In his book ‘Moral Ambition’, Rutger Bregman discusses how reframing a seemingly intractable issue can inspire greater engagement. He uses the example of how a group of abolitionists in England decided that, instead of trying to convince people of the humanity of the slaves, they would instead highlight the suffering and deaths of the European sailors who crewed the slave vessels. They knew this would be an easier way of garnering support for their cause than trying to address the pervasive othering and dehumanisation of the African slaves. Abolition of the slave trade was a great achievement. However, it ultimately only addressed a symptom. The root cause – both of the industrialisation of slavery, and protracted resistance to abolition and emancipation – remained unchallenged.
As Eric Williams highlights in ‘Capitalism and Slavery’, the transatlantic slave trade was built and driven by capitalists to serve capital accumulation from European colonies. It helped ignite and fuel the Industrial Revolution in England, and catalyse the evolution of the capitalist system from mercantile and agrarian to industrial, and with it the mechanisation of production and the creation of factories. When the slave trade no longer served the majority of the capitalist class – thanks to the creation of a landless, industrial working class dependent on wage labour for their survival – they pushed for its abolition. Had it not been for the economic benefits of abolition and then emancipation, neither would have occurred – the moral argument, despite the abolitionists’ best efforts, would not have been enough. What was true then, and has been since the 1500s to the present day, is that the people who run, and laws that govern, countries that have embraced capitalism, or had it imposed upon them, have been working in service of capital and those privileged few who own it, rather than for the majority.
So, if the moral argument isn’t enough, and the capitalist class is pulling the strings, what can we do to create a more humane and egalitarian economic system? How can we go from the majority of us working in the service of capital owned by a tiny minority, to capital working for and owned by the majority?
Companies like Suma and Mondragon offer us some insight as to the potential answers to these questions. Suma is the UK's largest independent wholefood wholesaler. It was established in 1977, has around 200 worker-members and an annual turnover of around £54 million (2019). What makes it special is that it’s a non-hierarchical worker-owned co-operative. This means no managers, and all workers are paid the same wage, take shared responsibility, and rotate across roles from driving to accounts.
Mondragon has been around since 1956, with over 70,000 employees and an annual turnover of over €11.2 billion (2024). Based in the Basque Country of Spain, it is the world's largest co-operative federation. It's a federation of over 80 autonomous co-operatives spanning industrial manufacturing, retail and distribution (including Eroski, one of Spain's largest grocery chains), finance, and education. Each of Mondragon’s co-operatives is autonomous and democratically governed by its worker-members on a one member, one vote basis.
In an environment supportive of the conventional business model, and where around 50% of conventionally-run businesses in Europe fail within the first five years, these two companies stand as testament to the fact that another way – a sustainable, egalitarian alternative – is possible. They have survived and thrived over decades while so many conventionally-run businesses have failed – and have done so despite existing in a system that makes it harder for those that don’t toe the line to start, to obtain finance, and to sustain themselves.
They show that the pursuit of profits and growth at the expense of all else is neither natural nor a necessary approach to business – it is simply a convention. They show us that conventional business practices are choices, and are not the only means by which success and growth can be achieved. The means of production can be owned by the workers instead of the capitalist class. The surplus produced by a company can be shared among the workers who sustain it, rather than extracted to pay dividends to a group of shareholders disconnected from the company and its people.
In the 500 years capitalism has been around, it has shown time and again that it is never going to serve the needs of the many. It will never eradicate poverty, inequality, racism, misogyny, or the patriarchy, because it relies on these and other corrosive forces in order to thrive – to serve and increase the capital of those who own it. Yet it is this hostile environment within which we must nurture and grow the alternative.
The seeds have already been sown. Suma and Mondragon are just two examples of organisations challenging the prevailing narrative about how a business can and should be run, and who should own the means of production. Despite the hostile environment they function in, and the threat they pose to the status quo – exposing the means by which convention can be broken, and the benefits of breaking it – they have managed to survive and thrive. According to the International Co-operative Alliance (ICA), there are around 3 million co-operatives worldwide, engaging around 10% of the global working population. In the EU, there are 250,000 co-operatives, owned by 163 million citizens – a third of the EU population – and employing 5.4 million people.
With so many co-operatives already in existence, it doesn’t require a leap of faith to believe we can create the foundations for a fairer, less destructive economic system. An immense amount of suffering has been caused by the singular focus of the capitalist class on growth through capital accumulation and profit maximisation, but the growing, thriving ecosystem of co-operatives shows that we don’t have to continue down the path capitalism has forged.
The co-operative takes our innate human need for community, and injects it into the realm of business. Let’s seek out and show our support for the co-operatives that already exist, and let’s create more of them. Let’s nurture this alternative that exists here and now, and expose more and more people to it – and over time, we will change the narrative about how businesses and economies can be run.
Subscribe to Changing the Narrative to find out about the upcoming launch of ‘How (Not) to Do Business’ – a podcast series that will explore the experiences of those companies breaking convention, and nurturing an alternative way of doing business – from the challenges and pitfalls to the benefits and successes.