ABSTRACT

By popular media, Milkerie worker cooperative in France is foremost described as an alternative to capitalist enterprise. The cooperative managed to preserve jobs that the previous capitalist owner did not. By situating Milkerie as a production site in the broader macro-economic history, I show how cooperatives can and cannot propose an alternative to capitalism. In a cooperative, capital becomes means: it is used for safeguarding the activity of the cooperative and the livelihoods of its members. Similar to class struggle through the labour law, cooperatives provide a form of economic governance through which workers can shape the economy. However, cooperative decision-making and claim-making through labour law surge in different historical circumstances. Their success in safeguarding worker livelihoods depends on the enterprise's capability to create economic wealth through commodity production, which is highly dependent on the macro-economic context. Thus, although, in a cooperative, capital becomes means for other social goals than profit-making, capital above everything remains a relation, i.e. an impersonal mode of social domination that pushes for productivity growth and worker externalization from the economy. For a cooperative to succeed, it needs to be profitable in a capitalist market economy, which makes cooperative enterprises to adopt capitalist-like practices. The evidence presented in this article shows the pitfalls of a timeless theory on cooperatives.

摘要

在大众媒体看来，法国的牛奶厂工人合作社首先被描述为资本主义企业的替代品。合作社设法保住了前资本家所没有的工作。通过将牛奶厂作为更广泛的宏观经济历史中的生产基地，我展示了合作社如何能够也不能提出资本主义的替代方案。在合作社中，资本成为手段：它用于保护合作社的活动及其成员的生计。类似于通过劳动法进行的阶级斗争，合作社提供了一种经济治理形式，工人可以通过这种形式塑造经济。然而，在不同的历史背景下，合作决策和通过劳动法提出索赔的情况激增。他们在保障工人生计方面的成功取决于企业的“ 通过商品生产创造经济财富的能力，这在很大程度上取决于宏观经济环境。因此，尽管在合作社中，资本成为实现其他社会目标而不是盈利的手段，但资本高于一切仍然是一种关系，即一种非个人的社会支配模式，推动生产力增长和工人从经济中外化。合作社要想成功，就必须在资本主义市场经济中盈利，这使得合作社企业采取类似资本主义的做法。本文中提供的证据显示了关于合作社的永恒理论的缺陷。资本成为实现利润以外的其他社会目标的手段，资本高于一切仍然是一种关系，即一种非个人的社会支配模式，推动生产力增长和工人从经济中外化。合作社要想成功，就必须在资本主义市场经济中盈利，这使得合作社企业采取类似资本主义的做法。本文中提供的证据显示了关于合作社的永恒理论的缺陷。资本成为实现利润以外的其他社会目标的手段，资本高于一切仍然是一种关系，即一种非个人的社会支配模式，推动生产力增长和工人从经济中外化。合作社要想成功，就必须在资本主义市场经济中盈利，这使得合作社企业采取类似资本主义的做法。本文中提供的证据显示了关于合作社的永恒理论的缺陷。