the market and playing soccer on the beach with local kids, reading Tintin was a major source of French lessons for me.  Later in the 1960s, we had an animated version on TV in England; and some years ago, the Everloving bought me for Christmas two wonderful Tintin books.  He has always been one of my favourites.

Stephen Spielberg and Peter Jackson made a very creditable movie version a few years back; I hope there will be sequels.