Collective Ownership

What Does Collective Ownership Have To Offer The Working Class?

The economy that we had prior to COVID and for as long as any of us can remember didn't work in the interests of the working class. By any measure we care to look at, it has not worked for us, ever.

COVID has only made working-class jobs more likely to become a lot more precarious and undervalued than they were before and this is likely to happen very quickly. Community ownership models when established in the right way can offer not only a quiet revolution to working-class people in terms of rights and agency (sense of control at work), they can also sew the seeds of challenging an economic paradigm (pattern or model) that lets us down time and again. The economy is failing us and failing our children. We can't wait for some miraculous change of government to decide against their own interests on our behalf. Whatever progress has been made in the past in terms of creating a more equal society, it has always been outweighed by rhetoric and backsliding and never been established on a firm enough footing that it can't be reversed.

It could be said that there is a lot at fault with our electoral and parliamentary system that is not only un-democratic and un-representative, but also that is entirely outside of our control. We can't even access a decent education about how the whole thing works, let alone stand much chance of being accepted in leadership roles. The good news is that maybe we don't have to wait or beg.

One thing we can do is learn more about co-operative models, where they can be applied and then start to create local networks that enable us to support each other in planting the seeds of change on our own class terms. We can hear from those from our own class who have done this successfully and would never look back.

Watch this space for more links about networks and good practice examples already out there and get in touch if you have a success you would like to share or would like to connect with others to get something or a number of things going locally classactivist@gmail.com