Richard D. Wolff

The "Cleveland Model" is an important step toward building a worker coop enterprise sector of the US economy as a long overdue alternative to the capitalist, top-down hierarchical model of enterprise organization. The Cleveland Model builds worker coops around anchor institutions (e.g. universities, hospitals, etc.) that can be approached to sponsor such a sector (sometimes even with financial help) and, more crucially, to provide worker coops with a significant and secure demand for their outputs. In short, such anchor institutions can be a great help to inaugurating and sustaining worker coops within an economy - such as the US - in which capitalistically organized enterprises dominate and might otherwise block or undermine emerging worker coop competitors. I would only add that there are other, different ways to help and sustain worker coops that deserve attention and implementation alongside the Cleveland Model. I am especially concerned that government subsidies and support be sought and fought for politically so that the worker coop sector of modern economies gets the same systematic supports that capitalist businesses have for centuries sought and received from government.