Worker Cooperatives and Deep Democracy

Capitalism’s crisis is planetary. It is a system upending nature and society, causing many to live and work in despair. So far, the orthodox left has been incapable of inspiring an effective challenge to it. In Worker Cooperatives and Deep Democracy, Vishwas Satgar and Michelle Williams map a new transformative politics arising from inspiring examples of collectively owned and managed solidarity economy cooperative systems that advance planetary care from below and which have the potential to erode, tame and exit capitalism. Based on over a decade of research across 15 countries, the authors examine case studies that explore transformative approaches to social reproduction, public power, nature and territorial expansion in opposition to power structures.

They also uncover the power of the commons and solidarities engendering emancipatory, utopian imaginaries in the global north and south. They show how, against all the odds, people are experimenting with deep democracy and building systems of care to engender a future beyond our era of crisis.