Re: OT: Atheist joke

On Sun, 26 Mar 2006 15:19:22 +0000, Noone wrote:
bill.sloman@xxxxxxxx wrote:
John Larkin wrote:
On Fri, 24 Mar 2006 21:23:38 GMT, "Rich Grise, but drunk"

<snip>

Drudge had a funny headline yesterday:

FRENCH ANARCHISTS RIOT FOR JOB SECURITY

Well, anarcho-syndicalists wouldn't fit in a headline, and nobody in the
U.S. realses that anarcho-syndicalists are a funny kind of non-communist
socialist who believes in organising businesses as worker's
co-operatives rather than as limited-stock companies, where the
stake-holders and workes are dstinct and entirely separate groups with
distinct and entirely separate interests.

There are still a few worker's cooperatives around - the Co-op Stores in
the U.K. and the John Lewis Partnership - and they were doing fine when
I last looked, but when the workers in Catalonia got uppity, early in
the Spanish Civil war (the one that Franco won) and took over their
companies from the Franco-supporting bosses, the legitimate anti-Franco
central government treated the anarcho-syndicalist companoies as a
bigger danger than Franco and shut them all down, despite the consequent
loss of military production.

In the small town in Northern Minnesota where I spent my early youth,
nearly everything was co-operatively based: The power company, the store,
the feed mill, the creamery. Some remnants of those organizations exist
today. Most of this came out a large Finnish and Scandinavian community.
Many have been assimilated into larger co-operatives and then slowly into
the general corporate world. Credit unions and rural power companies
still thrive here today as co-operatives.

To me, it is the ultimate business structure. It works to create a profit
which is then distributed back to the shareholders - i.e. the community it
serves. So I guess you can count me as one of those USD $ 10 word
anarcho-syndicalists.


Hey! Another Minnesot'n! I'm in California now, but I still remember the
farm co-ops. (I also hyphenate it, to distinguish it from a chicken coop ;-) )
There were little municipalities, collections of buildings around the
local grain elevator (a church, a couple gas stations, a bar, stuff like
that), and instead of being incorporated as a city or town, they'd have a
"Now entering such-and-such co-op" sign.

I believe cooperation can work, as soon as people heal from their
addiction to power-tripping.

Cheers!
Rich
--
"We have met the enemy and he is us." - Pogo Possum

.

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  • Re: OT: Atheist joke
    ... John Larkin wrote: ... Well, anarcho-syndicalists wouldn't fit in a headline, and nobody in ... There are still a few worker's cooperatives around - the Co-op Stores ... in the Spanish Civil war (the one that Franco won) and took over their ...
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