Re: [Marxism] Venezuela and market socialism

["David Powers" <cyborgk@xxxxxxxxx>]

On 9/8/06, Louis Proyect <lnp3@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

> If anything, the degeneration of Mondragon itself should make us think
> twice about this approach. But the bankruptcy of United Airlines, a
> worker-owned firm, should even go further and make us question whether
> worker ownership buys the working-class anything, even in terms of a
> decent life under capitalism.
>
> This is from www.wsws.org, a website that blends useful analyses such as
> this with bonkers Healyite ultraleftism:
>
> So-called employee-owned companies are also capitalist enterprises. They
> operate to make a profit and are subject to all the laws of the
> capitalist market. They must meet competition on the national and global
> arena through the capitalist methods of cost-cutting and downsizing.
>
> Even the claim that workers are the genuine owners of United Airlines
> and other "employee-owned" companies is false. It is the banks and
> financiers who funded the deal who are the real owners.
>
> These "worker buyouts" follow a definite pattern. Generally a company
> that is in trouble turns to its unions for concessions in an attempt to
> force the burden of the crisis onto the backs of the workers. There are
> threats of mass layoffs or closure. Workers are told they have no choice
> but to give up huge cuts in pay and accept the destruction of working
> conditions.

These are very interesting point. I think there is a very strong push
from the anarchists for worker owned enterprises as some kind of
utopian solution to the problems of capitalism. I disagree with the
idea that worker owned institutions, in themselves, will be able to
bring about a revolution and change of power from within the
capitalist framework.

The issue of credit is especially important in the above discussion,
since in so many cases it is the financiers who are the real owners of
the means of production. A worker owned business, is only really
worker owned, if it does not create profit for a capitalist bank.

On the other hand, I certainly think there is some place for worker
owned companies in the struggle for socialism. Working in these
organizations, one would expect to see an increase in solidarity and
class consciousness. Workers should also gain a greater ability to
exercise decision making and administer their own affairs, which I
believe would be very important if a socialist economy were built.

In general, it seems to me that there is a need for institutions that
increase the skills of workers, educate and empower them, and create a
basis for socialist economic activity if a revolution did arrive. This
is not the same as saying that such institutions, in themselves, would
be capable of creating revolutionary conditions. Rather, they would be
aimed at preparing people for the practical activities that would need
to occur after the revolution. They should be experimental in the
positive sense, of providing a forum for testing ideas and practices,
and learning which ones give the best results.

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