The U.S. experience with worker cooperation

Abstract

This article surveys the U.S. experience with worker cooperation. Worker cooperation is viewed as an alternative mode of production which exists within the capitalist economy. The historical experience is divided into the pre-Civil War era, the period between 1865 and 1930, the Depression years, and the post-World War II era. Reasons for the creation of worker cooperatives are surveyed, as are the determinants of cooperative growth, development, and failure. Generally, worker cooperation has been a heterogeneous movement, both in terms of geographical and industrial dispersion. It has also been mainly a working class phenomenon, and has therefore suffered from a lack of working capital and of management skills. It is argued that cooperative enterprise is a viable strategy for regional economic development and for relieving unemployment due to recessions and plant closings. This requires the establishment of supportive structures that can provide capital and technical assistance.