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submitted 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) by Yondoza@sh.itjust.works to c/asklemmy@lemmy.ml

The overarching goal of communism is for laborers to own the means of production instead of an owning/capitalist class. Employee owned businesses are the realization of communism within a capitalist society.

It seems to me that most communist organizations in capitalist societies focus on reform through government policies. I have not heard of organizations focusing on making this change by leveraging the capitalist framework. Working to create many employee owned businesses would be a tangible way to achieve this on a small but growing scale. If successful employee owned businesses are formed and accumulate capital they should be able to perpetuate employee ownership through direct acquisition or providing venture capital with employee ownership requirements.

So my main questions are:

  1. Are organizations focusing on this and I just don't know about it?
  2. If not, what obstacles are there that would hinder this approach to increasing the share labor collective ownership?
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[-] TheBeege@lemmy.world 2 points 15 hours ago

That all makes sense except the class distinctions part. If whole cooperatives share the capital of the organization, how is there a class divide?

Everything you're saying about competition and private interest makes sense, with my limited understanding. I just don't get the class point you made. Help me understand?

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 4 points 15 hours ago

Cooperatives are petite-bourgeois structures. They are small cells of worker-owners that only own their small cell, and exclude its ownership from society as a whole. Since cooperatives exist only in the context of the broader economy, they form small cells of private property aimed at improving their own standing at the expense of others.

Think of it this way, a worker in coop A has fundamentally different property relations to the Capital owned by coop A than worker B does in coop A. This creates a society of petite bourgeois worker-owners, not a classless society of equal ownership of all amongst all.

[-] TheBeege@lemmy.world 3 points 8 hours ago

Got it. That makes much more sense. Thank you for the clarification! And very clear explanation

[-] Cowbee@lemmy.ml 3 points 1 hour ago
this post was submitted on 17 May 2025
178 points (95.4% liked)

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