What is Syndicalism?
In Brief: Syndicalism is an economic model wherein all businesses must be formed as worker owned cooperatives.
These cooperatives would not allow outside owners or investors, and would give all employees part ownership in the company as well as a democratic say in how the business is run.
Many people who are "in favor of capitalism" are in favor of having a market system due to the belief that 1) competition benefits the consumer, 2) a risk/reward system breeds innovation, and 3) people who do more should be rewarded with more.
Syndicalism does this while eliminating the exploitation and addressing inherent issues present in capitalism.
The idea behind Syndicalism is that the driving economic force would not be "capital," or the surplus money that can be used to establish businesses, hire out labor, and so forth.
Rather, syndicates would form the foundation of the economy.
These "syndicates" would be the new, legally mandatory form of business.
Here are the necessary qualities for a company to be a syndicate (also frequently known as a worker owned cooperative):
We will cover these in future entries.
The idea behind Syndicalism, however, is simple: employees gain the benefit of their own work, people are rewarded for what they do instead of the money they have, and a market economy continues to provide opportunities for innovation and competition.
Syndicalism is different than some other political alternatives because it has seen notable historic success.
In Basque, Spain, syndicates such as the Mondragon Corporation proved that this business model can be extraordinarily successful.
Syndicalism was the primary economic modality from Mormon pioneers who developed most of Utah and some portions of California in the 1800s.
Even today, there are many syndicates which are competitive with standard corporations.
The difference in Syndicalism is that the legal protections afforded to business owners and corporations would be removed; these "protected rights" have been used only to exploit and control.
By forming all businesses as cooperatives, the vast difference in wealth between the upper and lower class would be diminished, rewards would become more meritocratic, and people would have far greater ownership of their own lives.
These cooperatives would not allow outside owners or investors, and would give all employees part ownership in the company as well as a democratic say in how the business is run.
Many people who are "in favor of capitalism" are in favor of having a market system due to the belief that 1) competition benefits the consumer, 2) a risk/reward system breeds innovation, and 3) people who do more should be rewarded with more.
Syndicalism does this while eliminating the exploitation and addressing inherent issues present in capitalism.
The idea behind Syndicalism is that the driving economic force would not be "capital," or the surplus money that can be used to establish businesses, hire out labor, and so forth.
Rather, syndicates would form the foundation of the economy.
These "syndicates" would be the new, legally mandatory form of business.
Here are the necessary qualities for a company to be a syndicate (also frequently known as a worker owned cooperative):
- There are no outside owners or investors in the company.
This removes the problem of a disassociation of responsibility in business ethics and opens up greater possibilities for company motivation beyond mere profit. - All employees in the company have a share of ownership in the business.
This enables employees to reap the rewards of their own work (thus eliminating capitalist exploitation), motivates them to work harder and be more creative, and ensures that employees are not discarded just to increase dividends. - All employees have a democratic say in how the company is run.
This enables people to have ownership of their own lives and work, promotes progress and innovation from all levels, and gets the people who have the most knowledge about the company in the driver's seat.
We will cover these in future entries.
The idea behind Syndicalism, however, is simple: employees gain the benefit of their own work, people are rewarded for what they do instead of the money they have, and a market economy continues to provide opportunities for innovation and competition.
Syndicalism is different than some other political alternatives because it has seen notable historic success.
In Basque, Spain, syndicates such as the Mondragon Corporation proved that this business model can be extraordinarily successful.
Syndicalism was the primary economic modality from Mormon pioneers who developed most of Utah and some portions of California in the 1800s.
Even today, there are many syndicates which are competitive with standard corporations.
The difference in Syndicalism is that the legal protections afforded to business owners and corporations would be removed; these "protected rights" have been used only to exploit and control.
By forming all businesses as cooperatives, the vast difference in wealth between the upper and lower class would be diminished, rewards would become more meritocratic, and people would have far greater ownership of their own lives.