Alternative Modes of Co-operative Production

The growing self-management and producer co-operative literature tends to move from an idealized conception of the democratic possibilities of the market, through an analysis of the purely formal democratic structures of co-operative organizations, to a positivist analysis of the assumed changes in workers' attitudes towards the enterprise. This paper is devoted to showing the divergent possibilities for self-management and producer co-operatives at the economic level, organizational level, and in terms of workers' own expectations and experiences. At the level of the economy the plan versus market debate is considered; at the level of the organization stress is placed on the importance of changes in technology and the division of labour; the ambivalence revealed in self-managed enterprises towards trade unionism is examined; finally, with regard to workers involvement in self-managed organizations, the importance of participatory democracy is emphasized. In considering the range of co-operative philosophies, forms and activities, the possible directions of future co-operative development are presented.