Cooperatives
Definition
A co-operative is an autonomous association of persons united voluntarily to meet their common economic, social, and cultural needs and aspirations through a jointly-owned and democratically-controlled enterprise.
The Wikipedia has a very elaborate entry on Cooperatives, at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cooperative
Values
Co-operatives are based on the values of self-help, self-responsibility, democracy, equality, equity and solidarity. In the tradition of their founders, co-operative members believe in the ethical values of honesty, openness, social responsibility and caring for others.
Principles behind cooperatives
From http://www.ica.coop/coop/principles.html
The co-operative principles are guidelines by which co-operatives put their values into practice.
1st Principle: Voluntary and Open Membership
Co-operatives are voluntary organisations, open to all persons able to use their services and willing to accept the responsibilities of membership, without gender, social, racial, political or religious discrimination.
2nd Principle: Democratic Member Control
Co-operatives are democratic organisations controlled by their members, who actively participate in setting their policies and making decisions. Men and women serving as elected representatives are accountable to the membership. In primary co-operatives members have equal voting rights (one member, one vote) and co-operatives at other levels are also organised in a democratic manner.
3rd Principle: Member Economic Participation
Members contribute equitably to, and democratically control, the capital of their co-operative. At least part of that capital is usually the common property of the co-operative. Members usually receive limited compensation, if any, on capital subscribed as a condition of membership. Members allocate surpluses for any or all of the following purposes: developing their co-operative, possibly by setting up reserves, part of which at least would be indivisible; benefiting members in proportion to their transactions with the co-operative; and supporting other activities approved by the membership.
4th Principle: Autonomy and Independence
Co-operatives are autonomous, self-help organisations controlled by their members. If they enter to agreements with other organisations, including governments, or raise capital from external sources, they do so on terms that ensure democratic control by their members and maintain their co-operative autonomy.
5th Principle: Education, Training and Information
Co-operatives provide education and training for their members, elected representatives, managers, and employees so they can contribute effectively to the development of their co-operatives. They inform the general public - particularly young people and opinion leaders - about the nature and benefits of co-operation.
6th Principle: Co-operation among Co-operatives
Co-operatives serve their members most effectively and strengthen the co-operative movement by working together through local, national, regional and international structures.
7th Principle: Concern for Community
Co-operatives work for the sustainable development of their communities through policies approved by their members.
Discussion
Michel Bauwens, comparing p2p and cooperatives:
"1. P2P is based on cyberspace and therefore it has a global scale and cooperatives are designed for a physical (and therefore inherently more local) production system.
2. P2P belongs to all while cooperatives belong to an specific collective (workers or consumers)
3. P2P produces use value in a commons; while cooperatives run in the marketplace and, because of that, they are geared towards the creation of exchange value.
4. P2P is emerging as a phenomenon supported by online world, are emerging as more productive that other forms of production, while cooperatives have traditionally been marginalized in our capitalist world.
5. P2P is a system where anyone contributes but without any exigency of return and cooperatives are based on reciprocity.
6. They can be complementary in the following way: 1) globa-local Open Design communities create a Commons for the global development of the knowledge; 2) local cooperatives work in the marketplace, using the open designs, and are themselves contributing to it.
7. Cooperatives are a more equity-based approach to working with peer communities, than for-profit institutions, and therefore may be preferable as a format for the marketization of the exchange value that is derived from the P2P-commons"
More Discussion
Blog entries:
- http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/p2p-markets-cooperatives-the-state-and-altruism/2006/03/17
- http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/p2p-and-the-cooperative-movement-2/2006/03/11
- http://artesaniaenred.blogspot.com/2006/03/p2p-cooperatives-and-mondragon.html
- http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/p2p-and-the-cooperative-movement-critical-comments-from-marcus-moltz/2006/02/20
- http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/cooperative-capitalism-as-an-intermediary-between-the-market-and-peer-production/2006/02/20
- http://blog.p2pfoundation.net/p2p-and-the-cooperative-movement/2006/02/15