How Mutualism Empowers Communities

Events of recent years have prompted a wide-ranging debate about the society in which we live

, not just in Britain but also further afield. The economic upheaval that followed the global financial crisis of 2008 and continues to loom large over the UK and global economy has left millions out of work or underemployed, whilst wages have continued to stagnate in the face of rising living costs. Rewards for those in the most lucrative jobs, however, have soared in spite of the continuing economic weakness. This has led many people to ask themselves whether the society we have created for ourselves is truly fit for the future.

The ongoing debate has also examined how we do business with one another. Whilst the Anglo-American shareholder value maximisation model appeared unassailable from the late 1970s onwards, recent years have seen many people look longingly towards alternative models such as that of Germany, which reminds businesses of their responsibility to their workers, the wider community and in some cases the national interest. However, some observers have cast their gaze back into history to the 19th century, to be exact, and the birth of the cooperative movement. The idea of economic democracy has re-emerged over the last few years, as Britain seeks to develop a coherent strategy to break the current stagnation and inequality.

Politicians of all parties have sought to claim moral capitalism as their own in the last few years, but none have really gone into specifics about what this particular soundbite might mean in practice. There are, however, clear examples of successful businesses run by and for their workers rather than their shareholders and there is a thriving network of mutually-owned firms across the country. Of course, mutualism is nothing new, but its advocates say it promotes long-term thinking and an intuitive sense of working for the local community rather than the short-termist approach which has been the subject of so much criticism since the 2008 crash.

By giving workers the opportunity to run their own businesses, they are also trusted with real responsibility and have the chance to learn valuable new skills, thereby providing them with genuine empowerment. Instead of simply getting on with their job and leaving it to the management and ownership to take care of everything else which, as we have seen in recent years, many are frequently incapable of doing workers who mutually own businesses have real power in the workplace and often play a crucial role in preserving the stability of the wider community.

by: Alan Trotter

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