Richard D. Wolff

I was getting into Democracy At Work's videos for a while, but it no longer makes sense to me. "Cooperate within the business" (so that these cooperative units can then compete with one another.) It won't be as bad as what we have now, but is still far from a moral scenario. Once a few likeminded crooks get together, they can cut corners and act as mini-mcdonaldses. A cooperative workplace is just an impediment on the havoc that can be wreaked but in no way a deterrent. Just as the "democracy" we have now politically doesn't translate outside of politics. Having even real democracy in the work place would have no reason to translate outside of that particular business. They could still fuck over the environment, the consumer, and one another just as businesses do today, albeit to a lesser extent: this is nothing to get too excited about. I do believe in cooperation, but what we need to ask is cooperation for what. The goal in this case is going to be the same as in the capitalism we have now. Make as much money as possible so we can worry less about waking up with nothing. Even if measures are taken to prevent single employees losing their jobs, if the business fails, everybody loses their job. And in order to not fail, they're going to want to make stuff or provide services at the lowest cost possible to the business and highest to the customer. This save the changes of a greater feeling of investment and say in the company and benefits of those is business as usual. People under this system will be working together in small groups. But the groups and virtually everything that is around them will not be working together. Please correct me if I am wrong here, I would very much like to be.