#Cooperatives#Coops#Socialism#SolidarityEconomy#WorkerOwnedFirms: "Fast forward to 2024. Once again, the Left is discussing strategies for political advance. It is clear that electoral campaigns on their own and short-lived protests are not enough to win durable victories. But unlike socialists of the past, the contemporary left’s discussions have largely ignored the strategic role that cooperatives — and the solidarity economy more generally, i.e., enterprises geared to serving the needs of workers and achieving broader social goals — can play in building up the Left’s power.
This is a mistake. History shows that a flourishing solidarity economy can provide a distinctive set of material and social benefits for the Left, benefits that can play a key role in socialism’s broader political revival. This is not to say that supporting cooperatives and other kinds of worker-owned firms should supplant our other political tactics — but neither should they be ignored. Rather, cooperatives can and should complement the Left’s other strategic efforts, as the Second International recognized long ago."