Cooperatives defined profit as benefiting workers, not invested capital
Evidence
A 1921 cooperative handbook described the nature of this alternative: “Industrialcommercial business are managed by capitalists who aim for the greatest profi t of capital invested”; on the other hand, “cooperatives are managed by people who have in production a central aim that is diff erent from that of the capitalist— that is, workers who want to benefi t the most from their labor power… . Th e net profi t that in an ordinary enterprise increases the benefi t of capital, in a cooperative enterprise increases the benefi t of cooperators” (Buff etti 1921, 35). — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 425
Categorization
- DEFINE: Nails the contemporary Italian cooperative self-definition contrasting capital profit vs labor benefit.
- XREF: connects to: Workers’ cooperatives redistributed surplus toward reserve funds, insurance, and labor — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order: How Economists…, 423; Worker cooperatives failed from capital scarcity and capitalist supplier discrimination — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America:…, 641; Cooperatives redirected surplus from capital owners to the workers themselves (+2 more)
Broader Connections
- Cooperatives redirected surplus from capital owners to the workers themselves
#corroborates(0.95) - Fascist-era economists defined profit as capital’s own productivity, not worker exploitation
#contradicts(0.90) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 1127 - Worker cooperatives failed from capital scarcity and capitalist supplier discrimination
#qualifies(0.80) — Samuel Bowles and Herbert Gintis, Schooling in Capitalist America, 641 - Gradualist worker cooperatives still depended on surviving inside capitalist markets
#complicates(0.75) — Clara E. Mattei, The Capital Order, 444