[p2p-research] communitiy organizing vs. coops

[Michel Bauwens]

Community Organizing and the Solidarity
Economy<http://www.solidarityeconomy.net/2009/05/19/community-organizing-and-the-solidarity-economy/>

Posted: 19 May 2009 08:13 AM PDT
  *Graphic: Alinsky, left,
and Father Arizmendi
with Mondragon scenes* *Alinsky vs. Arizmendi:
Redistribution or Control of
Wealth In Changing the World *

*By Dan Swinney*
SolidarityEconomy.net <http://solidarityeconomy.net/>

The post World War II era gave rise to two visionaries who sought to extend
greater democracy and wealth to their low income constituencies as part of a
broader vision to change the world.  Both were critical of capitalism as
well as the kind of socialism practiced in the Soviet Union that relied
solely on the state.  Both mobilized the grass roots to exercise power on
their own behalf and did so in their thousands having a profound impact on
the communities they served.  Both are studied by young and veteran
organizers around the world looking for new solutions to old seemingly
intractable problems.



Saul Alinsky, influenced deeply by John L. Lewis of the United Mineworkers
of America, advanced a vision for low-income communities that paralleled the
successful organizing strategy of the Congress of Industrial Organizations.
This was a strategy premised evidently on the notion that the means of
production, the creators of wealth in the United States were doing a decent
job.  After all, what was good for General Motors was good for the country.
At that time, the profits of the big America corporations generally
coincided with the long term development of the sector they had invested
in:  GM made cars and seem to be in it for the long term, making investments
in new technology and generally keeping pace.  IBM did the same with
computers.  US Steel did the same with steel.  And traditional, typically
white middle class communities where these big companies were located as
well as the upper classes did quite well.  Communities, workers, and
entrepreneurs of color faced discrimination in every aspect of the economy
and society including wages and conditions of work, access to ownership,
housing, and unequal justice.

Alinsky didn't focus on the well-being of the means of production but on the
improvement of the distribution of wealth that the system generated to
include communities that were systematically excluded or shortchanged
because they were Black, Latino, or working class.  He and his organizations
fought against all forms of discrimination and injustice.  His pioneering
organizations were created in Chicago-The Woodlawn Organization, the Back of
the Yards, and the Organization for a Better Austin.  They were initiated by
professional organizers recruited by and affiliated with the Industrial
Areas Foundation, and later by emerging organizations that embraced the
Alinsky approach.

They mobilized and organized local residents based on their "self-interest"
and around immediate and important demands for better and fair housing, for
social and racial justice, for welfare reform, and other immediate issues
just as their trade union parallel did in the big mills and plants around
the country.  They organized for the re-distribution of wealth to their
particular constituencies leaving all the questions associated with the
creation of wealth to corporate America and the private sector.

At the same time, in the Basque region of northern Spain in the village of
Mondragon, a priest, Father Jose Maria Arizmendi, took a different tack.  He
was part of the Basque resistance to Franco, the Spanish fascist who had
taken power in Spain in the late 1930s.  During this time, he was arrested
and narrowly escaped execution.  He was assigned to the parish in the small
town of Mondragon.  He assumed in his approach that controlling and
developing the means of production in light of the values and priorities of
the local community should be the principal focus of organizing and
organizational development. rather than just focusing on the broader
distribution of wealth.  It was at the point of production, where work was
done that democracy should be extended, and where worker/residents had the
greatest leverage and power.  Particular features of Spanish law made the
creation of cooperatives attractive which became a distinguishing
characteristic of the Mondragon "model."  This was more complicated work but
in the long run more powerful.

In 1943, shortly after arriving in Mondragon, he organized a polytechnical
school for young Basque people that taught both the technical skills of
manufacturing and production as well as values.  In 1956, with five
graduates of this school, Arizmendi purchased a gas stove company and
organized it on a cooperative basis-one worker/one vote and a compensation
ratio of one to three.  The initial company employed 30 worker owners.  It
was successful.  Another company was launched with another team, and then
another, and then another.  By the mid-1970s, they had some 45 companies
employing 17,000 workers in manufacturing and retail as well as a shared
cooperative bank, vocational schools, and housing cooperatives. In 2007, the
Mondragon network-now the Mondragon Cooperative Corporation-has 85 companies
employing 130,000 people globally.  There are major cooperatives in retail
as well as manufacturing.  Eroski is a big box retail store that is owned by
its employees and customers and has kept Wal-Mart out of Spain simply by
being a more competitive alternative for consumers.  Mondragon is the
cutting edge of the Spanish industrial economy, and the region is recognized
as one of the leading manufacturing regions in the global economy.
Unemployment is very low and per capita income is high.  Democracy is a
reality in politics as well as in the economy.

Arizmendi recognized the central role of wealth creation in society and the
fact that market sophistication and competition could be combined with
social values.  Through organizing, leadership development, and
organizational sophistication, Arizmendi led a movement that has contended
successfully in the market and state, and profoundly influenced civil
society.

Today, the Alinsky-inspired movement is less and less effective.  Powerful
parts of the private sector have qualitatively changed and the powerful Low
Road segment that is dominated by Wall Street and some of the large
multi-national publicly-traded companies have shattered the social contract
that made the Alinsky inspired movement viable throughout the 1950s and
1960s.  Among the most powerful companies, short term gains for shareholders
replaced any desire or long-term commitment to particular companies,
products, or sectors much less the communities where production takes
place.

A social movement or government in the US can no longer depend on limiting
its role to just redistribution of wealth and regulation.  Redistribution
and regulation are required but no longer sufficient.  It's essential that
those interested in sustainable communities take up the issues of wealth
creation and find alliances with those in the business community who still
share a contemporary version of the old idea of stewardship.

>From my perspective, Arizmendi was and is a more powerful and effective
visionary in setting the course for organizing in communities than Alinsky.
Now more than ever we need to use perspectives such as his in not just
asking others for development that includes community residents but making
it happen in ways that remain under local control and guided by local
values.  We need to develop the skill and vision that allows those with a
commitment to development that is environmentally, economically, and
socially sustainable to compete in the market, in the state, and in civil
society against the destructive Low Road trend.

There is now a broad vacuum of leadership in the economy and society,
particularly in communities like Austin on Chicago's West Side.  We should
contend to fill that vacuum with a vision that truly builds the community on
behalf of its residents, and builds the kind of alliances that are essential
for success.  Our work on Austin Polytechical Academy in that neighborhood
is both rooted in Azimendi's vision and serves as a case in point,
especially since President Obama has singled it out as a prototype for the
country. Details are at http://austinpolytech.org

Dan Swinney is executive director of the Center for Labor and Community
Research, located in Chicago, and a former officer in a United
Steelworkerslocal.


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